Gérard Castello-Lopes (1925-2011) was the representative par excellence of the golden generation of Portuguese photography-which emerged in the 1950s. Alongside the likes of Sena da Silva and Carlos Afonso Dias, Castello-Lopes raised Portuguese photography to the level of the best work being produced at the time. And yet the majority of his works remained unknown until their discovery by the Ether Gallery (Lisbon) in the early 1980s. Unlike his counterparts, Gérard Castello-Lopes returned to photography to superb effect in 1982, and continued to create and exhibit works until 2008.

Born in Vichy (France), in 1925, Castello-Lopes died in Paris on 12 February 2011. With a life divided between Portugal and France, he made his mark not only on cinema (both as a critic, actor, production assistant and manager at Filmes Castello Lopes), but also on photography and jazz (he was the co-founder of Hot Clube de ... Portugal in 1948) in Portugal. The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and BES Arte & Finança pay homage to this great figure of Portuguese culture with a retrospective exhibition-the largest to have ever been dedicated to him.

Conceived of and organised by Jorge Calado, the exhibition Aparições / Apparitions - A Fotografia de Gérard Castello Lopes 1956-2006 was first shown in Lisbon, at the BES Arte & Finança space. Apparitions is made up of 153 of the artist's photos, where some of the prints are presented in different formats (ranging from 4cm to 2 metres), which illustrate his conception of scale. This is the case of his famous photograph of the 'rock' (Portugal, 1987), shown in five different sizes. Two thirds of the exhibition consist of period prints, while around 50 are images which had not previously been displayed, all of which belonging to his family's collection. To complete the exhibition is a series of portraits of Gérard Castello-Lopes taken by other photographers (Augusto Cabrita, Carlos Afonso Dias, José M. Rodrigues, etc.) and finally a range of personal effects (cameras, books, records, diary, etc).

In addition to the photographs from the artist's bequest, the exhibition will include eight works from the BESart - Banco Espírito Santo Collection, as well as works on loan from the Centro de Arte Moderna José de Azeredo Perdigão (Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation), the Colecção Museu Berardo, the Fernando Santos Gallery (Porto) and by several private collectors.