THE MASCORT FAMILY FUND. By Marta Grassot.
Monday, November 2, 2020 at 6:30 p.m.
(Videos and photos from Jitsi.org)
This photo shoot also had to be held online, with a presence of about 26 connected users.
After the introduction of Lluís Saura, Marta Grassot began her presentation. This conference is part of the exhibition “Private lives, shared stories. The photographic collection of the Mascort family”, curated by Marta herself in 2018, at the Mascort Foundation, in Torroella de Montgrí.
Due to its chronological extension, and also due to its variety in terms of photographic typologies, the Mascort family collection is an excellent example of the value that a private photographic archive can have. This collection, which has its origins from 1860, allows us to explain and see photography from different points of view, making it a legacy worthy of being studied and presented as a documentary archive of unquestionable value, through which different aspects can be shelled out, both of the history of photography – and of the photographers who made it possible – and of society.
We can highlight several aspects of the Mascort family’s photographic collection. The first of these is its wide chronological scope, which allows us to see an evolution of photographic procedures and formats, becoming an example of the preservation of some of the older photographic procedures, such as a colored albumin of c. 1862, two ferrotypes from the end of the s. XIX and early XX, and a large number of stereoscopic glass plates (dating from the first quarter of the twentieth century). In terms of format, a large number of business cards stand out, as well as large photographs dating from the early 20th century.
Secondly, the great presence of national and international professional photographers (with a total of 123 different backgrounds) is also relevant, whose work comes through family from the United States of America, Brazil or Cuba, d ‘Germany or France, as well as Barcelona, Girona or Torroella de Montgrí. Authors such as Cohner, Langlois, Amoretty, Martínez de Hebert, Napoleon and Audouard coexist with the work of Esplugas, Esquirol and Masaguer.
Another feature of the collection is the large number of amateur photographs from the first decade of the s. xx it contains, and thanks to which particular stories can be defined and the evolution of domestic, both family and social life forms seen. As a curiosity, it should be mentioned that part of the family tree has been completed with images.
Finally, it should be noted that the Mascort Foundation has an online catalog available to the public that facilitates the consultation of the family photographic archive, which is gradually being expanded, also with other photographic collections in the collection:
https://archivo.fundaciomascort.com/ca/
Extract from the Photo Talk (Catalan)
