The Girona City Council receives the donation of 39 works by Enric Barber Gallostra that will be incorporated into the Municipal Art Collection

Friday, February 2, 2024

They are the first pieces by this artist from Girona that the Girona History Museum is in charge of cataloging and documenting.

The Girona City Council has received the donation of 39 works by the Girona painter Enric Barber Gallostra that will be incorporated into the Municipal Art Collection kept by the Girona History Museum. These are charcoal, ink and watercolor drawings on paper of different themes, such as portraits and landscapes, from the second half of the 19th century. XX. The donors are Enric Barber's widow, Concepció Turró, and his two daughters, Imma Barber and Júlia Barber, who have given them to the Museum for the Art Collection of the Girona City Council.

The donation stands out especially for the fact that, for the first time, it allows the work of Girona artist Enric Barber to be incorporated into the Municipal Art Collection. The reception of these pieces also responds to one of the missions of the Girona History Museum, that of incorporating works by Girona artists that reproduce the image of the city and that help tell the historical and cultural trajectory of Girona.

On the occasion of the donation, since last January and during this February, the Girona History Museum presents the work of Enric Barber in the access area of ​​the facility. The work "The Old Republican" is put in context with the Republican exile during his retirement in 1939 and with the different activities related to historical memory that are usually programmed by the Museum.

Enric Barber Gallostra (Girona 1924 – Barcelona 2023), who died in February 2023, was a teacher at the Municipal School of Fine Arts and at the La Salle school in Girona. Barber was also a photographer and ran the establishment located at number 29 Rambla until its closure in 1987. He had inherited the store from his father, the photographer Joan Barber i Garriga, founder of the establishment in 1933 in partnership with the also pioneer of photography in Girona Joan Peraferrer i Mateu. Unfortunately, the Barbero photography collection was not preserved, probably by his own decision. Now, the works that have just been donated will be conveniently cataloged and documented by the Museu d'Historia de Girona.