MUN exhibits the unpublished artistic legacy of Rafael Levenfeld

The Museo Universidad de Navarra opens today, Wednesday 9, the exhibition "Rafael Levenfeld. Fotógrafo"(Rafael Levenfeld.Photographer), which includes previously unexhibited work by the former artistic director. A masterclass with Valentín Vallhonrat (curator of the exhibition together with Ignacio Miguéliz) and photography expert Santiago Olmo will take place at 7 p.m., followed by the opening of the Torre room. The capacity of the masterclass is full.

The director of the MUN, Jaime Garcia del Barrio, recalled his "polyhedral" figure for the multiple roles he played in the world of photography: in 1980, he founded the PhotoVision magazine together with Joan Fontcuberta, Ignacio González and Adolfo Martínez; he also curated numerous exhibitions for institutions such as "la Caixa" Foundation, the National Art Museum of Catalonia (of which he was an advisor), Telefónica Foundation, National Museum Reina Sofía Art Center, and the Museo Universidad de Navarra, of which he was artistic director until his death; not to mention his own artistic production.

Rafael Levenfeld (1955 - 2023) began his first photographic series in 1976. Valentín Vallhonrat has highlighted the efforts of both Levenfeld and his generation to give photography a place and an understanding that it lacked at the time, outside of areas such as competitions, groups or the university world, as well as his "fierce commitment" to the artistic space.

His works credited him as one of the young people who played a leading role in the renewal of photographic languages in Spain. Vallhonrat highlighted the originality of his works, capable, for example, of transforming "apparently anodyne" spaces, as heir to a tradition of surrealism that endows places with "an ironic point" through the singular appearance of his own figure.

Deeply knowledgeable about the production processes of photography, Levenfeld included in some of his creations photographic intervention, first manually: through painting techniques, illustration or the use of chemicals; and, later, incorporating the possibilities offered by digital media, which allowed him to experiment with works composed of multiple frames or layers, playing with different fabrics, materials (such as glass or soap) and textures, resulting in the creation of new worlds and spaces, to, as Vallhonrat has pointed out, "make fiction".

In short, the exhibition presents an "unpublished work of great quality and originality", said the curator, which makes this an exhibition "to enjoy and see the details in which great wisdom is hidden".