Catalonia loses out as Agustí Centelles’ legacy goes to Salamanca

The legacy of photojournalist Agustí Centelles, who died in 1985, has gone to the Centre of Historical Memory in Salamanca, after his children sold the photographic archives to the Ministry of Culture. Yesterday morning his two sons, Octavia and Sergi, deposited in the Centre in Salamanca the Catalan photographer’s 12,000 negatives in two suitcases and a filing cabinet, handing the files over to the director of the Centre, María José Turrión. Octavi Centelles assured that this would “end the controversy” that has emerged with the Generalitat de Catalunya after the heirs of photojournalist Catalan announced the sale of the photographic archives to the Ministry of Culture and for which they were paid 700,000 euros.

The only condition they placed was that the file is to stay together, “without being split up,” so we decided to deposit it in the Centre of Historical Memory in Salamanca explained Octavi Centelles. He also pointed out that the sale to the Ministry of Culture was made after having received several offers from social organizations, individuals and auction companies in addition to the Generalitat of Catalonia.

The reasons why he decided to accept the offer of the Ministry of culture over others like a London auction house that tripled the offer were based on “a greater diffusion and a better exhibition of the project”.

The children of Centelles arrived in Salamanca on Sunday evening and to avoid problems, they carried the two suitcases with glass plates and the box of files with the photos to the Centre of Historical Memory in Salamanca but the official handover took place yesterday morning.

The Centelles brothers have declined to respond to the version given by the historian Publio Lopez Mondejar, who states that in the Catalan photojournalist’s archives are works by other photographers, like Torrents and Gonsanhi.

Sergi Centelles has assured that “if anyone wants to add fuel to the fire they’ll get burnt”, because we do not want to continue with this absurd controversy”.

All negatives handed over to the Centre of Historical Memory “have been well documented, factual and have approximate dates and therefore means the conclusion to what has been sought after for 75 years: that someone finally values the extensive work of the Catalan photographer.

Agustí Centelles Ossó was born in Valencia in 1909 but lived in Catalonia since childhood. He received the National Prize in Photography (Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas en Fotografía) in 1984, awarded by the Ministry of Culture.

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