The Photography Gallery at the Centro Niemeyer is hosting the exhibition “Ramón Masats. Visit Spain,” which presents the journey the photographer undertook between 1955 and 1965, traveling across Spain with his camera. Curated by Chema Conesa, the exhibition is produced by the Subdirectorate General of Visual Arts and Contemporary Creation.
Ramón Masats had a personal obsession with portraying the clichés that the official culture of the time used to sanctify national values, in a period marked by the end of autarky under Franco’s dictatorship, the opening promoted by the creation of the Ministry of Information and Tourism (1951), and the National Tourism Plan (1953).
Amid folk rituals, traditional festivities, and religious customs, Ramón Masats—who received the National Photography Prize in 2004—documents and depicts the reality of a country trapped in material poverty, deeply scarred socially, and firmly bound by spiritual rigidity. In this way, Masats’s distinctive vision constructs an interpretation that goes beyond the mere optical reality of the photographic image, leaving the final reading in the hands of the viewer.
The author and his work
Ramón Masats was born in 1931 in Caldes de Montbui, Barcelona. It was not until 1953, with his “Reportage on Las Ramblas,” that his fascination with photojournalism truly began. In his early photographs, Masats revealed a powerful photographic instinct and an exceptional intuition for capturing the spectacle of life, always careful not to intrude on reality or, even less, to embellish or manipulate it.
Together with Miserachs, Terré, and Maspons, the photographer played a key role in the renewal of photography, helping to integrate it into the wider cultural context of a country submerged in dictatorship. Inspired by the nearby example of Català-Roca, they set out to document the reality of their time and of the country in which they lived.
From 1965 onward, Masats abandoned photography to devote himself to filmmaking and television. He directed “Tropical Spanish” and produced documentary series for Spanish television such as “Los ríos,” “Si las piedras hablaran,” and “El que enseña.” His professional drive earned him awards including an International Prize in England for best photography, for his work on various films.
In 1981, he returned to photography, from then on working almost exclusively in color. He published several books with Lunwerg Editores, notably “España diversa,” and produced a number of documentaries for the 1992 Universal Exposition in Seville.
In 1999, a major retrospective of his work was held at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, featuring a selection of 150 black-and-white and color photographs. In 2002, he received the Photography Prize awarded by the Arts Council of the Community of Madrid.
Masats has had a significant influence on photographers of his generation, becoming one of the key figures in the renewal of documentary reportage in Spain during the 1960s.
Chema Conesa, the curator
Chema Conesa holds a degree in Philosophy and Letters, specializing in Art History, from the Complutense University of Madrid. After completing his degree, he studied Image and Journalism at the newly established Faculty of Information Sciences. Throughout his professional career, he has given countless seminars and lectures and has served on numerous juries, including those for the National Photography Prize and the World Press Photo awards.
