Auca del noi català, antifeixista i humà

Author/s: Pere Català i Pic and Josep Obiols (Illustrator)
Co-edition with: Libros del Zorro Rojo
Collection: Barcelona Alphabet Book

In the middle of the Spanish Civil War, the Propaganda Commission of Catalonia launched its children’s collection with an auca – a Catalan illustrated story similar to a comic – called the Auca of the Catalan, Anti-Fascist, Human Boy (Auca del noi català, antifeixista i humà), as an artistic, poetic response in a popular format to the extreme difficulties experienced by the Second Spanish Republic.

Through 48 two-tone drawings, the auca narrates the life of an exemplary young boy, Germà, from his birth one 19 July – coinciding with the Nationalist coup in Barcelona – until he is sent to the front in Madrid. Through the text accompanying the pictures, written by photographer and publisher Pere Català i Pic, Germà offers advice and lessons from the day-to-day life of someone considered a ‘good, Republican, Catalan guy’. This unique publication highlights the political engagement and citizenship characteristic of Republican Catalonia, based on the ideal of beauty the Noucentisme movement deemed fundamental in education.

The illustrations by Josep Obiols, the master and ‘civic man’, used as propaganda against fascism abroad, are an example of his commitment to education and culture

Children's book

History

Culture

Civil War

Republic

Illustration

Pere Català i Pic

He was born in Valls, in the Alt Camp region, in 1889. He was a photographer specialising in advertising and technical manager of the Publishing Department of the Propaganda Commission. He created ‘Aixafem el feixisme’ (‘Let’s crush fascism’), the most iconic poster produced by the Republican entity. He worked on magazines such as Mirador, Revista Ford and Publi-Graf. He died in Barcelona in 1971.

Josep Obiols

He was born in Barcelona in 1894. He was a painter, cartoonist and engraver considered ‘the most representative artist of the Noucentisme movement’. He produced posters such as the ‘Auca of the Catalan, Anti-Fascist, Human Boy’ (which gave rise to the book of the same name) and ‘Have you joined the Association to Protect Catalan Education yet?’. He died in Barcelona in 1967.