Xavier Miserachs i Ribalta (in Catalan; Valencian pronounced as /ʃəβiˈe mizəˈɾaɡz i riˈβaltə/; July 12, 1937 – August 14, 1998) was a Spanish photographer. He studied medicine at the University of Barcelona, but left school to be a photographer. He exhibited his work in Barcelona from 1956. His work is reminiscent of neorealism and is representative of the years of Spanish economic recovery, 1950–1960. His photographs show him as a creator of a new image of the city and its people. In 1998 he received the Creu de Sant Jordi of the Catalan government.
On February 21, 2011, the news was made public that Miserachs' daughters deposited their father's archive of more than 80,000 images at the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art.[1]
Miserachs was born in Barcelona on July 12, 1937, in the middle of the Spanish Civil War. He was the son of a hematologist and a librarian, Manuel Miserachs and Montserrat Ribalta. He discovered photography at the Technical Institute of Santa Eulàlia, in Barcelona, where he met Ramon Fabregat and his brother Antonio. He studied four courses of a career in medicine, but left shortly before the end to embark on a career as a professional photographer.
In 1952, he became a member of the Photographic Association of Catalonia (Agrupació Fotogràfica de Catalunya), where he became friends with Oriol Maspons. He first exhibited at the headquarters of the Photographic Association of Catalonia in 1957, along with Ricard Terré and Ramon Masats. In 1959 they presented work together again in the Sala Aixelà of Barcelona. He began his professional career in 1959, when Xavier Busquets commissioned him to guide Picasso in his drawings of the facade of the College of Architects of Catalonia.
In 1961, after returning from military service, Miserachs wanted independence, and set up his first studio in Casa David at Carrer Tuset in Barcelona. He began photographing on request and for book authors with his work appearing in books such as Barcelona Blanc i Negre (with 400 photographs recounting the war in Barcelona) and Costa Brava Show.
During the 1960s he also served as a news reporter for Spanish magazines. In 1968 he signed an exclusive contract with the Revista Triunfo. He also published several articles in La Vanguardia, Gaceta Ilustrada, Interviú, Bazaar and Magazin. He was thus able to witness such historic events as May 68, Swinging London and Prague Spring. Miserachs engaged mainly in editorial photography but also did work doing reports.
In January 1967 he co-founded the Escola Eina, where he was one of the first professors of photography. He occasionally frequented Boccaccio's, then the meeting place par excellence of the gauche divine. In 1997 he published his memoir, contact sheets, which won a Gaziel prize.
Miserachs died on August 14, 1998, aged 61, in the Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol in Badalona from lung cancer.[2]
Miserachs was the youngest member of a group of photographers led by Francesc Català-Roca. The group's other members were: Oriol Maspons, Ricard Terré, Paco Ontañón, Leopold Pomés, and Ramon Masats.
At the time, the only photography magazine was Arte Fotografico, founded by the Ignacio Barceló in 1952, which featured mostly amateur photography. It was announced that Josep M. Casademont would assume the role of promoter between the theoretical and Catalan photographers. In 1963 he published his own magazine, Image and Sound, taking the same direction of Sala Aixelà of Barcelona. Here, Casademont describes the group's work as neorealist:
His publication in Barcelona, Blanc y Negre, in 1964, was a significant event in Miserachs's career. The book also looked upon the sour and chaotic urban world as they complete the visions of Barcelona (Wolfgang Weber, 1929 and Català-Roca, 1954), and went beyond charming and picturesque character, conveying a new sensitivity.
Miserachs had a brief foray with film, making underground movie shots with some of his friends Enrique Vila-Matas, Emma Cohen and Jordi Cadena. Later he directed and produced his own short film, Amén historieta muda (Amen dumb cartoon.) He made the film still from Juguetes rotos, directed by Manuel Summers, in 1966.
In 2001 the first Xavier Miserachs Photography Award was held in Barcelona, a black and white photography contest named after the author for his work in Barcelona Blanc i Negre.
In 1998 the town of Palafrugell named a route between the beaches of Calella de Palafrugell and Llafranc after Miserachs. The Biennial of Photography Xavier Miserachs, dedicated to documentary photography, is also held in Palafrugell.[3] In the biennials of 1999, 2004, 2008 and 2010 exhibitions were held of Miserachs' work.
