Far from the bustle of Gauche Divine, the iconic album covers of Nova Cançó or the glamor of advertising, Palo Alto, within the framework of the FotoFest Poblenou Photography Festival , invites us to discover the most personal Oriol Maspons through 'Coral', a collection of unpublished photographs that seem to have been taken from a family album. This exhibition, carefully selected by his son, Àlex Maspons, reveals an authentic beauty, with images that capture the essence of a relationship full of complicity between the photographer and his muse and wife, Coral Majó.
Coral, although she was not a model in the professional sense - a profession that at that time existed only in haute couture environments - knew how to perfectly capture what Maspons wanted to express with each photograph. Her presence in front of the camera was not that of a conventional model but that of an accomplice, and this connection resulted in a collection of portraits that explore the natural beauty of shared life. In addition to Coral's images, a small selection featuring the family is also included. In total, around fifty photographs that can be seen from November 8 to December 13 at the Sala Escoleta in Palo Alto , with an official opening next Tuesday, November 12.
© Oriol Maspons
Recognized for his unique look and for having renewed the Spanish photographic language during the decades of the fifties and sixties, Oriol Maspons built a prolific career that spans from his stay in Paris - where he established connections with icons such as Brassaï and Cartier - Bresson— to collaborations with prestigious magazines such as La Gaceta Ilustrada, L'Oeil and Elle. Alongside Julio Ubiña, she explored the world of fashion and advertising, showing an image of the modern and liberated woman that was beginning to emerge in a country in transition.
His legacy has been recognized and celebrated in several retrospective exhibitions, including the major anthological exhibition 1949-1955. Oriol Maspons. Useful photography at the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC) in 2019, as well as exhibitions at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Barcelona-DHub Design Museum, the MoMA in New York and the Bibliothèque National of France. His work lives on thanks to the Photographic Social Vision Foundation, which safeguards and represents the Maspons archive, preserving and promoting his legacy.
This exhibition offers a different perspective of the Barcelona photographer seen until now, where Coral claims his role and name often unknown outside his circle, while Maspons reveals himself as a visual narrator of his own life.
© Oriol Maspons
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