Biography
Emili Godes Hurtado
Barcelona, 1895 – 1970
Emili Godes Hurtado (Barcelona, 1895–1970) was a versatile photographer whose career spanned more than five decades. He worked in industrial, advertising, scientific, medical, artistic and film photography, while also exploring the creative possibilities of the image.
His career reflects the transformation of photography during the twentieth century: from his early years of technical training to the adoption of the languages of modernity and the avant-gardes across all kinds of professional commissions.
Despite this extensive and varied output, Godes never set about building an archive of his own work. Unlike other contemporary photographers, who organised and preserved their collections, his work became dispersed among commissions, companies, publications and institutions. The absence of a personal archive helps explain why he remains little known in some circles today, and why much of his work has had to be reconstructed from collections held in different places.
Childhood and training
Emili Godes was born in Barcelona on 14 April 1895, into a family connected with music and the arts. His father was a tenor at the Liceo and a choirmaster. Emili received musical training in singing and violin, and also developed an interest in painting and art books. This education helped shape a sensibility that he would later bring to photography.
At around the age of fifteen he began working as an apprentice at Casa Riba, one of Barcelona’s leading photographic establishments. There he came into contact with cameras, materials, laboratory processes and international technical publications.
Early work
During the 1910s he consolidated his practical training. After Casa Riba he went on to work at Casa Cuyàs, where he became head of the laboratory. The experience gave him an in-depth knowledge of photographic processes and of the technical possibilities offered by new equipment.
During these years he also began submitting photographs to competitions and developing a body of personal work. From the outset, his professional activity coexisted with a desire for artistic experimentation: photography was not only a trade, but also a means of expression.
Professional independence
In 1928 he established himself as an independent photographer, although he had already undertaken commissions on his own account. In 1927 he had produced an extensive photo report on Córdoba, its streets and monuments, work that already shows his interest in architecture, the city and composition.
He also documented the urban development and construction works on Montjuïc associated with the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition. During the 1920s and 1930s he also worked on reproductions of works of art, industrial photography, advertising and photo reports for institutions and companies. His relationships with artists, galleries and specialist publications brought him closer to the modern currents of his time.
The Exposition also marked a turning point: from 1929 onwards his interest increasingly shifted towards technical and scientific photography. In the 1930s he was photography director of the journal Arxius de l’Escola Superior d’Agricultura and collaborated with the Chair of Entomology at the University of Barcelona.
The Spanish Civil War
During the Spanish Civil War he collaborated photographically with the Comissariat de Propaganda de la Generalitat de Catalunya.
In 1938, shortly before Nationalist troops reached Catalonia, he took part in the filming of Sierra de Teruel, the film André Malraux directed in Barcelona based on his novel L’Espoir. Filming, much of it carried out at the Orphea studios, was interrupted by the advance of the war, and the film could not be released until years later, in France and under the title L’Espoir.
After the Republican defeat, he destroyed some of his negatives to avoid possible reprisals and had to process the documentation required to continue working. The war and repression caused a rupture and partly explain the loss of material from that period, which today makes it more difficult to reconstruct his work.
Post-war years and professional consolidation
In the post-war period he rebuilt and expanded his activity and broadened his collaborations. He worked for companies, laboratories, scientific institutions and medical specialists, producing industrial and advertising photography for firms such as Catalana de Gas y Electricidad, Coca-Cola, Laboratorios Esteve, Myrurgia and Osram, among others.
His friendship with Francisco García del Cid, Dr Antoni Puigvert and the Escola Superior d’Agricultura brought him closer to scientific and medical photography, close-up photography and photomacrography. He also developed a significant activity as a stills photographer and made three short films: Màgica Nit, La Calumnia and Todo es según el color….
Later years
During the 1950s and 1960s he continued working as a professional photographer for companies, scientists, doctors and film studios. He continued to process his negatives and prints personally in the laboratory installed at his home.
He was a professional capable of adapting to different clients, techniques and visual languages without abandoning his own way of seeing. He died in Barcelona on 20 February 1970, aged 74, while still working as a photographer.
Timeline
Personal photographs
Selection of images from the family archive and the Emili Godes collection at the IEFC.
