Exhibition: Évadés. 29 décembre 1943. Fotografies de Jacques Léonard

Título:
Exhibition: Évadés. 29 décembre 1943. Fotografies de Jacques Léonard
Cuándo:
Sáb, 24. Marzo 2018 - Dom, 16. Septiembre 2018
Categoría:
Altres Activitats Històric EN

Descripción del evento

Exhibition: Évadés. December 29, 1943. Photographs by Jacques Léonard

It can be visited at the MUME from March 24 to September 16, 2018.

The exhibition is based on photographic reproductions of the documentary work that Jacques Léonard made in December 1943 to narrate the passage through Spain of thousands of young French people trying to escape fascism to join ranks in North Africa. It is one of the very few graphic testimonies of this historical moment. It is a set of photographs of a convoy of refugees, mostly French, who arrived from different parts of the Spanish geography, first in Madrid and finally in Malaga, where they embarked for Africa and freedom, the December 29, 1943.

Jacques Léonard (Paris, 1909 - L'Escala, 1994), son of a horse dealer of gypsy origin and the owner of a sewing house in Paris, arrives late in the world of photography but with an important background image-related professional. He soon began in the world of cinema working on editing and production and collaborating with various directors.

He traveled all over the world until 1940 when he arrived in Spain in search of locations for a film about Christopher Columbus, which failed to be shot due to the war situation in Europe. He met the director general of cinematography, who offered him the opportunity to work in various commissions and settled in Madrid.

In 1949 he moved to Barcelona with the theater entrepreneur Arthur Kaps and became his right hand man. Shortly afterwards he met the comedian Robert Lamouret, whom he accompanied as a secretary on a world tour. With him he travels to England, Australia, Greece and Italy. At the end of the tour, in 1952, he settled in Barcelona where he fell in love with Rosario Amaya, a gypsy who works as a model artist. She marries Rosario and begins her career as a freelance photographer.

His legacy consists of 18,000 negatives deposited by his children in the Photographic Archive of Barcelona. They deal with various topics and it is worth mentioning the almost 3,000 dedicated to documenting gypsy culture.

"Jacques Léonard recorded with his photographs (...) the stay in the bullring of Malaga of a large group of young people waiting for the order to leave Spain. (...) This group was to leave on December 26, 1943, the day after Christmas, and that, due to unclear circumstances, the departure was postponed until the 29th, which extended the waiting time for the which piled up in that makeshift lodging. (...) Léonard’s photographs show the boys wearing an identification card with their first and last names, and represent a first-rate source to illustrate the departure of refugees from Spanish ports. This is probably the only graphic material known so far about this historical episode that, for decades, had been forgotten in Spain. (...) Few then imagined that Spanish ports had facilitated the enlistment of thousands of young people in the Allied army. "

Josep Calvet

More information at:

DocField Barcelona - Jacques Léonard. Exhibition "Escapes. December 29, 1943"

Marc Domènec Gallery - Exhibition "Évadés. December 29, 1943 - Jacques Léonard"

Web Jacques Léonard

Documentary "Jacques Léonard. El Paio Chac" (Yago Léonard, 2011)

Jacques Léonard - Every day, a photographer

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