English
The National Art Museum of Catalunya (Museu Nacional d´Art de Catalunya), also known as MNAC, will present an exclusive exhibition in the city of Barcelona which will be open from October 2011 until January 2012. The exhibition is called ´La maleta mexicana´ (The Mexican briefcase), an it´s a set of photographs taken during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) by Robert Capa, Gerda Taro and David Seymour, better known as ´Chim´.
Robert Capa and his colleagues were the most famous war correspondents in the 20th century. They were the ones who registered the whole Spanish Civil War in images, although their set of photographs were never published. Their files were lost when they had to flee the country because of the same war in mid-1939.
The exhibition has the name ´La maleta mexicana´ because it was in Mexico where they found, in 1995 (after being lost for over 50 years) , all the photographs of these correspondents. The box contained unpublished negatives and files of unique historical and cultural value. In 2007, the files arrived to the ICP (International Center of Photography) of New York and, since then, they´ve been processed to be exhibited to the public.
The interesting thing about this exhibition is that famous people of the time, such as Federico García Lorca or Ernest Hemingway, appear in it. Also, thanks to the investigators and restorers of the found material, the photographs can be seen in the chronological order in which they were taken and that brings valuable information to universal history, showing the hard reality of a bloody war.
You can also admire how photojournalism began and the relevance it´s hard during the years. The work of these three journalists was magnificent and brave, which you can see in their photographs. This is an exhibition of historic photography which we should all see.
The National Art Museum of Catalunya is located on the mountain of Montjuïc, from where you can see the whole of this beautiful city. Rent apartments in Barcelona and visit this museum which is a privilege that all tourists should take advantage of.
Translated by: aleixgwilliam
