Death of Rafael Levenfeld, director artistic of the University of Navarra Museum

Rafael Levenfeld, director artist of the University of Navarra Museum since its inauguration in 2015, died yesterday, November 2, at Clínica Universidad de Navarra in Madrid, at the age of 67, after four years of fighting leukemia and receiving the Anointing of the Sick.

Born in Madrid in 1955, Levenfeld graduated in Economics and advertising from the Complutense University of Madrid. Photographer, professor and publisher, since 1976 he has dedicated himself to photography and contemporary art. His projects include the graphic direction of the magazine Procuradores (1978 and 1979); the founding of the magazine Photovision with Joan Fontcuberta, Adolfo Martínez and Ignacio González (1980); the creation of the Escuela de Técnica y Estética Fotográfica in Madrid (1983); and the founding of Canvas (1989), an exhibition mounting business and design .

Since 1987 he has curated numerous exhibitions in various museums and national and international centers. He has also made multiple interventions as manager of design and mounting of exhibitions and has been advisor of the "la Caixa" Foundation (1991 and 1992) and the National Museum of Art of Catalonia (since 1997).

His connection to the University dates back to 1992, as promoter and director technician of the Photographic Fund of the University of Navarra, together with Valentín Vallhonrat. In 1981, the institution received the bequest of the photographer José Ortiz Echagüe, consisting of nearly 1,500 photographs, 28,000 negatives and 1,000 carbon copies.

Levenfeld and Vallhonrat have collaborated in the creation of the Museo Universidad de Navarra since its inception and, since its inauguration in 2015, have been its artistic directors. Both have developed the curatorial strategy of the development of the Museo Museo de Navarra Collection, as well as the project of digitization and conservation of the Collection. Today, the Collection totals more than 25,000 pieces, including photographs, prints, paintings and sculpture, by national and international artists, as well as more than 250,000 negatives.

At the MUN he has directed 54 exhibitions. The last one, A Promised Land. From the Age of Enlightenment to the birth of photography, was the culmination of his professional life. The sample, the result of decades of research on the origins of the photographic phenomenon and the representation and interpretation of reality, brilliantly links the birth of this discipline with scientific advances and the first great travel explorations.

In the words of Jaime García del Barrio, director of the Museo Universidad de Navarra, Levenfeld "was an indisputable reference in the Spanish art scene, who held dozens of exhibitions in all the major museums in this country and some abroad, and as of 2014, he only dedicated his time to the Museo Universidad de Navarra."

Del Barrio emphasizes that "it has been a true honor and a delight to live with him. He was a discreet man, without any unnecessary desire for prominence: generous, rigorous, a great connoisseur of the artistic and cultural world. His vast culture was combined with a striking elegance and chivalry. He was kind and faithful, magnanimous and fine-hearted. We have never heard him make a complaint or negative comment about other people".

He also emphasizes that "he has left us an extraordinary example until his last days and his wife, María Jesús, and his son, Javier, have accompanied him at all times in an exemplary way. Yesterday we were lucky enough, in the midst of our grief, to be able to bid him farewell, together with his family, Ángel Gómez Montoro, president of board of trustees MUN Promoter, Valentín Vallhonart and myself. May he rest in peace".

In the coming days a funeral mass will be celebrated at the Santa Barbara Church in Madrid and at the Campus University of Navarra.