- Obituary: photographer Leopoldo Pomés, father of the 'Freixenet bubbles', dies
- José Aymá's opinion: Spain's contribution to world photography
- National Award: the photographer of the Gauche Divine
"That day we weren't going to go to the beach. But it dawned with a white haze, everything looked pale and gray, without shadows. He said: 'Quick, you have to take the car, this is the best light.' And we went to Castelldefels beach ".
It was 1959 and he was a young Leopoldo Pomés. She is Karin Leiz, her everything (partner, partner, muse, wife). In that perfect snapshot, Karin was 19 years old: the girl, in a white swimsuit, with her back to a white sea. This was Pomés: always looking for the light , trying to keep it, stopping it in a second. Even in the bed of the Trueta Hospital: that light that fell on the cushion placed on a chair ... "I had to take her last photo. She was telling me where she wanted me to stand to catch the light, which gave her
The light on a hospital cushion ... Or the light of the joie de vivre of a beach day. The one from Castelldefels is one of the thousands of photographs that Pomés left in boxes and that his wife (now also a curator) and her daughter Juliet have rescued for the exhibition 'After all ...', the first after her death in August 2019.
Last summer, Pomés had just published his memoirs: 'It was not a sin' (Tusquets). "They are not just any book! I have made portraits of García Márquez, Cortázar, Picasso, Nico ...", he said when he was about to finish them and the National Photography Prize arrived in 2018. "For his contribution to the history of the image in Spain ", highlighted the jury.
Of course. Pomés was one of the great renovators of photography in Spain , along with authors such as Francesc Català-Roca, Oriol Maspons, Colita, Joan Colom or Xavier Miserachs himself. It is precisely at the XI Xavier Miserachs Photography Biennial in Palafrugell, in Empordà, where 'After all ...' (until October 11) is exhibited.
But there is a part of the history of Barcelona that cannot be understood without Pomés . Deeply dandy , with the hedonistic point of those who know how to enjoy even the smallest details, Pomés was the soul of any gathering, of any party. From the intellectual vanguard of Dau al Set (with Joan Brossa -by the way, there is a beautiful photo of the poet-, Antoni Tàpies and company) to the chic bourgeoisie of the Gauche Divine. The Barcelona of calle Tuset and del Bocaccio, that of the most modern tortilla shop Flash Flash (what other name could it have?) That opened in 1970 with his friend Alfonso Milà and, shortly after, Il Giardinetto, that restaurant-cocktail bar that now carried by his son Poldo. In the short street of Granada del Penedès, almost a passage in the middle of the city, Flash Flash and Giardiaetto survive opposite each other, two mythical places that preserve the essence and spirit of Pomés.
But there is another city, less cool, less modern . An almost interior Barcelona, with dreamlike landscapes or architectures that are almost abstractions. A shoe shiner on his knees who, a few meters away, looks at a woman's shoes (only her feet appear in the upper frame of the image), two neighbors who are in the middle of the street (one holds a paella), children with an improvised comic market in Barceloneta ...
"For him, the city was the people. The people integrated into the urban environment, developing in it. He had a raw and poetic look that his editor did not like at all," says Karin. "In 1957, he was commissioned a photobook about Barcelona. But in his photos there were no parks or monuments or notable buildings. He presented the complete opposite of what the publisher wanted. Until 2014, those first photos were not exposed," Juliet explains.
AND THE WOMEN...
No one expressed it better than his colleague Manuel Vázquez Montalbán . Pomés "eroticized an entire country". It was the 60s. And her delicate and suggestive photographs in which the woman was the absolute protagonist have become icons. Like the advertisement for the Brandy Terry , with a blonde riding a horse. In popular imagination many remember her as a naked Amazon, but no, she wore a thin and loose white T-shirt that, like a Greek peplum, accentuated her curves.
"The first time Leopoldo picked up a camera was to portray a woman, a very pretty cousin of hers ...", says Karin. Even her photos of shoes and heels reveal a point between abstract and erotic . "Her gaze was that of the artist, she saw it as a sculpture. And if there was a lady on top, more ...", she adds.
As a publicist - together with Karin, with whom he founded the Estudio Pomés - he created unforgettable campaigns, such as Freixenet's bubbles . In the exhibition, a photo of one of the girls smoking during a break from filming in 1973 stands out: an image of chiaroscuro, the 'bubble' in its shiny golden jersey with a spotlight and the smoke suspended in the air.
At that time his 'author photos' were somewhat relegated. Decades later, when the Estudio Pomés closed, Karin encouraged her to dive into her work, to "act as a miner" in her boxes and order her file. And Leopoldo rediscovered Leopoldo: "When he registered and examined his boxes, sometimes you would hear him exclaim: 'But how good I am!' " Not even he remembered ... And in 2015 came the great retrospective at La Pedrera in Barcelona: a recognition of his entire career, in all areas.
'After all ...' is an intimate, short-distance show. Karin and Juliet have selected a hundred images, many unpublished that have never been exposed. "I think he would have loved the exhibition," says Juliet. And Karin adds: " Surely he would have said: 'It's the hell!' She always said it every time someone around her had an idea that had not occurred to her. " Very Leopold.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more- Barcelona
- Photography
- art
- culture
- Catalonia
PHOTOGRAPHYThe street photographer: from 'voyeur' to chronicler of his era
Culture Miguel Trillo: going out, drinking, dancing, taking a photo
Arte They auction a Miró for 24.6 million and a rare self-portrait by Rembrandt for 16 million at Sotheby's
See links of interest
- Last News
- English translator
- TV programming
- Quixote
- Work calendar
- Daily horoscope
- Santander League Ranking
- League calendar
- TV Movies
- Themes