The aim of the exhibition is to celebrate the figure of this key artist for Spanish photography and to highlight the major renewal of photographic language that his work represented. Until 5 January 2019 at the Bárbara de Braganza Exhibition Hall (Madrid).
In Madrid today, 18 September, Fundación MAPFRE presented Humberto Rivas, an exhibition that covers the work of the photographer over the course of his entire career, from the 1960s up to 2005.
Rivas (Buenos Aires, 1937-Barcelona, 2009) was a key figure in the development of photography in Spain. The impact that his work had in Barcelona in the eighties and nineties represented a significant boost for the task of persuading a Spanish audience to recognize photography as a means of artistic creation.
His photographic work ranges from urban landscapes to portraits, a category that he never felt comfortable with nor wanted to pursue. He conceived his photographic work as an all-embracing whole. His images of the city are characterized by being deserted spaces without human presence. They are photos in which the protagonists are traffic signs, peeling walls or painted facades. His portraits are presented without any adornment whatsoever nor any reference to space or time, reflecting the innermost struggles and challenges faced by those who posed for him.
As the creator of a new method of documenting, his images seek to capture the impressions made by time and memory with a sober and simple style that encourages dialogue with the observer.
This retrospective includes over 180 examples of his work and archive material ordered chronologically and split into four sections: Argentina/North, Barcelona; The Start of Color and A Lifelong Project. It includes loans of period copies that come mainly from the Humberto Rivas Archive (Barcelona), as well as the main collections and museums that house his work: MNAC-National Museum of Catalan Art; IVAM-Valencian Institute, Love of Art Collection, MNCARS-The Reina Sofia National Art Center Museum; the Foto Colectania Foundation and Fundación MAPFRE.
Taking part in the press conference were the exhibition’s curator, Pep Benlloch, and the director of Fundación MAPFRE’s Culture Area, Pablo Jiménez Burillo.