b-guided > Barcelona

Portraiture & Fashion

Jaume de Laiguana

By Brian Gallagher 27.03.13

Advertising campaigns nowadays tend to occupy the role of patrons to the arts similar to the de’Medicis and Borgias in Renaissance Italy. The fashion photograph acquires additional readings that can transcend the commercial and enter the territory of work of art. Currently running at Palau Robert is a retrospective of local photographer Jaume de Laiguna (Bracelona 1966) consisting of more than 158 images spanning 15 years of work inspired by the world of fashion. The exhibition also includes processes of preparation which give the viewer a greater understanding of the images themselves.

Loosely organised around themes including; the virtues of imperfection, the search for beauty within the imperfect, accidental or coincidental, provocation and deviation. Although there are no individual notes for any of the photographs which is somewhat unhelpful the exhibition is clearly organised within appropriately lit and intimate spaces. The exhibition is located within one of Barcelona’s most charming exhibition venues. Palau Robert was completed in 1903, it was once the private residence of Robert Robert i Surís, a highly successful financier of the time who employed French architect Henry Grandpierre to design a palatial style home in the neo-classical language for the emerging self-confident Barcelona of the day. Since 1981 it is belongs to the Generalitat.

  • Photo with model Laura Sanchez

    © Foto con el modelo Laura Sanchez

  • Modelos 2006

    Jaume de Laiguana started off his career as an art director, since the 1990s he has worked as a photographer and been awarded numerous recognitions. In addition to his work on fashion campaigns and other photographic initiatives he has designed stage sets, made several documentaries as well as publishing books on photography and his sense of the aesthetic. The exhibition includes many recognisable faces from the world of Spanish cinema, music, fashion and the arts.

  • Eulalie Martine, 2001

  • Portrait of Jaume de Laiguana