Reference code

CAT INSPAI 3

Level of description

Collection

Title

Pablo García Cortés, Pablito fonds

Date(s)

Dates of creation: 1940-1984 / Dates of addition: 1980-1984 and 1984-2009

Volume and support

74,360 cellulose acetate negatives in black and white, 35 mm format; 297 plastic negatives in colour, 35 mm format; 475 black and white photographs on paper, 10 × 15 cm format; 1,028 black and white photographs on paper, 13 × 18 cm format; 1,654 black and white photographs on paper, 18 × 24 cm format (gelatin process); 570 colour photographs on paper, 10 × 15 cm format; 31 colour photographs on paper, 13 × 18 cm format; and 7 colour photographs on paper, 18 × 24 cm format.

Name of producer(s)

Pablo García Cortés

Producer history

Pablo García Cortés was born in Almería in 1922 and died in Girona in 1999. During the years of the Civil War, he studied in a school in the French Basque Country and stayed for a short time in Salt (Girona). In 1939, he took up exile with his family in Algeria, in the Oran region. He later moved to Mohammadia (formerly Perregaux during French colonisation; located between Oran and Algiers), where he began his professional career as a correspondent for L'Echo d'Oran newspaper, allowing him to experience the events of the Second World War in Algeria in 1942. He also ran a bar. At the end of 1950, he had to flee from Algeria. He returned to Spain and worked as a photographer in Madrid and Barcelona, until he finally settled in Girona. He continued to work as a press photographer, but, since he did not have a press pass, he took many photographs that other professionals had to sign so that they could be published. He worked for the sports publication Lean y Dicen, the newspaper Tele-expres, the weekly publication Paris Match, and the agencies EFE and Europa Press. Together with his wife, Ramona Pera, he also ran a bar called Ven y Ven, located on Carrer Pascual i Prats. In 1966, he worked for the Costa Brava edition of the Perpignan-based newspaper L'Indépendant. In 1976, he was appointed editor of the Girona-based newspaper Los Sitios. In 1984, he became the official photographer of the Civil Government of Girona, a position he held until his retirement in 1988. In 1994, he deposited his fonds in the Emili Massanas i Burcet Image Archive (today INSPAI, Girona Provincial Council's Image Centre) and he received numerous tributes.

Archive history

The fonds contains images gathered throughout the photojournalistic career of the creator, and is focused primarily on photojournalism in Girona province. It was located in his home and most of the negatives were kept in their original paper envelopes with strips of glassine paper, which the author numbered according to the date of creation. Another part of the material, mostly rolls of uncut negatives and copies on paper, was stored in large cardboard boxes, mixed together and with no order or numbering. The year and subject was written in permanent marker on the tip of some strips of negatives. In 1993, the fonds was acquired by INSPAI, Girona Provincial Council's Image Centre, and the agreement was formalised between the photographer and Girona Provincial Council by means of a signed deposit agreement. The first treatment undertaken was the digitisation of the original negatives and the transfer of over 20,000 negatives to a Kodak Photo-CD format. In addition, a copy was made on contact sheets and the copied originals were stored in the folders where the contact sheets were placed. An inventory list was also made. Next, a file-level description of the fonds was added to the archive database. The descriptions were based on those prepared by the photographer and contained in the envelopes of the original negative images. In 1996, 25 per cent of the fonds was described and by 1990, 60 per cent had been described. The description was prepared in a Word document and in a database that was subsequently included in the Centre's general database, through which all fonds are managed. In 2005, the author's widow, Ramona Pera, signed a gratuitous loan agreement for the fonds and cancelled the deposit agreement. In 2006, she donated the fonds and transferred the exploitation rights, cancelling the gratuitous loan agreement. The fonds descriptions were also revised and a list was made of possible duplicates for deletion. In 2007, Mrs Ramona Pera found more of her husband's photographic material in a parking lot owned by the family and, after checking it, she submitted it to INSPAI in two instalments; one in 2007 and another in 2008. They were cardboard boxes with uncut rolls of plastic negatives and paper photographs, some in poor condition due to moisture or dirt. This material was counted and checked by INSPAI technicians. The images were then organised, those in very poor condition were cleaned and separated, and the rest were placed in boxes and are kept in the INSPAI premises awaiting treatment. Also in 2008, a digitisation guide was drawn up and the images were digitised by an external company. From 2009 to 2013, the digital images in Kodak Photo-CD format were changed to TIFF and JPEG due to the possible obsolescence of the previous format. In 2013, Ramona Pera contacted INSPAI to donate her husband's photographic material, the cameras he worked with, camera lenses, and 35 mm plastic negatives relating to a painter from Alt Empordà: Salvador Dalí.

Details of entry

The Pablito Fonds was acquired in several stages: in 1993, a deposit agreement was made between the author and Girona Provincial Council; in 2005, the author's widow, Ramona Pera, signed a gratuitous loan contract with the Provincial Council for Pablo (Pablito) García Cortés's photographic fonds; and, in 2006, Ramona Pera donated the fonds and transferred the exploitation rights, cancelling the previous contract.

Scope and content

The fonds brings together the photographic material generated by its creator and author, Pablo García, during his professional career as a graphic reporter and photojournalist, mainly in publications in Girona province. The chronological scope of the graphic material spans from 1940 to 1999, when the author died. Geographically, it is focused primarily on Girona province. The thematic content can be appreciated in the work he carried out for the Costa Brava edition of the Perpignan-based newspaper, L'Indépendant, looking at the tourist boom suffered in the Costa Brava during the 1960s, with images of tourists, nightlife, bullfights, famous people, etc. From his time as editor and graphic reporter for important agencies such as EFE, we have images of political, social, cultural and sporting events, famous figures such as Salvador Dalí, and performances by other artists from the world of show business during the 1960s and 1970s.

Conditions for access

Free and open access.

Related documentation

Clippings from newspapers where he published his images and publicity material from discos, dance halls, and other places he did reports on.

Author and date(s)

SGM, December 2009-2013.

Sources

The unit of description. For a better description, we used the lists made at earlier stages (mentioned in section 4.5), publications that refer to the creator (mentioned in section 5.4), and related material (mentioned in section 5.3).