The exhibition hall on the ground floor of the Palace of the Viceroy's wife in Barcelona was, between December 17, 1998, and 2010, named in honour of Miserachs. In 2010, Xavier Sala Miserachs moved to the old Hall of Numismatics, and the ground floor was renamed Virreina Lab.
Miserachs' archive includes approximately 60,000 negatives, 20,000 slides, 2,500 contact sheets, notebooks with personal notes, administrative documentation, and part of his personal library. Since 2011 it has been housed in the Research and Documentation Center Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona.
He published several photo books, most with text in Catalan or Spanish.
| Year | Original Naming | Text by | Description | Publisher | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | Barcelona, blanc i negre | Josep Maria Espinàs | Aymà | [4] | ||
| 1966 | Costa Brava show | Manuel Vázquez i Peter Coughtry | Kairós | [5] | ||
| 1966 | Conversaciones en Cataluña | Salvador Pàniker | Interviews with Josep Pla, Ana María Matute, Josep Maria Gironella, Salvador Espriu, Josep Maria de Porcioles, Antoni Tàpies, Josep Maria Subirachs or Salvador Dalí among others. | Kairós | [6] | |
| 1967 | Los cachorros | Mario Vargas Llosa | Lumen | [7] | ||
| 1967 | El arte prerrománico asturiano | Antonio Bonet Correa | Polígrafa | |||
| 1969 | Conversaciones en Madrid | Salvador Pàniker | Interviews with Camilo José Cela, Antonio Buero Vallejo, Aranguren, Sáenz de Oiza among others. | Kairós | [8] | |
| 1978 | Andalucía Barroca | Antonio Bonet Correa | Polígrafa | [9] | ||
| 1982 | Catalunya des del mar | Carles Barral | Collection Vida i costums dels catalans. | Edicions 62 | [10] | |
| 1984 | Aprendre a conviure | Josep Maria Espinàs | Aprende a conviure. Reflexions sobre civilitat. | Caixa de Sabadell | [11] | |
| 1985 | Catalunya a vol d'ocell | Carles Barral, Josep Maria Ainaud | Edicions 62 | [12] | ||
| 1987 | Barcelona a vol d'ocell | Montserrat Roig i Fransitorra | Edicions 62 | [13] | ||
| 1987 | Passeig de Mar | Xavier Febrés | Passeig de mar: la costa catalana del delta de l'Ebre a Cotlliure. | Ed. Plaza y Janés/Diari de Barcelona | [14] | |
| 1988 | Els barcelonins | Colita, Oriol Maspons, Ana María Moix, Terenci Moix | Edicions 62 | [15] | ||
| 1988 | Les Barcelones del Món | J. Nuñez, Rafael Pradas | Caixa de Barcelona | [16] | ||
| 1990 | Metros i Metròpolis | Xavier Febrés, Mercè Sala | Diputació de Barcelona | [17] | ||
| 1990 | Gran Teatre del Liceu | With Ferran Freixa. | L'Avenç | [18] | ||
| 1992 | El Gran Teatre del Liceu a Sevilla | Ramon Pla i Arxé | L'Avenç | [19] | ||
| 1997 | L'Empordà, llibre de meravelles | Antoni Puigverd | Edicions 62 | [20] | ||
| 1995 | Ciutat Vella. Visions des d'una passió | Joan Barril, Josep Maria Carandell, Josep Cuní, Arcadi Espada, Josep Maria Espinàs, Xavier Febrés, Patrícia Gabancho, Josep Maria Huertas, Josep M. Lladó, Lluís Permanyer, Alfred Rexach i Margarita Rivière. | Lunwerg | [21] | ||
| 1997 | Fulls de contacte | Xavier Miserachs | Premi Gaziel 1997 | Edicions 62 | [22] | |
| 1998 | Girona a Quatre Vents | Joan Domènech i Moner | Lunwerg | [23] | ||
| 1998 | Criterio fotográfico | Xavier Miserachs | Editorial Omega | [24] | ||
| 2004 | Conversaciones en Madrid y en Cataluña | Salvador Pàniker i Alemany | reedition | Kairós | [25] | |
| 2006 | Memòries de la Costa Brava | Rosa Regàs | Fotografies de F.Català Roca i Miserachs | Lupita Books | [26] |