The recently deceased artist Rafael Sanz Lobato donated his work to Museo Universidad de Navarra last June 2014. The legacy, consisting of more than 1,000 pieces, brings together the totality of his production: his work as an author, documentary photography, portraits and still lifes, his professional work and the entire set of negatives.

According to Rafael Levenfeld, member of the artistic direction committee of Museo Universidad de Navarra and personal friend of the artist, "his work is perfectly integrated in the collection of Museo Universidad de Navarra, serving as a brilliant link in a wide range that goes from the documentary photography of the 19th century, from its continuation with the photojournalists who develop their work until the Spanish Civil War to the new generations that implement a new approach to the society that surrounds them".

Likewise, Rafael Levenfeld, emphasizes of Sanz Lobato that "he was a person of energetic character, sharp intelligence and commitment to the times in which he lived. All this led him to an enormous passion for photography, which he understood as a reflection of a changing society. His gaze towards rural and urban environments showed us that photography could continue to write pages that had not yet been told. Rafael was one of the main references of the wide generation of Spanish documentary photography that emerged in the mid-seventies".

Rafael Sanz Lobato (Seville, 1932) settled with his family in Madrid in 1941, where he began his self-taught career as an amateur photographer at the age of 22, observing life in the capital during the postwar period. He was one of the greatest exponents of documentary photography in our country; he masterfully reflected life in Spain from the 1950s to the beginning of the 1980s. He realistically captured with his camera the essence of the rural and urban world. From 1977 onwards he dedicated himself to photography as a professional, with works related to the art world, advertising and commissioned photography. After this stage he resumed his more personal creative facet, focused on the execution of portraits and still lifes. He was a member of the Real Sociedad Fotográfica de Madrid, of the group La Colmena, of which he was co-founder, and of Grupo 5. In 2003 he was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts and in 2011 the National Photography Award.

Among the huge artistic production, some of his series are "Bercianos de Aliste" (1971), "La caballada de Atienza" (1970), "Rapa das bestas" (1970) and "Auto Sacramental de Camuñas" (1969).