Joaquín Sorolla’s initial report for the Weekly Report was signed by Juan Antonio Tirado, a writer who has long specialized in Culture and who joined TVE in 1985. Tirado hails from Malaga, the same city as José Infante, and fans of the program during its golden era recall pieces delivered with a gentle cadence and poetic prose that lingered with viewers.
In review, the year Sorolla produced his report for the Weekly Report coincided with a period when Eusebio Sempere seemed untouchable in the public imagination. As the eighth month of that year drew to a close, attention turned to a memorable feature titled La aventura del sabre, which highlighted the Onil artist through a remarkable piece by Helena Pita published in the final week of June. The concern at the time was that this feature had been produced years earlier and did not reflect a fresh edition. It is worth noting that this was a period when the program aired at ten in the morning on weekdays, a schedule that shaped how audiences engaged with cultural content.
Note: The talk around Sempere gained renewed visibility when the year marked his centenary and when the MACA gallery in Alicante illuminated the artist’s last name across its windows. The renewed public attention drew stronger recognition for Sempere’s contributions to modern Spanish art and the local cultural landscape.
The enduring fascination with Eusebio Sempere comes through vividly in retrospectives and broadcasts from the late 1970s to early 1980s. One notable program, a 625-line format that ran from 1976 to 1981, sought to enrich weekly offerings when home video recording was not yet ubiquitous. The show highlighted the exploration of geometric abstraction and optical effects that characterized Sempere’s works. The host at the time embraced a broader movement in visual art and drew connections with Hungarian master Victor Vasarely, often hailed as the king of Optical Art. The presenter’s enthusiasm sparked a personal journey, leading to a lifelong appreciation for Sempere and his innovative approach to color, form, and perception. The narrative is a reminder of how broadcasters once shaped cultural memory through thoughtful presentation and period-specific production constraints, turning art into a shared experience for audiences across regions, including the Spanish mainland and its neighbors. [Citation: TVE cultural archives]