In the notable history of Catalan photography the name of Horacio Seguí has ??a separate entry. Born in Barcelona in 1930, during more than forty years of professional activity he portrayed the sporting, social and artistic life of the Barcelona of his time.
He self-taught himself into the world of photography and began to practice it regularly through his employment at the Banco Hispano Americano, where he started as a bellman, and the social activities of the Hispamer club. Photography opened a new world and perspectives for the future that changed her life. She began to collaborate in the editor of magazines such as Sábado Graphico and to leave her mark on musical events and festivals, such as those of Sanremo, the Mediterranean and Eurovision. His are, for example, the photographs of Massiel in the 1968 edition and portraits of the great stars of the moment: the Beatles, Serrat, the Duo Dinático, Paul Anka, Jimmy Fontana, Los Tres Sudamericanos, the members of Nova Cançó. ..
Sports photography opened another avenue of success and collaboration, accompanied by his brother Rafael, in notable publications of the sixties and following. The Seguís worked, among other popular media, for Dicen and for the Barça magazines, Barça and RB.
In 2006, Horacio Seguí reached an agreement with FC Barcelona for the transfer of the photographic collection of sports images and especially of the club, which is currently deposited and in the advanced stage of digitization at the FC Barcelona Documentation Center. These are around 250,000 photographs that cover Barça’s activity between 1963 and 2003. His activity around sport, with the collaboration of Rafael, extended to other disciplines, such as cycling, motorsports, rugby, swimming, water polo. In the case of football, Horacio Seguí also specialized in the official images of the cards of the Spanish teams and traveled to all the playing fields to complete every last signing.
Among the most recognizable photographs of the Seguís – in this case with a dispute over authorship between the two brothers – the one of Cruyff’s goal against Reina in the 1973-74 season, in a Barcelona-At game, stands out. Madrid at the Camp Nou. The plasticity of Cruyff’s impossible jump, which earned him the nickname the Flying Dutchman, was immortalized by the photographer’s eye. Although the family dispute is still open, in 2022, Horacio recognized that the author of the photo was his brother, Rafa Seguí.
Horacio Seguí was always a firm defender of the rights of photojournalists and was one of the founders of the National Association of Graphic Press Reporters, of which he presided over the delegation in Catalonia from 1978 to 1989, and of its successor, the Association of Press and TV Graphic Reporters of Catalonia.
His work has been exhibited at different stages in numerous venues: the Palau de la Virreina, the Colet Museum, the Agrupació Fotogràfica de Catalunya, the Col·legi de Periodistes de Catalunya, the Casa Golferichs or the Barça Museum, and his career as The photojournalist has a biographical book, published in 2017 with texts by Toni Vall: La meva vida en un clic, where he recounts, among many other situations, Seguí’s proximity to great artists and footballers: “He photographed Elton John when, as who says, he was still a child. He went to look for Cliff Richard at the Prat when he was still playing in the Shadows. He accompanied Tom Jones to the Gràcia festivities. “He took Adamo around Barcelona on his motorcycle, accompanied Charles Aznavour through the streets of the city…”
Horacio Seguí died this Thursday at the age of 93.
