In recent years, many good things are happening to preserve the history of Spanish photography. It took 50 years for the entire Charles Franzen archive to be digitized and shared on the networks. If we are interested in discovering the work of a unique photographer from the 19th and early 20th centuries, do not hesitate to search among these 37,000 photographs.
You can never be a good photographer if you don’t know the work of the artists of the past. Charles Franzen was highly valued by the nobility and gentry of the turn of the century in which he lived. Thanks to his work we can understand what that society of which we are heirs was like.
It was also related to the world of culture. One of his most notable friends was the one he had with Joaquín Sorolla, which allows us to discover everything they did together.
The most valuable thing is that from today we can find on the internet, accessible to everyone, unique documents to understand society at the end of the century and discover what the photographic technique was like in those early days.
This was the first USB memory in history
The Frazen archive of Radio Televisión Española (RTVE)
On November 14, 1971, an ad by words appeared in the ABC newspaper. For some reason that he did not understand, RTVE decided to buy all that file. Has 36,852 bromide gelatin negatives with varied formats and supports. There is also 5020 positives of negatives; and only 122 of those positives do not remain negative.
When the file was purchased, it was kept in Somosaguas (Madrid). It was then taken to a warehouse in Arganda del Rey and at the end of the 90s it arrived at the offices of the Prado del Rey studios in Pozuelo de Alarcón.
In those years the archive began to be digitized, but only 10,000 files were reached. Years later, it was finally decided to change the original boxes that contained all the negatives for one with a neutral PH. At least it served to realize the state in which the valuable file was.
In 2015 they decided to get back to digitization seriously of absolutely all the photographs. And today, finally, anyone with internet access will be able to enjoy a unique job.
The studio of this photographer became one of the most important in Madrid, at the height of that of Kaulak, Antonio Cánovas del Castillo y Valle, the famous politician’s nephew.
Among their technical feats, the retouching they made directly on the negative with the help of Chinese inks and of course the use of magnesium flash indoors to illuminate everything that happened. It is the flash that they used so much in silent movies to scare the audience.
But above all he stood out for his relations with the nobility and for having the title of photographer of the Royal Family since July 7, 1899. As you can imagine, this was what made him rise in the spotlight of the photographers of that time.
So if you want to enjoy a tireless photographer, discover how we were and have one of the best sources of inspiration of those years, I recommend that you reserve a little of your time to find a unique look at a photographer who left everything in Copenhagen to finish in Madrid.