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Emili Godes

Emili Godes

1895–1970

Photographer of modernity

Emili Godes was a versatile photographer whose work spanned artistic creation, industry, science, advertising and film. His eye brought photographic modernity into all these fields, from Barcelona and over more than five decades.
Explore the workDiscover his story
Emili Godes working in his photographic laboratory, against a red background.

About Emili Godes

A working photographer with an avant-garde eye

Emili Godes Hurtado (Barcelona, 1895–1970) trained as an apprentice at Casa Riba and became head of the laboratory at Casa Cuyàs before setting up as an independent photographer in 1928. He took part in founding the Agrupació Fotogràfica de Catalunya, documented the works on Montjuïc for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition and, during the Spanish Civil War, worked with the Generalitat’s Comissariat de Propaganda and on the shooting of André Malraux’s Sierra de Teruel. His full story is told in the biography.

After the war he photographed for companies such as Catalana de Gas y Electricidad, Coca-Cola, Laboratorios Esteve, Myrurgia and Osram; his friendship with Francisco García del Cid and Dr Antoni Puigvert led him to scientific and medical photography and photomacrography. He was also a film stills photographer and made three short films. Across all these commissions he applied the visual languages of New Objectivity and the avant-garde, as explored in A modern vision.

Godes never built an archive of his own: his work ended up scattered across the IEFC, the MNAC, the Filmoteca, other institutions and the family. This site brings together a catalogue of 2,801 photographs in 255 series and nine themes, a selection of featured photographs and the story of his recognition and legacy.

His work by theme