Looking at Madrid

Francesc Català-Roca and the representation of the city in the Destino guides

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.62161/sauc.v12.6213

Keywords:

Francesc Català-Roca, Destino Tourist Guides, Visual representation of the city, Humanist photography, Francoist Madrid, Postwar visual culture, Urban modernization

Abstract

This paper analyzes the three editions of the Madrid guide published by Destino in 1954, 1959, and 1971, with photographs by Francesc Català-Roca and texts by Juan Antonio Cabezas. The study approaches the illustrated book as a cultural device of postwar Spain, in which image and text are articulated in a narrative that combines monumentality, everyday life, and urban modernization. Through the comparative study of the editions, it examines how photography constructs a coherent and controlled image of Madrid within the framework of Francoism, while progressively incorporating greater attention to the human figure and the everyday, in line with European debates linked to photographic humanism. The analysis allows us to understand the guides not only as tourist instruments but also as cultural technologies that fixed a particular representation of the capital in collective memory, shedding light on the relationship between photography, the city, and Francoism within the horizon of European

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References

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Published

2026-08-25

How to Cite

Clavijo García, Énkar, & Martín Núñez, M. (2026). Looking at Madrid: Francesc Català-Roca and the representation of the city in the Destino guides. Street Art & Urban Creativity, 12(4), 259–285. https://doi.org/10.62161/sauc.v12.6213

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 4 (2026)

Section

Research articles

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