JOSEP BRANGULÍ 1909–1935

Josep Brangulí 1909-1935 presents a selection of more than 120 works by Josep Brangulí, the Catalan photographer whose archive was acquired in 1992 by the Generalitat and is currently held at the Arxiu Nacional de Catalunya. This exhibition project brings together the efforts and dedication of Fundación Telefónica, which is producing the exhibition, and the Arxiu Nacional de Catalynya, as the guardian of our history and heritage.

All 306 prints by Brangulí have been donated to the Museum's collection by the Telefónica Foundation.

The exhibition opens with the series that Brangulí devoted to documenting the effects of Barcelona's Tragic Week and is divided into sections dedicated to historical, industrial, and social themes: Catalan society during the Primo de Rivera era, shipyard work and urban reforms such as the opening of Via Laietana, the 1929 Universal Exposition, the arrival of the Second Republic, boxing and nightlife in the city, until the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.

Brangulí's photographs were, in many cases, taken on professional commissions, but viewed today they offer extensive documentation of the enormous political, economic, and social transformations that took place in Spain during the first four decades of the 20th century. Brangulí thus appears, alongside other photographers such as Alfonso and Marín, as a pioneer not only of photojournalism, but also of other areas of professional photography in Spain. An observer—as the curators of the exhibition, Valentín Vallhonrat and Rafael Levenfeld, point out—who "accompanied the city in which he lived, attentive to changes, attentive to its inhabitants and their activities."