the place is the Ramon Dimas archive?

The shocking factor is that, for now, it is not possible to know the magnitude of his legacy as a result of Dimas’s archive, which has been owned by Grupo Planeta because it purchased the Destino publishing home, is lacking. According to Huertas Claveria himself, Dimas’s archive is supposedly in Planeta warehouses in a city in Toledo. However, the present editorial director of Destino and Grupo 62, Emili Rosales, states: “At Destino, since it became part of Grupo Planeta, there is no record whatsoever of the existence of this archive.”

“My father died when I was one year old. My mother was widowed and at that time didn’t take the step to find out what was happening with her father’s archive,” laments the photographer’s daughter, Maria Dimas. When Dimas died, the proprietor of Destino, Josep Vergés, took cost of the archive and closed the store that the photographer had as a result of “the era of black and white photography had passed,” because the lawyer and historian Josep Cruanyes recalled in an article printed in 1992 within the journal Head from the College of Journalists. In addition to his personal pictures, Dimas’s archive contained glass negatives of aviation images that he had purchased from Josep Gaspar when the latter had returned to Barcelona penniless: he had suffered an accident that prevented him from working and had compelled him to desert the photographic studios he had based in Argentina.

An excellent profession reduce quick

“Ramon Dimas is a very important figure of the era in which he worked,” says images historian Laura Terré, who additionally factors out that his archive is “one of the best organized and cataloged of its time.” Unfortunately, his untimely dying reduce quick a profession that also had a lot to supply. “He died very young, at a time when he was becoming an important professional, although he had been ill for a couple of years prior,” Terré notes. “Dimas’s career was meteoric, and with his death, a significant career was halted,” she emphasizes. In quick, Dimas is “a totem” of postwar images that deserves to be rediscovered.

Dimas was three years older than Francesc Català-Roca, two years older than Joan Colom, and 7 years older than Eugeni Forcano. “He was a pillar within the Destino publishing house, where the illustrated press and books well illustrated by photographers were very important,” says Terré. To make the Guide to Catalonia He accompanied Pla by automotive all through the nation and in addition took the images for the guidebooks to Andalusia, the Valencian Community, Galicia, the Basque Country, and Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, and Lanzarote. He additionally took the images for Sebastià Gasch’s e book. Inside the circus, additionally printed by Destino.

Josep Pla did not very similar to photographers, however he made an exception for Dimas, and when he died he devoted a really heartfelt article to him. Destination“Ramon Dimas demonstrated a vitality, a thirst for seeing things, that I have rarely encountered.” For Dimas, images consisted of “observation, knowing how to turn things around, discovering an authentic profile.” “In general,” Dimas additionally mentioned, “photographs are unintelligible; that is, the image one tries to convey of something has nothing to do with the thing itself. Transforming the mechanism of a photographic device into a means of expression is undoubtedly very difficult.” Above all, it was crucial “to know how to look, to observe, to see things” and to make it a behavior.

Among the milestones previous to specializing in sports activities images are the marriage reportage of Rainier of Monaco and a portrait of Ava Gardner. He additionally photographed Salvador Dalí nude for the duvet of the e book Dalí within the nudePublished by Janés. “I haven’t been able to do a detailed reconstruction of his work,” Terré laments, “but in his Barcelona photo essays, you can see how he focuses on everyday life at a time when everyday life couldn’t be published. He focuses on the neighborhoods, and he has a great sensitivity when it comes to capturing details.” She additionally acknowledges his position as an “action photographer” on the soccer area. “Sports photography is the poor relation of photography. It seems like the photos are always the same, like those of goals, but in Dimas’s photos there’s a lot of atmosphere, and you also have to take into account the technical innovations he must have made, because taking those photos was difficult,” the professional explains.

