During the mid-1960s, the members of Equipo Crónica – Rafael Solbes, Manuel Valdés and Joan Antoni Toledo (the latter left the group shortly after its formation) – established themselves as some of the leading figures in the Estampa Popular artistic movement, which also featured individuals such as Andreu Alfaro, Ana Peters, Anzo, Francesc Jarque, Joan Cardells and Jordi Ballester, who would later come together in another group embodying both the Valencian and Spanish artistic scene – Equipo Realidad.
Estampa Popular began as an artistic reaction against the Franco dictatorship, a graphic message which integrated different elements from distinct cultural fields (from historical works to images taken from photojournalism), while also reflecting major international trends at the time, such as pop art. The members of Estampa Popular placed as much importance on the underlying message of the works as on their form so that different sectors of societies could understand it, generating a clear and inherently artistic message. The art critic and historian Tomás Llorens was a key figure during the consolidation of this movement. Llorens was responsible for the initial idea of the exhibition which has since been hosted by the Bancaja Foundation in Valencia’s Plaza de Tetuán, which thanks to its size and impact has become this season’s most important display.
Bancaja Foundation. Creative commons license BY-NC-ND 2.0The historian Boye Llorens Peters has put together an exhibition which assembles works by Equipo Crónica, since its creation in 1964 until its disintegration during the transition from the 1970s to 1980s. It is a flashback made up of 165 works from private collections and different museums, which received the support of the Obra Social La Caixa. The exhibition can now be visited in our city and outstrips the works assembled in a previous display in the Bilbao Museum of Fine Arts last year.
Bancaja Foundation. Creative commons license BY-NC-ND 2.0Photos belong to the Bancaja Foundation. All rights reserved.
