Ramón Masats: Visit Spain: Fourth Edition

A photographic ode to Spanish street life in the 1950s and '60s

Between 1955 and 1965, photographer Ramón Masats (born 1931) toured his native Spain on assignment for the Illustrated Gazette, creating patriotic images of Spanish culture that are lauded for their sharp graphics and documentary acuity. His work coincided with the end of the Franco regime's autarchy-"Visit Spain" was the first message used in advertising by the Ministry of Education and Tourism. Thus, Masats' imagery captures Spain at a nascent stage of cultural liberation and increasing globalism. As Spanish journalist Chema Conesa writes, "Back in those years, no one talked about politics or stirred up their own dreams…The reverie took the form of photographic images, those that seemed to truly reflect the world to which we were denied access, or from which we were unable to escape."