Photo: Isidro Fernández Fuertes, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons¹¹

José Ortiz-Echagüe

Spanish entrepreneur (1886–1980)

José Ortiz-Echagüe (2 August 1886 in Guadalajara – 7 September 1980 in Madrid) was a Spanish entrepreneur, industrial and military engineer, pilot and photographer, founder of Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) and Honorary lifetime President of SEAT (Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo).²

From Wikipedia’s article on José Ortiz-Echagüe (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Aug 2, 1886, died Sep 7, 1980.¹

About

He was also nominated Gentilhombre de cámara con ejercicio (Gentleman of the Bedchamber) during the reign of the King of Spain Alfonso XIII.

From Wikipedia’s article on José Ortiz-Echagüe, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.²

Companies

Airbus Defence and Space S.A.Founder¹⁰

Early life and education

Date not recordedAcademy of Military Engineering of Guadalajara³

Career

Occupation: military personnel, entrepreneur, photographer, businessperson, engineer, aircraft pilot.⁵

Date not recordedFounded Airbus Defence and Space S.A.⁴

Ortiz-Echagüe believed strongly on the one hand that Spain must modernize itself in accordance with the spirit of the times – inter alia by founding industrial companies – but on the other hand was well aware that a broad modernization could lead to disappearance of traditional clothing, a change in the villages and even a transformation of the landscape. He wanted at least to capture with his camera and hold this cultural heritage, before the change occurred.

Aesthetics

In the field of artistic photography, he is perhaps the most popular photographer in Spain and one of the most well known abroad. In 1935 the magazine 'American Photography' named him one of the top three photographers in the world, while some critics have also considered him to be one of the best Spanish photographers to date. This recognition becomes even more meritorious when it is considered that photography was a hobby to which he only devoted his spare time, especially during weekends and his various trips.

From an artistic point of view one might consider him as a representative of the generation of '98 in photography, but he is also often included within the photographic movement of pictorialism, being in fact the best known representative of the Spanish photographic pictorialism, even though this late definition never liked to Ortiz-Echagüe. His photographic work focuses on portraying the most defining characteristics of a people, their customs and their traditional costumes as well as locations. He managed to project through his pictures a personal expression which is closer to painting, often using effects during photo processing. Echagüe remained faithful throughout his life to the aesthetics and techniques of pictorialism, including using gum bichromate and coal.

Working technique

Since 1898 when he got his first camera, he took thousands of photographs entirely in black-and-white. He exposed his negatives using a special technique similar to the carbon printing one ('carbón fresson') which was the mainstream practice during his youth. Soon its use would become outdated, however he followed that technique throughout his art, giving a special hue and a greater contrast result to his positives, which now makes his work easily recognizable.

Both paper-making as well as the procedure of obtaining photographs required a lot of patience, an extraordinary ability and a perfect management of that particular technique. Therefore, over the years and as photographic processes would become more simplified and automated, the few photographers still using this technique would tend to abandon it.

The sheet had a thin layer of gelatin onto which was added a black pigment and it was sensitized to light. The photographer obtained his copies under a process based on the principle that in the parts of the image receiving less light the gelatin would remain soft whereas in the parts of the image receiving more light the gelatin would become hardened. The treatment of the copy – bathing in water and sawdust – dissolved the unhardened gelatin together with the pigment onto it revealing a white zone underneath, while the hardened gelatin resisted the bathing process, trapping the pigment inside and subsequently producing black areas. In this way the image on paper was exposed. But furthermore this printed image with the paper still wet, could be retouched using brushes and cotton swabs or scrapers, giving a lot of freedom for creativity.

The ability to intervene in the outcome of a photograph, the greater richness of tones given from the pigment and its stability were the main reasons that Jose Ortiz-Echagüe used this technique. Nevertheless, this archaic method is not considered to be the strongest component in his images. Without an intriguing subject, a good composition, well directed lights on models and the correct layout of the scene, the procedure of coal placed directly to Fresson paper would give a vulgar result.

Cameras

At the age of 12 Ortiz received his first camera, a present from an uncle: it was a Kodak camera which took 6 plates in 8 × 6.6 cm format.

His second camera, which he got three years later, also a gift from a relative, and which he was using for five years, was a 'Photo Esphère' for glass plates in 9 x 12 cm format.

In the years from 1903 to 1909, he used a 9 × 12 cm folding camera and a 15 × 18 cm travel camera with a wooden stand.

The shots of costumes he captured were taken with a 13 × 18 cm travel camera with a Hermagis Eidoscope lens and a focal length of 26 cm (Lens speed f/5).

In 1934 he used – especially for landscape shots – a 9 × 12 cm reflex camera and several lenses with focal lengths from 13 to 45 cm.

In his last 20 years (until 1970), he used simultaneously, a Linhof Technika and – at that time press photographers were very popular in the USA – a Graflex Speed Graphic camera.

Retrospective exhibitions

In Berlin in 1929 an exhibition of his photographs was held and after that, his book 'Spanische Köpfe – Bilder aus Kastilien, Aragonien und Andalusien' was published.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City organized in 1960 a retrospective exhibition entitled 'Spectacular Spain', in which Ortiz-Echagüe appeared alongside artists such as Goya. This exhibition displayed eighty photographs of Ortiz-Echagüe.

In 1998 the University of Navarra, owner of a great part of Ortiz-Echagüe's photographic collection, based on the selection made by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, organized a retrospective exhibition of photographs, spanning some sixty years of production until 1964. Since 1998 this selection has travelled around various museums and exhibitions, including the 'Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya' (National Art Museum of Catalonia), the Hôtel de Sully in Paris (an exhibition entitled 'Mirages of Spain' in 1999), the 'Sala de Armas de la Ciudadela de Pamplona' (Hall of Arms of the Pamplona Citadel), the 'Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía' (National Art Museum Reina Sofía) (the latter exceeding 150,000 visitors), the 'Palacio del Infantado' (Palace of Infantado') in Guadalajara, or even the 'Sala Amós Salvador' (Hall of Amós Salvador) in Logroño.