In 1965, Blume editions published a unique volume – a catalogue of an exhibition – bringing together the work of four “outstanding personalities of Spanish advertising graphic-art” of that time: Gervasio Gallardo, Ricard Giralt Miracle, Joan Pedragosa and Josep Pla-Narbona. With a foreword by Joan Teixidor, cover design and illustration by Pla-Narbona, and printing done by Filograf, the texts by the critic of art Joan Perucho proved that advertising could transmit “to the average man on the street, not only psychological impacts but also vast cultural resonances.”
Joan Teixidor maintained in the foreward that designers were “people who applied themselves to ensure that this object of standard and necessary use would not contradict the spirit of its time. They wanted to build a bridge of communication and contribute to the debate between one’s very sincerity and the demands of a public or a client, thus creating a formal unit that was considered necessary from their point of view, which went beyond art, which completely impacted on a moral idea. ”
With hindsight, the serie of advertisements that closed the publication and which, certainly at that time, was not considered in the historical sense that we do today, takes on a remarkable importance. Ads from the “Sala Gaspar” or the “Cosmo” designed by Pla-Narbona, those of the cutlery “Toledo”, from the “Institute of Graphic Arts Filograf” or from “Jordi Vilanova, Designer” by Ricard Giralt Miracle are examples of the effort made by the pioneering graphic designers of the time to bridge the gap between advertising and the art that Teixidor referred to.