Beyond photographs: chronicles at Arxiu Mas

Adolf Mas (Solsona, 1860 - Barcelona, 1936) was a distinguished photographer. His works, mainly conducted during the first two decades of the 20^th century, are honoured for their compositional quality, but what turned him into a role model in the study of history of art was his exceptional business view, for it led him to create Arxiu Mas, one of the main photography workshops focused on Spanish art. The book Fotografiar el patrimonio artístico. Génesis e historia del Arxiu Mas analyses the conception and structure of this business, as well as the work of several professionals who worked there to gather a photographic collection about the artistic and monumental Spain, his son Pelai Mas, being one of them.

The book, made by historian Carmen Perrotta, includes a prologe by the art historian María de los Santos García Felguera, gathering a biography of Adolf Mas, “a lawyer who wanted to be a photographer”, and the narration of the life of Arxiu Mas towards its business success.Based on the unpublished documents guarded by Institute Amatller d’Art Hispànic, Perrotta talks about the photographic collection, the working tools and the team of the company, as well as institutional assignments that led them to photograph the heritage and the companies carried out to create the well-known Iconographic [Art] Repertoire of Spain. The volume closes with a chapter dedicated to the turn the archive took during the Spanish Civil War, after Adolf Mas passed away.

This book is part of the Memoria Artium collection, which offers books based on original researches, written by rigorous professionals but without renouncing to the necessary pleasantness with a wide reading audience interested in the history of art in Catalonia. The collection results from the co-edition between the universities of Barcelona, Autonomous of Catalonia, Girona, Lleida, Technical of Catalonia, Rovira i Virgili, the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, and the Design Museum of Barcelona. The latest published works are El retaule tabernacle de Santa Maria de l’Estrella de la catedral de Tortosa, by Licia Buttà (ed.), Josep Alanyà and Voravit Roonthiva, and El Grand Tour de Josep Anton de Cabanyes i Ballester (1797-1852). Viatges i afició col·leccionista a la llum d’Europa, by Francesc Miralpeix Vilamala.

Carmen Perrotta graduated in History and Conservation of Artistic and Archaeological Assets at the University of Calabria and holds a doctorate in Medieval Cultures by the University of Barcelona. Her doctoral thesis, focused on Arxiu Mas, led her to receive the extraordinary doctoral award 2018-2019. She has made several research stays related to history of photography, her area of expertise, in several institutions with headquarters in Rome. Also, she commissioned the exhibition “Adolf Mas. Els ulls de Barcelona”, organized by the Photography Center KBr Foundation MAPFRE (Barcelona, 2022). Her main publications are focused on the relationship between photograph means and historic and artistic heritage. Since 2018, she has been developing her professional tasks at the Institut Amatller d’Art Hispànic Foundation.