The works were carried out by the UMU Photographic Research Laboratory commissioned by the City Council
The Department of Culture of the City of Murcia, through its Municipal Archives, carried out a new digitization project of a selection of images from the collection of Murcian photographer Juan López. The commission was made to the Photographic Research Laboratory of the University of Murcia (LIFUM), coordinated by the doctor in History of Art and curator, Fernando Vázquez Casillas.
Once the work was completed, this Tuesday the formal act of delivery took place in the Investigators’ Room of the Municipal Archive of Murcia. On this occasion, 10,100 negatives have been digitized, in addition to the more than 6,000 that had already been digitized previously. The processed images narrate the future of the municipality from the 1930s to the 1980s of the 20th century.
The mayor of Murcia, José Antonio Serrano, pointed out that «López has allowed us to learn about the most recent history of our municipality and delve into different aspects of post-war Murcia and the years immediately after»
For his part, the Councilor for Culture, Tourism and Sports, Pedro García Rex, highlighted “the historical story narrated by the images of Juan López” and wanted to thank “the gesture that the family once had in offering the Murcia City Council the archive of this great Murcian photographer».
“With this new impetus, we continue to advance in the recovery and dissemination of municipal heritage,” added García Rex, who also announced that work is already underway to organize an exhibition that shows Murcians a selection of these images.
The negatives on which we have worked have been processed in RAW, TIFF and JPEG formats (prepared for conservation and dissemination in different media and procedures), in accordance with the requirements established by the Municipal Archive, on two replicated hard drives.
In the coming months, the technicians of the Municipal Archives will review and describe them in order to make these images available to those interested on the Municipal Archives website.
Half a century of history in pictures
The photographic archive of the Juan López collection was acquired by the Murcia City Council in 1995, and deposited in the Municipal Archive of Murcia. With these, there are already more than 16,000 digitized negatives that show various themes (football, festivals, folklore, the city…).
In his 53 years of profession (1932-1985), Juan López covered one of the most brilliant stages of Murcian graphic journalism in different media in the Region of Murcia: ‘La Verdad’, ‘Línea’, ‘Hoja del Lunes’ , and various national publications: Agencia EFE (as correspondent in Murcia), ‘ABC’, ‘El Ruedo’, ‘Marca’ and even ‘El Nodo’. In addition, until his retirement, he was the owner of one of the first and most renowned photographic establishments in the city, located on Trapería Street.
He collaborated in various publications, among which ‘Murcia, towns and landscapes’ stands out, under the direction of Torres Fontes and text by Antonio Hoyos. Throughout his life he maintained a close friendship with Murcian artists of his time, such as Pedro Flores, Mariano Ballester, Andrés Conejo and González Conte. Winner of innumerable awards, Juan López found in photography the way to make his own art.
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