IED Barcelona pays tribute to Macario Gómez, the last great poster designer of Spanish cinema
Date
16 February 2024
IED Barcelona pays tribute to Macario Gómez, the last great poster designer of Spanish cinema
Third-year Graphic Design and Motion Graphic and Video students from IED Barcelona designed a pop-up exhibition in tribute to the great film poster designer Macario Gómez, known artistically as “Mac”. The exhibition was held at Nau Bostik on 15 February and included several of his most emblematic posters made for the Spanish versions of classic Hollywood films such as The Ten Commandments, Rebecca, Dr. No or Some Like It Hot.
Macario Gómez Quibus was born in the Catalan town of Reus in 1926. He developed an interest in drawing at a very young age and as an adult moved to Barcelona, where he came into contact with a variety of references and was able to learn about the work of other artists. His initial steps into the world of film posters were made by cleaning the brushes and utensils of other artists with whom he would end up collaborating, although his authorship was never mentioned. But in 1950, he decided to set up as an independent film poster artist and entered the golden age of cinema with the help of the film distributor Tandem Films. His works were internationally recognised and awarded for their style, use of fonts and versatility to adapt to any film genre. With the arrival of VHS in the 1980s, he redirected his talent as a poster artist to illustrate video covers using colour photography.
Macario Gómez left an artistic and graphic legacy of more than 4,000 posters.
The tribute was made possible thanks to the collaboration of the Filmoteca de Catalunya and Macario Gómez’s family, who donated the materials (posters and personal objects) for the exhibition.