HE spontaneous kiss two men holding hands during Second Republic; the The destruction of San Pedro and the convent of Santa Marta; Ships leaving the port with loads Robella heading towards Bilbao; Father Belda excavating the Roman villa at Torre-La Cruz; Republican gestures during the Civil War or pictures as curious as a young man in panties point a gun at your temple or a farmer posing with his son and a goat. These are some of the images captured by Antonio Linares Ortiz’s lens. La Vila between 1930 and 1973 and its region, together with an anthropological and historical excursion, with s studiesor his son José, between 1947 and 2003, It is a testimony in the visuals of the life of that region. for three quarters of a century.
This enormous legacy remained hidden until March of last year.The family donated it to the Vilamuseu and Municipal Archives. What La Vila has in these ten months approximately 3,000 photos restored and digitizedstill an important number does not reach 2% of the fundestimated about 200,000 negatives. forty of them They can be seen in the Vila Municipal Library since yesterday.In an exhibition organized by Department of Historical Heritage, headed by Xente Sebastianand University Headquarters, directed by José Antonio Moya, showing these unpublished photographs depicting the Editions of UA. 30s to 50s.
“There may be about 200,000, but we can’t know because there are many rolls with thousands and thousands of documents,” says Antonio Espinosa, director of Vilamuseu. “There work for 50 years If we go at a fast pace ».
digitization
So far they have been digitized 531 glass negatives and 110 acetate and cellulose nitrate negatives From the 40s and 50s, “panoramic images of Villajoyosa, detailed reports of boats and their production in the shipyards on the coast, and many other subjects”. also digitized 438 reel photos Those years when there were weddings, funerals, theaters, parties, football matches…
«Everything is elegantly illustrated artistic and documentary criteria», he emphasizes. “Antonio and José Linares always carried their cameras with them, so we discovered pictures of events that we are aware of today, but without graphic testimony.”
also improved 1,845 portraits, all from 1937 In the middle of the Civil War. “Many of us have the names and two surnames of people who seem to have been photographed at different moments in their lives. an authentic visual history of the evolution of society Linares Ortiz fundraiser de La Vila A jewel of Valencian heritage», says Espinosa.
At a time when this is dangerous, there is no shortage of men and women in republican military uniforms with their fists raised. Antonio and José Linares, father and son, and later the family jealously guarded this legacy for almost a century during the dictatorship. risk associated with storing these images».
According to Antonio Espinosa, these testimonies “exceed La Vila because they are a X-ray of Valencian society since the 30s». Reason for considering ordering Your protection as BIC to the Generalitat