Humberto Rivas (Buenos Aires, 1937- Barcelona, 2009) was one of the most important argentine photographers in history and an essential figure in the development of photography in Spain (National Photography Award, Spanish Ministry of Culture, 1998). His work has been recognized with various awards, including the City of Barcelona Plastic Arts Prize in 1996, the National Photography Prize in 1997 and the Gold Medal for artistic merit of the Barcelona City Council in 2009. In 1976, due to the military dictatorship implanted in Argentina, he went to continue his career in Spain, but not without leaving his mark on the Argentine art scene. He was a part of “Grupo Forum” and 60’s Di Tella’s generation, and portrayed important intellectual figures such as Jorge Luis Borges, Romulo Macció, Roberto Aizenberg and Juan Carlos Distefano, among others. The arrival of Rivas to Barcelona was significant for the cultural scene of the city. The impact caused by his work was an important boost for a group of artists who wanted to value photography as a creative media, which at that time was in a situation of marginality compared to other artistic disciplines. He joined the young photographers meeting around the Spectrum gallery (the only exhibition space for photography in the city), that sought to raise photography to the same level as works of art, therefore to have photographers considered as image creators from their subjective and personal perspective, at a time when there was no creative Spanish photography to speak of and when North American and European photographers were the main point of reference. Some of his most significant individual exhibitions have been at the Sala Arcs, Barcelona, ​​1991; Galerij Perspektief, Rotterdam, 1992; Antonio de Barnola Gallery, Barcelona, ​​1994; the Huesca School of Fine Arts, 1996; IVAM, 1996; the Malborough gallery, Madrid, 1998; the Galician Center for Contemporary Art in Santiago de Compostela, 1999. Among the groups, the following stand out: La Ciutat Fantasma, at the Fundación Joan Miró, 1985; To be and not to be, at the Santa Monica Art Center, 1990; Four directions: Spanish contemporary photography, at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, 1991; Musa Museum, at the Palacio de la Virreina in Barcelona, ​​1992; and Barcelona a vol d’artista, at the Center de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, ​​1994. His artistic career was shown in an anthological exhibition in 2006 held at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya in Barcelona. His work appears in important national and international collections and numerous books on his work have been published.