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The four members of the Català family
A detail from the poster edited by the Comissariat de Propaganda of the Generalitat, work by Pere Català i Pic
A gypsy girl in front of the Tres Xemeneies in Poble-sec, in 1953, work by Francesc Català-Roca

Els Català, two generations and three photographers

The Museu d'Història de Catalunya is dedicating an exhibition to one of the leading families of photographers of the 20th century.

The exhibition Els Català, fotògrafs d'un segle opened on 19 January at the Museu d'Història de Catalunya. Pere Català i Pic (1889-1971) took his first photographs at the canonisation of blessed Oriol in Rome. However, he didn't discover his vocation until 1914, when he won a camera in a raffle held at the bank where he worked, in Valls, the birthplace of the family lineage. From then on until 2009, he and three of his children — Maria Àurea (1920-1993), Francesc (1922-1998) and Pere (1923-2009) — dedicated themselves to the profession: the boys as photographers and the girl, trained at the Escola d'Arts i Oficis, as an image editor.

In 1931, the whole family moved to Barcelona, where they stayed permanently. Their pictures illustrate the country's artistic, cultural, political and social movements. Their work is captured in the more than 300,000 images preserved in the Arxiu Nacional de Catalunya and the Arxiu Històric del Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya. It has left a legacy of a hundred years of graphic evidence in black and white, which allows us to travel through the time and space of a particularly turbulent century.

The exhibition has been curated by photographer Andreu Català, Francesc's son, in collaboration with his cousin Rafael Català, Pere's son. In Els Català, fotògrafs d'un segle, you will find 182 images on display, approximately 60 from each photographer. Most of them have been published before, but some will see the light for the first time. The tour has been divided into six areas (territory, history, social events, portraiture, commissions, and photographic technique and resources), which allows us to appreciate their similarities and differences in the artists' treatment of the subjects.

The most outstanding photomontages and posters by Pere Català i Pic are the advertising and promotional ones — for Cacaolat, Myrugua, Cinzano and the Gothic Quarter — and the political ones. He is the author of the iconic poster showing an espadrille shattering a gamma cross, published by the Comissariat de Propaganda of the Generalitat de Catalunya in October 1936.

In the case of Francesc Català-Roca, his works are mainly urban landscapes — the Tres Xemeneies, Colom or the Gran Via — and costumbrismo. On the other hand, Pere Català i Roca's main interests were folklore and architectural heritage, which can be seen through his photographs of the Sagrada Família, the Falles d'Isil, the Misteri d'Elx and the Patum de Berga.

You can get tickets at the Museum's box office from 10 a.m. up to 30 minutes before closing time. You can also get them online through this link.

Publication date: Friday, 28 January 2022
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