"José Ortiz-Echagüe's photographs have a great documentary value, because it is an approach without feelings, a practically objective approach and with great precision. But, in addition, some of them also have a surrealist side because they are, in a certain sense, a starting point towards the imaginary". This is the opinion of Pierre Bonhomme, director of the Photographic Heritage of France, who visited the bequest Ortiz-Echagüe of the University of Navarra, together with David Balsells, from department of Photography of the National Museum of Art of Catalonia.

"They are images with great historical value and a lot of quality, both from the aesthetic point of view and from the point of view of the support," Pierre Bonhomme stressed.

"I knew part of the collection, but with this visit I have had the opportunity to contemplate it in its entirety," he said. "Two years ago we presented part of the bequest Ortiz-Echagüe in Paris, and it was very well received, even better than we had expected at first. In France he is a well-known photographer, especially among specialists and historians," recalled Pierre Bonhomme, noting that "not only did we have many visitors, but the book on the work of José Ortiz-Echagüe sold very well. So much so that after a month the French edition was sold out".

Fighting for the recognition of photography as an art form

The director of the Photographic Heritage of France insisted that "the important thing is that the archives are kept in good condition, that they are managed and cared for so that they can be disseminated. Many images are lost, either because they are destroyed or because, being poorly preserved, they disappear over time".

David Balsells, photography expert at the National Art Museum of Catalonia, expressed his support for this idea at agreement , and stressed the need to fight for the recognition of painting as an art form on the same level as sculpture or painting. "When I arrived in 1996 at the National Art Museum of Catalonia, there was not a single photograph. But this was not an isolated case, but generalized in the Spanish panorama. For this reason, we have to move forward in the status of photography, whose recognition dates back to about 15 or 20 years ago. The bad thing about this art is that it is surrounded by disciplines that have not taken it too much into account," he said.