Spanish culture grew lethargic after the civil war. Economic hardship, the absence of great figures such as Buñuel, García Lorca, and Dalí, among others, who were either in exile or dead, and an oppressive social environment constituted a fertile terrain for cultural mediocrity. That’s why the fresh and energetic contribution of Francesc Català-Roca (1922–98) was so unusual; his direct way of making images had few immediate precedents in the country’s culture. He was the first of a brilliant generation of photographers that emerged in the ’50s. Until recently denied any real public recognition,