Milestone 15. Photo library

Espigas has a varied and profuse corpus of photographs, which from the beginning have been ordered, classified, inventoried and catalogued. The first stage of the Digitalization Project of the Photographic Library was financed by multiple sources, among which the one obtained with Mecenazgo de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires stood out. By 2014, the Espigas Photo Library had nearly 7,000 digitized photographs, which were grouped in the database and web domain of the Photo Library. This was conceived as an innovative digital database that functioned as a unique virtual archive in Latin America. The photo library is made up of images from various documentary collections, where you can find such valuable and varied images ranging from the art critic Jorge Romero Brest as a child, to Jorge de la Vega painting, or Julia Lublin in her gallery.

Silvia Dolinko, current Academic Secretary of the School of Art and Heritage at UNSAM, tells us about the project, for which she was the researcher responsible from its inception in 2006 until 2009: "Natalia Pineau and Enrique Llambías were part of the initial team. Thousands of photographs — which were initially grouped in paper envelopes, organized by name and surname of artists or personalities associated with each record — were registered, reviewed and analyzed, in a development that made it possible to assign or correct data on the images, the archives and/or their origins. Thus, in the course of the years of work, a database was created, the images were digitized and the data was disseminated in its online publication, widely and openly accessible. The recording of Alberto Greco's actions or the reconstruction of an "audiovisual" sequence with slides created for the Bonino Gallery were, among many others, remarkable findings of this project. Since then, the documents that make up the Espigas Photo Library have been frequently consulted and have been part of exhibitions and publications. I believe that their relevance as images and sources is constantly being re-signified. I am proud to have been part of this work process".

1. Page of the Espigas Photo Library.

2. Description of item f00293 on the Espigas photo library web site.

3. Jorge Romero Brest playing on a tricycle, ca. 1912. Romero Brest Fund, photo library f00293.

4. Jorge de la Vega painting one of the Barbaro's stained glass windows, 1969. Bonino collection, photo library f05311.

5. Julia Lublin at the opening of the exhibition "Eight Sculptors: Badii, Brizzi, Gerstein, Girola, Heredia, Iommi, Paparella, Romano" at La Ruche Gallery, 1965. Julia Lublin Fund, photo library f03625.