Virxilio
Vieitez

Virxilio Vieitez

biography

Spanish (1930-2008)

Discovered at the end of the 90’s, Virxilio Vieitez’s work is that of a self-taught man who had been a public photographer in his native region of Terra de Montes, Galicia, Spain, from 1957 until his retirement in 1980.
Devoid of artistic or sociological ambitions, his numerous portraits are rigorously composed: straight and frontal point of view, models in the center, rigid gestures, chosen settings and props. Nevertheless, rejecting the studio, he worked outside. Arguably, this paradoxical relationship with the conventions of staged portraits explains the strangeness of most of his photographs.

Series

Daily Life, 1955-1965

Vieitez documented the different episodes, either solemn or common, of the daily life in his countryside.

Passport Photographs (1955-1965)

Vieitez made hundreds of passport photographs when the ID card became compulsory in 1962.

Mobile Circus, 1959

Virxilio Vieitez had models posed outdoors because he found the studio boring and he installed them firmly to compose images that he immortalized by saving film to the point of never taking more than two shots of the same motif.

Daily Life, 1955-1965

Vieitez documented the different episodes, either solemn or common, of the daily life in his countryside.

Passport Photographs (1955-1965)

Vieitez made hundreds of passport photographs when the ID card became compulsory in 1962.

Mobile Circus, 1959

Virxilio Vieitez had models posed outdoors because he found the studio boring and he installed them firmly to compose images that he immortalized by saving film to the point of never taking more than two shots of the same motif.

Daily Life, 1955-1965

Vieitez documented the different episodes, either solemn or common, of the daily life in his countryside.

Passport Photographs (1955-1965)

Vieitez made hundreds of passport photographs when the ID card became compulsory in 1962.

Mobile Circus, 1959

Virxilio Vieitez had models posed outdoors because he found the studio boring and he installed them firmly to compose images that he immortalized by saving film to the point of never taking more than two shots of the same motif.

Interviews

Virxillio Vietez, Regards sur la Gallice
Libération
—
Interview by Philippe Lançon, 1999

« Cet inconnu de 68 ans a photographié, trente-cinq ans durant, les gens de sa région… »

Read

books

Virxilio Vieitez

Fundacion Telefonica - 2013

Virxilio Vieitez

La Fabrica / Collection PHotoBolsillo - 1999

Album

Centro de Estudos Fotográficos, Fundación Caixa Galicia - 1998

Virxilio Vieitez

Fundacion Telefonica - 2013

Virxilio Vieitez

La Fabrica / Collection PHotoBolsillo - 1999

Album

Centro de Estudos Fotográficos, Fundación Caixa Galicia - 1998

Virxilio Vieitez

Fundacion Telefonica - 2013

Virxilio Vieitez

La Fabrica / Collection PHotoBolsillo - 1999

Album

Centro de Estudos Fotográficos, Fundación Caixa Galicia - 1998