valenciablogger | 
08 22nd, 2011| 
Until the 11th of November, the Centro Cultural Bancaja of Valencia presents ‘Atesorar España’, the photographic exhibition of images of Spain from the beginning of the last century. The exhibition is organized by the Bancaja Foundation together with the Hispanic Society of America, who put at their disposal they private photographic funds which are made up of 345 images. In total, 268 will be exhibited in Valencia and 77 will be in an exhibition in the Centro Cultural Bancaja in Alicante.
The exhibition, commissioned by the photographer, lecturer and curator of the collection Joaquín Bérchez, was carefully organized selecting the most representative amongst the 175,000 photographs that make up the private collection of Archer Milton Huntington, founder of the Hispanic Society of America.
The selected photographs go back to past times, that memorize and document a poor, underdeveloped Spain, that captivates the focus of a group of photographers that marked the history of photography. The particular angle shows a deserted Madrid and the construction of a series of works that today are historical monuments.
Among the most important photographers in this exhibition there’s the Welshman Charles Clifford, who spent most of his career in Spain. In the early years of his career he used the daguerreotype, then he used the calotype technique and finally the wet collodion glass plaques, for the clarity that it gave his photography.
Clifford has been classed as a landscape, monument and urban construction photographer. One of the most famous works is the Elizabeth II Channel, that was taken as a construction of an aqueduct of Madrid. He photographed landscapes of Madrid and travelled around most of Spain taking memorable pictures, like the traditional portraits of singers and gypsies.
The North American architect and photographer Anna Christian was a worshiper of the image who arrived in Spain in 1915 thanks to the recommendations of Joaquín Sorolla. Her photographs reflect the depth of the Hispanic culture in images of fishermen, taverns and small houses of countryside workers.
The German master Kurt Hielscher travelled for five years around Spain taking photographs, managing to get 2,000 of them, among which there are images of remote places whose only existing images are those of Hielscher.
Among the Spanish ones we highlight the creators of the photographic school like Emilio Beauchy, José Ortiz Echagüe or Casiano Alguacil, among others.
The photographs of Emilio Beauchy document the last third of the 19th century in Andalucía. The most famous photograph taken by Beauchy is the traditional frame called ‘Café Cantante’, which was taken in 1885. This photograph is a classic ‘tablao’ from Sevilla and has been used to show the history of universal photography.
Nothing better than photography to see our society through the wing-mirror. In each of these magnificent images there’s a piece of forgotten Spain.
For more information: http://obrasocial.bancaja.es/cultura/exposiciones/exposicionesficha.aspx?ID=367
Nancy Guzman
If you want to go through a route down Spain’s memory lane, this is the chance to do it and 345 images are the vehicle you must use. So if you’re spending some days of passion, fun and relax in apartments in Valencia come to the Centro Cultural Bancaja.
Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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