The Diputació collections were actually started at the beginning of the sixties, upon acquiring all the works by the sculptor Julio Antonio that had been kept by his sisters. From that time on, and with the advic of Lluís M. Saumells, director of the School of Arts of Tarragona other collections were purchased, namely those by the sculptors Santiago Costa i Vaqué, Salvador Martorell i Ollé and the painter Josep Sancho i Piqué.
Since 1943, yearly at first, and biyearly later on, the Diputació awarded the Julio Antonio Prize of Sculpture and the Josep Tapiró Prize od Painting, eeping the winnimh works. Some of them were kept as deposits in other institutions, and, at one time, some were sold for reasons unknown. All in all, and for the most part, the winning works have been displayed in the Diputació premises. In 1976, and following the moving of the Workshop and School of Arts From Santa Anna St. to its new location in Sant Pere Sescelades, part of the Casa Martí, the previous seat of the school was made aviable.
The Martí House
This building, in its present shape is the result of the union of three ancient houses of the Old Town. The fist one having once belonged to the Jesuit College of the Holy Kings was seized by the Crown of Spain following their expelling from the country in 1767. It was finally purchased by Antoniop Martí i Gatell in 1772 from the local committe in charge of liquidating the estate of that religious order in Tarragona. After several improvements, the new owner set residence in 1781.
Antonio Martí i Franquès, the illustrious scientist from Altafulla also lived here from 1798 until his death in 1832. In the 19th. century, Gaietà Martí i Veciana, the grandson of Martí i Gatell, purchased two neighbouring houses and started at once with the enlargement and refurbishment of the original residence. The works were completed by the early sixties of the last century.
As from 1976, and utilizing the aviable space in the house, the first steps were taken towards the creation of a new Mueum. In the first place, an inventory was needed of the most important items was made, and finally, they were put on display.
Due to lack of spcace, the permanent exihitions area was too small, although a number of temporary exhibitions were held, which eventually helped get the Museum closer to the general public. In 1983 the Diputació acquired the building of Santa Ana St. and appointed architect Jaume Mutlló to its refurbishment.
Photographic Archives
The first set of pictures to be included in the archives was that made on behalf of the Diputació in 1929 by the photographers Pere Català i Pic and Hermenegild Vallvé i Vilallonga, for the International Exposition of Barcelona of that year, and displayed in the "Spanish Monuments" section. Later on, other sets were recovered, that had been presented to the Diputació in the sixties and seventies.
The archives grew steadily from that moment on, both through purchased and donation. In 1989, a collection of daguerrotypes and three hundred glas plates were included as deposits.
Library
Since its fundation it has specialised in the field of Catalan Arts of the XIX and XX th. centuries. In addition to its own stock of books, efforts have been mada in order to recover all the catalogues of the National Fine Arts of Barcelona.
It also accounts for a significant number of Fine Arts magazines, both from the present times and from the last years of the XIX th. century and early XX th.
The Museum of Modern Arts, in close connetion with today's artistic feelings, has created a Documentary Fund, mostly derivating from the Plastic Arts that have been promoted by the Diputació. It also produces its own publication by means of which it aims to the difussion not only of its own funds but also the creations of today's artists.
Finally, and in co-operation with ohter institutions, it organizes temporary exhibitions both in order to recover our closest visual heritage as well as towards the future that the contemporary artists are already creating through their work.
