Until January 2023 in room 2 of the Palau Robert will be open to the public the photographic exhibition “Modernity” by Gabriel Casas Galobardes, with the best images of the Barcelona of the 20s and 30s.
The exhibition, besides being a heartfelt tribute to one of the most important photographers, is also the discovery of a Barcelona with a modernist touch.
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The exhibition allows to observe the photographic technique used by Casas Galobardes with which he shows the new vision of the era of the 20’s and 30’s, as well as the best sample of the society of that time.
It is the best opportunity to really know where we Barcelonians come from and who we are.
Modernity: Photographic exhibition by Gabriel Casas Galobardes
Modernity is what is reflected in Casas Galobardes’ photographs taken in Barcelona during the years 1892-1973 (the author’s lifetime).
They reflect moments of transition: speed, boxing, soccer, amusement parks, bohemian, globalization avant-la-lettre.
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It exhibits portraits of sports idols, many of them about the boxing world of the time and about the uniqueness of Chinatown.
In addition, you will be able to see the image of the 1919-1920 Barça line-up, the one of Samitier and Platko that won the first double of the Catalan Championship and the Spanish Championship.
The talented photographer managed to capture the essence of the show, the sport, the youth, the expressiveness and the character of the participants of different disciplines.
Images with soccer players, protagonists of cycling, boxing and motor sports, sample of his first work in Foto Sport (after returning from his escape to Argentina and Uruguay).
The portraits of the azulgranas players are paintings full of expressiveness and inner light.
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You can also watch the races at the Terramar circuit or in Sitges with the vehicles inside the landscape and the spectators inside the vertigo. Other photos show the Civil Guards guarding the derbies in 1930 or boxers like Gironès, Alís, Uzcudun, Spalla or Ruiz portrayed as scenes from a Greek tragedy.
The other face of the 1920s
A large part of the exhibition is dedicated to the world of show business: photographs of dancers, singers, jazz, music halls, cabaret, tango, the Demon’s Jazz Orchestra, the foxtrot with the pasodoble or the sardana.
Modernity combined with the joy of the twenties and the architecture and innovation of the time. Photos of mechanized spaces such as elevators, funiculars, escalators and images of the Universal Exposition of 1929.
You will also be delighted by the arrival of tourists and the faces of passengers arriving from Liverpool disembarking at the port of Barcelona. But also with beaches, sales of castanets, tambourines and sevillanas near the sea.
Finally, with the Maricel amusement park on Montjuïc, the slide in the shape of a whale’s belly and the largest roller coaster in Europe, among other images of yesteryear.
