Book presentation by Almudena Rubio about photographers Margaret Michaelis and Kati Horna in the Spanish Civil War
Almudena Rubio will present her long-awaited book on the legacy of the female photographers Margaret Michaelis and Kati Horna, whose work has been identified in the historical archives of the anarchist organizations CNT-FAI.
Few images of the Spanish Civil War are as powerful as those captured by two young female photographers aligned with the CNT-FAI: the Austrian Margaret Michaelis (1902–1985) and the Hungarian Kati Horna (1912–2000). Much of their work was considered lost until historian Almudena Rubio identified hundreds of their photographs in the historical archives of the CNT-FAI. The so-called 'Amsterdam crates', were smuggled out of Spain in January 1939, just before Franco's victory, and taken to the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam, where they remain to this day.
Rubio presents a detailed reconstruction of the careers of both photographers in Spain, providing a wealth of unpublished information. Moving away from the visual analysis that has dominated previous studies, she considers their lives and works as inseparable dimensions of the same experience and regains their political commitment to the anarchist movement.
The book places Margaret Michaelis and Kati Horna at the center of the history of Spanish Civil War, recognizing their leading role in the history of photography, while also contributing to the study of the libertarian movement and its media practices during the war.
After Almudena Rubio's talk, former IISH director Jaap Kloosterman and Jordana Mendelson, Professor and Director of the Espacio de Culturas at New York University, will discuss the uniqueness of this discovery and the role of women in the history of photography during the Spanish Civil War.
Practical
Date: 9 April 2026
Time: 16:00
Place: IISG, Cruquiusweg 31, Amsterdam
Entrance: Free admission, but please send an email to event@iisg.nl if you want to join.
Almudena Rubio is an art historian and pre-doctoral researcher at Tarragona University. Her research focuses on the relationship between photography, women, anarchism and the Spanish Civil War. She has published articles in the journal Historia Social and in the newspaper El País. She has curated the exhibitions “With Anarchist Eyes: Kati Horna and Margaret Michaelis” (Amsterdam, 2021) and “Las cajas de Ámsterdam: Kati Horna y Margaret Michaelis en la Guerra Civil” (PhotoEspaña, 2022–2023).
Jaap Kloosterman was head librarian and, before he became the Institute's director in 1993. In 2008 he stepped down to work on a project on the historical background of the Institute's collections, and a study of secret societies. He retired in July 2013, but continues as a senior policy adviser and honorary fellow. He edited works of Mikhail Bakunin, Anselme Bellegarrigue, Carl von Clausewitz, Rosa Luxemburg, Max Nettlau, Anton Pannekoek, and Aleksandr Shapiro, among others, and translated works of Bakunin and Guy Debord.
Jordana Mendelson is a professor at NYU and, since 2020, Director of its King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center. Mendelson's research focuses on early twentieth-century visual culture in Spain. She is the author of Documenting Spain: Artists, Exhibition Culture, and the Modern Nation 1929-1939 (Penn State University Press, 2005) and Magazines and War 1936-1939 (Museo Reina Sofía, 2007), and the co-author of Margaret Michaelis: Fotografía, Vanguardia y Política en la Barcelona de la República (Institut Valencià d'Art Moderno, 1999). She has curated numerous exhibitions, including “Other Weapons: Photography and Print Culture during the Spanish Civil War” (International Center of Photography, 2007).
