Tarragona View of the port from the city – Art Blart

Exhibition dates: 8th June – 3rd September 2023

Curator: Jep Martí

Jules Ainaud (French, 1837-1900)
Montserrat (Barcelona). The Devil’s Rock
September 1871
Arxiu Fotogràfic de Barcelona

I’ve assembled five photography exhibitions before they all finish around the 3rd of September, so let’s have a posting on a Monday!

After the recent Louis Stettner posting, this is the second of three fine photography exhibitions at Fundación MAPFRE.

The third of the trio, an exhibition on the revolutionary (in more ways than one) Italian photographer Tina Modotti, will be posted this weekend – to be followed in quick succession by the exhibitions Conditions of Living (photographs of the housing in the East End of London), Images of Italy (19th century views of Italy) and Berenice Abbott’s New York Album.

As usual, an eclectic mix if ever there was one.

As also with this exhibition which “brings to light” the Spanish views of the Levante peninsula and Catolonia by the long forgotten photographer Jules Ainaud, acknowledging his place in photographic history.

Dr Marcus Bunyan

Many thankx to Fundación MAPFRE for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

Jules Ainaud has been a practically unknown photographer, until his work is now exhibited today one hundred and fifty years after it was first seen in Barcelona. Ainaud always worked for Jean Laurent, whose studio was, as is well known, was one of the great centres for the production of photographs in Spain in the middle decades of the 19th century and up to 1885.

Ainaud was one of the photographers that Laurent “commissioned” to obtain images of some provinces and thus complete his catalogue. In his case, the Levante peninsula and a large part of Catalonia, in an activity that as a whole lasted between 1870 and 1872. The exhibition recovers practically all the images corresponding to Catalonia, in an exhibition that wants to give Ainaud his proper place in photographic history.

Text from the Fundación MAPFRE website

Jules Ainaud (French, 1837-1900)
Barcelona. The Main Theater
1872
Arxiu Fotogràfic of Barcelona

Jules Ainaud (French, 1837-1900)
Barcelona. The Provincial Council
1872
Arxiu Fotogràfic de Barcelona

Jules Ainaud’s Catalonia (1871-1872)

This exhibition, which continues the line of exhibition programming started by Fundación MAPFRE with the desire to deepen the knowledge of photographic archives and funds, presents the photographic work that Jules Ainaud made during his trip through Catalonia between 1871 and 1872. The exhibition restores the legitimate authorship of this photographer and makes his work known.

It has been more than 150 years since the set of photographs that Jules Ainaud took in Catalonia between 1871 and 1872 on behalf of the J. Laurent house were exhibited at the Ateneu Barcelonès for the first and only time. Like the photographs of the Levant area that this house marketed, for a long time these images had been considered to be the work of Jean Laurent himself. “today (…) with the documentary evidence on the table, it can be affirmed that Jules Ainaud was the effective author of these shots taken in this area that the J. Laurent house used for marketing between 1872 and 1879”, says the curator of the exhibition, Jep Martí Baiget.

The firm J. Laurent, for which Ainaud worked, was founded in Madrid in 1856 by the Frenchman Jean Laurent, and represents the main example in Spain of the emergence and development, since the middle of the 19th century, of companies destined to satisfy the increasingly intense demand for photographic images, for private portraits, but also for reproductions of works of art, landscapes and views of cities and monuments.

The exhibition presents one hundred vintage copies on albumen paper from wet collodion glass negatives. In addition, it includes fourteen stereoscopic views and thirteen reproductions of the glass plate negatives of these views, which allow one to appreciate the richness of image detail compared to works on paper. All these photographs were part of the catalogs that the Laurent company used for marketing between 1872 and 1879. The tour is completed with an oil portrait of Ainaud, the only one that is preserved, documentation and four letters that talk about the author’s trip to Catalonia in 1871 and 1872.

Text from the Fundación MAPFRE website

Jules Ainaud (French, 1837-1900)
Barcelona. Private house of the 17th century
1872
Arxiu Fotogràfic de Barcelona

Jules Ainaud (French, 1837-1900)
Barcelona. Panoramic view of Barcelona, from Montjuïc
1872
Arxiu Fotogràfic de Barcelona

Jules Ainaud (French, 1837-1900)
Poblet (Tarragona). Royal Gate of the convent
September 1871
National Library of Spain, Madrid

Jules Ainaud (French, 1837-1900)
Tarragona. The Cyclopean Wall
1871-1872
National Library of Spain, Madrid

Jules Ainaud (French, 1837-1900)
Tarragona. View of the port from the city
1871-1872
National Library of Spain, Madrid

It is now over one hundred and fifty years since the set of photographs Jules Ainaud took in Catalonia between 1871 and 1872, commissioned by the Laurent house, were exhibited for the first and only time to date at the Ateneo Barcelonés. Like the pictures of the Levante area marketed by that firm, this interesting set of images was long considered to be the work of Jean Laurent himself.

Jules Ainaud’s Catalonia (1871-1872) is the first public presentation that restores his legitimate authorship and highlights his contribution to the history of our photography.

The firm “J. Laurent & Cía.” for which Ainaud worked had been founded in Madrid in 1856 by the Frenchman Juan Laurent and represents the main example in Spain of the appearance and development, from the mid-19th century onwards, of companies aimed at satisfying the increasingly intense demand for photographic images, initially of private portraits, but soon also of reproductions of works of art, landscapes and views of cities and monuments.

This exhibition brings together around a hundred period prints on albumen paper from wet collodion glass negatives and is completed by fourteen stereoscopic views and thirteen reproductions of the glass plate negatives of these views, which allow the richness of the image details to be appreciated in comparison with the works on paper. All the prints were included in the catalogues that the Laurent company used to market them between 1872 and 1879.

Text from the Fundación MAPFRE website

Jules Ainaud (French, 1837-1900)
Barcelona. The castle of Montjuïc
1872
National Library of Spain, Madrid

Jules Ainaud (French, 1837-1900)
Barcelona. Plaza del Comercio, before the Palace
June 4, 1872
National Library of Spain, Madrid

Jules Ainaud (French, 1837-1900)
Tarragona. General view of Tarragona
1871-1872
National Library of Spain, Madrid

Jules Ainaud (French, 1837-1900)
Tarragona. Quarries of Tarragona
February 8, 1872
National Archaeological Museum of Tarragona

Antoni Caba (Spanish, 1838-1907)
Portrait of Jules Ainaud Escande
1872
Oil on canvas
National Museum of Art of Catalonia, Barcelona
Donated by the relatives of Carmen de Lasarte, 1965
© National Museum of Art of Catalonia, Barcelona