The Joaquín Tusquets de Cabirol Photographic Archive
Set up in 2020. Our work is to order the holdings, study them, and bring them into public view.
Conservation and Provenance of the Collection
Joaquín Tusquets de Cabirol’s family valued and preserved his photographic work for many years. The family home held numerous cups and trophies awarded in photographic competitions of the period, evidence of the recognition his photographs had already received during his lifetime.
Tusquets regularly took part in photographic competitions and consistently submitted his work. His photography was therefore known, exhibited and circulated during his lifetime.
A key aspect in understanding the later history of the collection is the provenance of the approximately 4,000 negatives that resurfaced years later. The negatives were taken from the family home in Barcelona and transferred to Palma de Mallorca without the family’s knowledge or consent.
Years later, the negatives were located in Mallorca and, following a process of investigation, were identified as the work of Joaquín Tusquets de Cabirol.
This identification made it possible to reconstruct their provenance, restore the correct attribution of the photographs to their author, and recover for the cultural heritage a documentary collection that had remained separated from its family context.
Since then, the Tusquets family, together with the institutions responsible for the collection’s conservation, research and dissemination, has worked to ensure its rigorous study, protection and correct attribution.
Conservation, research, programme
Three lines of work. The technical conservation of the originals, alongside the institutions that hold them. The study of the holdings, with researchers. And the programme — exhibitions, publications, professional enquiries.
Online distribution is held back on purpose. The images here are low-resolution and few. High-resolution files, and any editorial, exhibition or academic use, are handled directly through the archive.
Museu Marítim de Barcelona
The Museu Marítim de Barcelona incorporated into its collections the approximately 4,000 negatives located in Mallorca and identified as the work of Joaquín Tusquets de Cabirol, and in 2021 mounted an exhibition devoted to the photographer’s work, Imágenes encontradas. La Barcelona marítima de posguerra. It is the reference institution for research relating to his photographs of the port of Barcelona.
Fundación Photographic Social Vision
Fundación Photographic Social Vision works on the research and the public programme around this body of work, within the wider history of twentieth-century Catalan documentary photography. With Fundación MAPFRE, it co-organises La forma elocuente (2026).
photographicsocialvision.org →
Fundación MAPFRE · KBr Barcelona Photo Center
In 2026, Fundación MAPFRE presents La forma elocuente at its KBr Barcelona Photo Center — the first substantial retrospective devoted to the photographer — in collaboration with Fundación Photographic Social Vision.
Frequently asked questions
Who was Joaquín Tusquets de Cabirol?
A Barcelona-born industrial chemist (1904–1979) who photographed in parallel with his working life. Over several decades he built a body of work centred on the port of Barcelona, the Catalan coast and the country inland. Most of it stayed out of view until 2020.
What does the archive hold?
It brings together his photographic work and coordinates the conservation, study and presentation of it. The original materials live at the institutions that house them; the archive coordinates between them.
Where are the original negatives held?
The approximately 4,000 negatives were taken from the family home in Barcelona and transferred to Palma de Mallorca without the family’s knowledge or consent. Years later, they were located in Mallorca and, following a process of investigation, identified as the work of Joaquín Tusquets de Cabirol. They are now held in the collections of the Museu Marítim de Barcelona. Enquiries or reproduction requests relating to these materials are handled in coordination with the institution.
Which exhibitions have been devoted to the work?
Two so far. Imágenes encontradas. La Barcelona marítima de posguerra (Museu Marítim de Barcelona, 2021), an exhibition devoted to his work. Joaquín Tusquets de Cabirol. La forma elocuente (KBr Barcelona Photo Center · Fundación MAPFRE, 2026), the first substantial retrospective — curated by Marina Balagué and Arola Valls, in collaboration with Fundación Photographic Social Vision.
How do I request reproduction of an image?
Write to the archive. Tell us about the project, identify the image, and let us know where and how you plan to use it. For authorised uses, we supply high-resolution files with the correct credit line.
Where should research or press enquiries go?
General: archivo@joaquintusquetsdecabirol.com. Press: archivo@joaquintusquetsdecabirol.com. A press kit and a small selection of editorial images in low resolution are available on request.