Miguel Gallardo, Alfonso López, Ramon Boldú, Trini Tinturé, Cazares, Reverté, Jordi Gort, Balasch, Buil, Ermengol, Cabrejas, Ximi Comix, José Salvia and Lorena Rivega are some of the most notable names in the history of Ponte comics.
Names that speak of Lleida as a comic territory, as a breeding ground for so-called sequential art and that have given life to mythical characters such as Makoki, Pepa or Emma and publications such as Callejón, Algo me pica » or «Pixatinters».
It is a genre with two clear references, Miguel Gallardo and Alfons López, who despite having developed his professional career in Barcelona – something almost obligatory with the great explosion that comics had during the 80s in the Catalan capital – have always maintained a personal and, in the case of López, also a professional bond, with the city of Lérida.
Today Lleida maintains the desire to be a comic territory with the creation of the BAF Guerrilla Collective, specialists, scriptwriters and editors such as Carles Castelló, Cecilia Hill, Mariona Visa or Jaume Barrull; and with the birth of Doble Tinta, the first collection of comics for adults in the Catalan language to emerge in our country, from the hand of Pagès Editors.
El Morera preserves and spreads the culture of cartoons
The Modern and Contemporary Art Museum of Lleida, since 2016, has been committed to comics and graphic novels, being the first museum in Ponent, and one of the first in Spain, to incorporate them into its contemporary art collections. A desire that materializes, among other actions, with the acquisition of graphic works for his collection.
The past 2022 has included works by cartoonist and illustrator Trini Tinturé (Lleida, 1938), journalist and comic author Alfons López (Lleida, 1950) and one of the most representative names of the renewal of Spanish comics, Carlos Giménez (Madrid, 1941) member of the so-called Floresta Group, comics professionals grouped around the figure of the publisher Josep Toutain.
Specifically, the Morera has acquired the originals of Alfons López and Manel Fondevila’s graphic novel “La Saga de Chaves” (2004), donated by Alfons López himself; a series of originals from “Emma es encantadora” (1981) by Trini Tinturé and the comics “Rambla arriba, Rambla abajo” (1985-1986) and “España, una grande y libre” (1976-77) by Carlos Giménez , acquired and deposited in the Museum through the National Collection of Comics and Illustration of the Generalitat de Catalunya.
A firm commitment that gives uniqueness to part of the Morera’s collections, and makes the Museum a leader in promoting a new look, that of comics and graphic novels, within contemporary art.