A really private imaginative and prescient of Galicia

One of the few exhibitions of Dimas’s work, particularly the images from the Galicia information printed by Destino, was held by the Xunta de Galicia on the Filmoteca in Santiago de Compostela in 2000. The prints on show have been created from negatives discovered within the Destino e book file, by Joan Teixidor. This file additionally contained beforehand unpublished discarded pictures. “We found the photographs and asked to borrow them. They charged a very high price by Galician standards,” recollects journalist and author Enrique Acuña, co-curator of the exhibition with Huertas Claveria. A 12 months after that transaction, Andreu Teixidor bought his share of Destino to Planeta. “This is a tragedy for us,” warns Andreu Teixidor.

The lack of the archive goes past merely not getting access to the images; it additionally means the daughter is left unprotected concerning the administration of the copyright. The images store owned by Vergés and run by Dimas. But earlier than she died, Anna Vergés assured Maria Dimas that that they had nothing and that she did not know the whereabouts of the funds.

Of these pictures, Enrique Acuña recollects their uniqueness in comparison with different Galician photographers. “Dimas took a kind of photograph that very few Galician photographers could cultivate,” he explains. “His urban vision greatly interested us, and he transformed things like stone markers along the roadsides and building facades into photographic subjects. He worked with medium format; I suppose he carried the camera around. He was particularly drawn to women. He didn’t aim with his eyes, but rather looked down to focus.” Dimas photographed the sheets that girls hung to dry on massive patches of grass, the posh vehicles in entrance of the grand resort within the Plaza del Obradoiro, the primary Vespas, and the naval garrisons in Ferrol.

A boy captivated with soccer

Born right into a farming household, Dimas was launched to photojournalism by reporter Ramon Claret i Artigas, who met him throughout a visit to Pont d’Armentera and was impressed by Dimas’s ardour for soccer and his intensive information. At the time, Dimas was solely about eleven years outdated, and Claret took him to his dwelling in Barcelona, ​​along with his dad and mom’ blessing, to apprentice him. Citing Joan Bert i Pedreny, the son of considered one of Claret’s colleagues, Cruanyes explains that Dimas was accountable for going to França station to ship the images to the practice conductor or the inspector of the Madrid categorical practice. “Mr. Claret would give him a peseta for the tram fare, and with the change he would buy a sandwich,” says Cruanyes.

Dimas’s profession took a flip shortly earlier than the outbreak of the Civil War, when he left Claret and commenced working at photographer Antoni Campañá’s store on Tallers Street. “Later he was mobilized and ended up as a liaison officer, with a motorcycle he couldn’t pick up when he dropped it. After the war, he still had to do his military service,” the article additionally states. Afterwards, Dimas returned to work at Campañá’s store on Rambla de Catalunya as head of the darkroom.

He started working for Destination and Sports Life While nonetheless working for Campañá, he grew to become the journal’s essential photographer when Josep Vergés took over from the primary editor, Albert Maluquer. According to Cruanyes, Dimas was capable of mix this work along with his darkroom work, which had been his essential occupation till then and what distinguished him from different professionals. “His excellent darkroom technique would be fundamental to his photography. He himself said that, apart from capturing the image, he surpassed his colleagues in darkroom work on enlargements,” says Cruanyes. Among Dimas’s milestones at this journal have been quite a few exclusives, such because the one protecting Kocis’s arrival, and he grew to become an excellent pal of Kubala after doing an unique photograph essay on him at Poble Espanyol in Montjuïc.

The store on Caspe Street

Dimas’s profession took one other flip when he partnered with Lluís Permanyer and transformed a part of Permanyer’s coal store at 23 Casp Street right into a images store (with the darkroom within the basement). Dimas let Leopoldo Pomés work on this darkroom at evening. “He gave us our first paid jobs,” wrote Leopoldo Pomés in his memoirs. It was not a sin. Experiences of a gaze (Ediciones 62) –: some sweaters from Ruensa and others from Nerva, and we began for the primary time with skilled fashions, a complete unknown world.” Soon the cash arrived: “I gave him half a dozen Cuban cigars. I was very happy doing it, but now, when I think about it, I feel stingy. I should have given him a whole box,” Pomés acknowledged.

The coal store survived till Permanyer bought it to Josep Vergés within the late fifties, and he devoted the complete house to images. This store was subsequent door to the legendary 1959. It was a gathering place for photographers of the time, who introduced their movie to be developed.