Antoni Esplugas Puig

Fotografia: © ANC

 

Antonio Esplugas Puig was born in Barcelona on 26 1852, son of the painter and drawing teacher, Antoni Esplugas Gual, and Mariana Puig Batlle, from Vilanova. He was immersed in the world of painting from a very young age, but left this aside upon his marriage to the widow, Rosa Generes. A year after they were married he opened his own photographic studio, specialising in portrait photography in Plaça del Teatre 7, above the Falcó lodging house, and later moved to number 2 in the same square. His work soon became well known and he was awarded numerous prizes and accolades, in addition to gaining a large number of private commissions. He was able to expand his business and it became one of the main photographic companies in Catalonia, with prestigious business premises in the Passeig de Gràcia. In addition to his daily work he photographed and marketed a large collection of portraits of the artists and prominent characters of the day such as singers, dancers, bull fighters and pelota players. Much of this material still exists in the form of negatives. Antonio Esplugas also practiced a more creative and personal kind of photography that marked him apart from most other photographers of the day, the erotic nude and informative photograph of a more photojournalistic kind. Amongst his published works are Galeria de Catalanes Ilustres and Guia Cicerone del Viajero o Bañista.