Joaquín Tusquets de Cabirol. Eloquent Form

Framed within a program that regularly focuses on photographic archives of Catalan institutions, Eloquent Form presents the work of Joaquín Tusquets de Cabirol (Barcelona, 1904–1979), an amateur photographer active during the 1940s and 1950s.

A chemist by profession and co-owner of a factory, Tusquets de Cabirol devoted almost all of his free time to photography outside professional circuits, a pursuit he maintained consistently over the years. His photographic practice was characterized by meticulous attention both at the moment of taking the picture and in the subsequent processes of developing and printing, which he carried out himself.

A member of the Agrupación Fotográfica de Cataluña (Photographic Association of Catalonia) from 1946, he participated in the amateur associative context that encouraged exchange, group outings, competitions, and the circulation of images, and which shaped much of the thematic and stylistic horizon of his work. Within this context, Tusquets de Cabirol consolidated a coherent body of work, independent of economic or professional demands and attentive both to changes in photographic taste of the period and to formal exploration. Always focused on everyday life in the city, the coastline, or rural settings, his images form an exceptional record of the postwar imagination of life.

The exhibition Tusquets de Cabirol. Eloquent Form has been organized by Fundación Mapfre in collaboration with the Fundación Photographic Social Vision, the institution that preserves and manages the artist’s legacy.

Curators: Marina Balagué and Arola Valls.