Desire at the Kiosk: Publicity and Barcelona in the 1930s

Abstract

Publicity in Barcelona during the 1930s generated some remarkable examples of visual modernity that at the same time function as indicators of a widespread cultural practice motivated by the intersection of applied psychology and photographic experimentation. One of the foremost theoreticians and practitioners of the use of photography in advertising was Pere Català-Pic, who through his involvement with the Generalitat’s Institut Psicotècnic was also a leader in the rationalization and teaching of publicity. This essay examines Català-Pic’s work in the light of his critical writings on the phototechnician and his central role in the transformation of commercial publicity into political propaganda during the Civil War, a process that drew upon the debates of the previous decade and that is illuminated through the study of Català-Pic’s public and private correspondence with Pedro Prat-Gaballí.