An author rescued from oblivion in the exhibition “Joaquín Tusquets de Cabirol: Eloquent Form.”

The Centro de Fotografía KBr of the Fundación Mapfre in Barcelona presents the exhibition Joaquín Tusquets de Cabirol: Eloquent Form, which will be open to the public from June 18 to September 6, 2026.

The exhibition reveals to the public an extraordinary photographic legacy that could have been forgotten had it not been rediscovered by chance more than half a century after its creation, thanks to its preservation by the photographer’s family and the preservation of some of the negatives by the Maritime Museum of Barcelona.

This collection, which dates back to between 1940 and 1960 and is made up of nearly 1,000 vintage photographic prints and 4,000 negatives that have been recovered and documented, shows Catalonia in the mid-20th century through images with his Rolleiflex, snapshots of Barcelona and its people, the port, the coastline and the Catalan rural territory.

The archive also becomes an example of the great value of photography taken by amateurs of the time who captured, in their leisure time, a visual heritage that enriches the imagination of post-war daily life.

Tusquets de Cabirol, testimony of an era

Joaquín Tusquets de Cabirol (Barcelona, ​​1904-1979) was a chemist by profession and co-owner of a factory, but he dedicated almost all his free time to photography outside the professional circuit, a hobby he maintained throughout his life. He found in photography a way to reflect a lucid, aesthetic, and profound view of his surroundings.

A member of the Photographic Association of Catalonia since 1946, he participated in the amateur association that fostered exchange, group outings, competitions, and the circulation of images, and which significantly influenced the thematic and stylistic horizon of his work.

The author masterfully applied the canons of pictorialism, but what makes his work most interesting is that he progressively transgressed the norms, in search of a more personal voice, inscribing himself in the new current of renewal of visual language that would emerge in the 1950s. Thus, venturing into formal experimentation and with precious technique, the author takes us into his everyday world, where the most mundane motifs become evocative stimuli for contemplation.

The quality of the images is enhanced by the exquisite vintage prints that the photographer produced in his home darkroom, demonstrating that his background as a chemist granted him masterful control over the baths, timing, and chemical reactions.

Tusquets de Cabirol built a coherent body of work, independent of economic or professional constraints, which today stands as a testament to an era.

The exhibition Joaquín Tusquets de Cabirol: Eloquent Form has been curated by Marina Balagué of the Photographic Foundation and Arola Valls, and is organized by the Fundación Mapfre in collaboration with the Photographic Social Vision Foundation, which represents, preserves, and disseminates the Tusquets de Cabirol photographic archive.