That warm morning, anticipating the imminent torrid summer, Mr. Ramón went to work with a strange feeling, that of the end of a long cycle about to conclude. His last auction. It was the last day he would grab the small gavel and notebook and, at the epicenter of what was his second home, now under demolition, he would coordinate and take note of the bids for the lots that would be sold there for the rest of the day.
His working life ended at the same time as those Encants, that Fira de Bellcaire, located since 1928 in the hollow between Castillejos and Dos de Maig streets, in whose central plinth he had been directing the bids for so many years. The next auction would be done by someone else, on the other side of Les Glòries square, in that new structure, covered by a large mirrored roof.
Mr. Ramón had always forbidden photographs of the bids. Every time someone dared to show a camera, or a mobile phone, and he saw it, everything stopped. But that day was the last and nothing was going to be the same. From that moment on, neither he nor that place would be there again. So he said "what the hell" and, then, he allowed, for the first time, photographic record of the Encants auction to be taken.
A tide of mobile phones crowded around him, capturing the historic moment and, among all of them, a professionally equipped photographer, with a trained eye to capture the best angles and moments, a deep knowledge of the quirks and defects of each lens and, above all, patience for all of it to be enveloped by the perfect light.
One of the decisive photographs he captured that morning when the Encants auctions were not going to be the same again, appears on page 10 of the recently published book Encants i Miralls de Barcelona (Ajuntament de Barcelona), and its author, photographer Rafael Vargas, comments on this succulent editorial project.
From Agbar's view
"The origin of the book dates back to when we coincided with Fermín Vázquez as co-author of the Agbar Tower. I photographically documented the construction of the tower and that means the oldest photos that appear were taken from there of the Encants Vells esplanade when the Design Museum didn't even exist yet," explains the veteran photographer, known mainly for his work in architecture, design, and portraiture. "When they commissioned the Nou Mercat dels Encants, Fermín proposed that I document it and I accepted."
"The truth is, I had never been interested in taking photos of the Encants Vells, even though my studio is near Glòries. I went as a buyer, to look for inspiration sometimes, but as a subject to portray, I had always seen it as very hackneyed, nothing original."
However, the act of photographing the new ones made him change his perspective.
"After crossing the old ones many times to photograph the construction of the new ones, I realized that no one knew the architecture of those Encants that had little more than a year of existence left. Of that sunken hollow between two streets. Then the urgency came over me to record what they were like with people, in activity, and how, empty, they were replicated in some areas of the new ones and, since I was involved in the documentary project of the new ones, it was not difficult to get the permits," he continues.
The result is a book that combines an emotional vision and a documentary vision. "The photographs I took of Encants Vells are more emotional, evocative, while the images of the new construction are more rational, in line with Fermín Vázquez's architectural project."
Old soul, in a new body
"From a functional point of view, the Nou Mercat dels Encants follows the pattern of the old Encants, only occupying a much smaller area and with more services," Vargas clarifies.
--And how do you see these new Encants, as a user and as a photographer?
--I see them as more aseptic, which in these times of Covid it must also be said is appreciated. I suppose it is part of that transition towards a more aseptic society that affects all aspects of life. But yes, the dust, the patina, that covered the old Encants has been lost.
Fortunately, although the dust has been lost, the soul of the market has been preserved, at least in part: "Once the project was finished, at the request of Mercats de Barcelona, I integrated some of the images of Encants Vells that I had taken before their definitive disappearance, on several sides of the stalls of the new Encants. These are twenty murals that the market's own use has been transforming and altering. They have been customizing it, but there is still a trace of the soul of the old Encants, in the form of photographs, on the walls of the new ones."
The materialization of the book, which did not see the light until January of this year, was a somewhat more laborious process.
"I have had a top-notch team for this project. The catalog for an exhibition at the b720 gallery in Berlin served as a first draft. But, to put together the definitive book, I contacted Victoria Bermejo, who wrote the dedicated micro-stories that appear; I asked Óscar Guayabero to take care of the editorial coordination, he wrote the presentation and proposed Laura Meseguer as designer; the historian Enrich H. March and Josep Bohigas, architect, collaborate with an article and the epilogue, respectively. And I cannot fail to mention Silvia Omedes, from Photographic Social Vision, with whom we rethought the book hand in hand, at the level of visual script and image selection."
Encants i Miralls de Barcelona should have been released in March 2020, but Covid delayed its publication until January 2021. The wait has been worth it for this work that, on the common thread of Vargas' photographs, amalgamates architecture, history and literature, in Spanish and Catalan.
The question is "dressing" the act
When Rafael Vargas is asked to define himself as a professional, he does not hesitate, and speaks of light: "it has a fundamental importance in my photography. Light dresses, defines, the action or object captured. There is a double responsibility for me as a photographer: to capture the instant and for it to look well dressed, well wrapped in light. Due to my architectural photography work, I am very used to waiting for the decisive light. In fact, for me it is about finding the decisive light first and, with it, the decisive moment."
The last days of the old Encants and the first days of the new ones, have been recorded by Vargas and, whether they are photographs of a more emotional and artistic nature, or others of a more documentary and architectural character, what they have in common is a refulgence that perfectly adorns each image.
The market's first written record dates back to the 14th Century, when it was located between the porches of the church of Sant Jaume and the gate of the Jewish call, where Plaça Sant Jaume is today. But surely, in all these centuries of history, it was never caressed by such attractive light as in the photographs of Encants i Miralls de Barcelona.