Spanish graphic design has gained slowly but surely, great recognition by not only Spanish society as well as international society.
This interest has a clear origin and its roots are perfectly located though perhaps not sufficiently known. Arising from the work of a generation of brilliant professionals who altered the visual culture of the Spanish Civil War in a society not particularly receptive to understand that the design was also an art form. Figures considered pioneers of Spanish graphic design opened the door to later generations of Spanish to a new way of relating to visual communication and enjoy its attractive form. They have at first raised surprise, then the admiration of graphic designers worldwide.
The historical period of the images contained in this blog extends from 1939 (the end of the Spanish Civil War and the beginning of World War II) until 1975 (year of the death of General Franco and the beginning of democracy in Spain). Years in which the objective conditions of the country did not make easy work for these pioneers. Not the most favorable material circumstances or social minimums to encourage the designers proposals. In addition the international isolation and the lack of reference materials, to name just a few of these limitations, we sense that, in many cases, the graphic design pioneers in Spain worked for decades in difficult conditions to manifest all the potential and talent that materialized in their magnificent work.
The interest aroused by the publication in 2007 of “Pioneers. Spanish Graphic Design 1939-1975” (Published by Index Book), of which Emilio Gil is the author with a prologue by the design historian at the University of Barcelona Anna Calvera, about the origins of Spanish graphic design justifies the existence of a blog. This blog is composed mainly of graphic documents, as a reference in this area, a graphics display to learn, both in Spain and internationally, the work of this generation of Spanish visual communication professionals.
Every two weeks this blog will be updated with a collection of images of Spanish graphics pioneers related to a specific subject. The resulting visual archive of these contributions will no doubt be reviewed as a revision of the work of this generation of designers and become a documentary source of great interest to designers, historians and researchers of graphic communication in Spain and worldwide. The blog is a bilingual structure in Spanish and English.