View source for Carmen Barbará

{{Short description|Spanish comics artist (born 1933)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Carmen Barbará
| image         = Carme Barbarà (2010).tif
| alt           = 
| caption       = in 2010
| birth_name    = Carme Barbará Geniés
| birth_date    =  {{birth date and age|1933|07|03|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Barcelona]], [[Spain]]
| death_date    = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) -->
| death_place   = 
| nationality   = Spanish
| occupation    = [[Comics artist]], [[illustrator]]
| notable_works = ''Mary Noticias''
}}
'''Carme Barbará Geniés''' (born 3 July 1933), known professionally as '''Carmen Barbará''', is a Spanish comics artist and illustrator. Her most famous character is the reporter {{Interlanguage link multi|Mary Noticias|es}}, who revolutionized the image of women in Spanish cartoons, breaking from their traditional romantic roles.<ref name=censura>{{Cite web |url=http://www.elperiodico.com/es/noticias/sociedad/carme-barberahasta-censura-metio-con-mary-noticias-3257260 |title=Carme Barberà: 'Hasta la censura se metió con Mary Noticias' |trans-title=Carme Barberà: 'Until Mary Noticias got censored' |last=Gayà |first=Catalina |work=[[El Periódico de Catalunya|El Periódico]] |language=Spanish |date=23 April 2014 |access-date=17 October 2016}}</ref>

==Biography==
Carme Barbará Geniés was born in [[Barcelona]] into a family whose members were very fond of drawing and painting.

Before becoming a cartoonist, her favorite comic was ''[[Tim Tyler's Luck]]'' (translated into Spanish as ''Jorge y Fernando''), and she also bought the magazines ''{{Interlanguage link multi|Chicos (magazine)|es|3=Chicos|lt=Chicos}}'', ''{{Interlanguage link multi|Mis Chicas|es}}'', ''{{Interlanguage link multi|Maravillas (magazine)|es|3=Maravillas (revista)|lt=Maravillas}}'', and ''El Hombre Enmascarado'' (''[[The Phantom]]'').

At age 14 she began drawing for a publication set up by a schoolmate. Then in the mid-1950s, she went on to publish fairy tales for Ediciones Alberto Geniés, owned by her cousin.<ref name=censura/>

Her next creation was the character of Luisa in the magazine ''{{Interlanguage link multi|Florita (magazine)|es|3=Florita (revista)|lt=Florita}}'' for Editorial Plaza.

She drew for {{Interlanguage link multi|Ediciones Toray|es}} and their comics ''Mis Cuentos'', ''Alicia'', ''Cuentos de la Abuelita'', and ''{{Interlanguage link multi|Colección Azucena|es}}''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ramírez |first=Juan Antonio] |title=El 'comic' femenino en España. Arte sub y anulación |year=1975 |location=Madrid |publisher=Editorial Cuadernos para el Diálogo, S. A. Colección Divulgación universitaria Arte y literatura, número 78 |isbn=84-229-0177-3 |language=Spanish |page=45}}</ref> For Editorial Bruguera she drew ''Sissi'' and ''Cuentos Rositas'' in their women's publications, and ''Cuentos'' for girls.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ultimahora.es/vips/discreto-encanto/comic-femenino-espana-vuelve-primer-plano.html |title=El cómic femenino de España vuelve al primer plano |trans-title=The Feminine Comic of Spain Returns to the Foreground |last=Gon |first=Manu |work=[[Última Hora (Spain)|Última Hora]] |location=Ibiza |language=Spanish |date=28 September 2015 |access-date=17 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813103520/http://ultimahora.es/vips/discreto-encanto/comic-femenino-espana-vuelve-primer-plano.html# |archive-date=2016-08-13 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Starting in the 1970s, she focused on [[illustration]].<ref name=Atlas>{{Cite book |last=Cuadrado |first=Jesús |title=Atlas español de la cultura popular: De la historieta y su uso, 1873–2000 |trans-title=Spanish Atlas of Popular Culture: On Comics and Their Use, 1873–2000 |year=2000 |location=Madrid |publisher=Ediciones Sinsentido/Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez |isbn=84-89384-23-1 |language=Spanish |pages=114–115}}</ref> She drew for the {{Interlanguage link multi|Ibero Mundial de Ediciones|es|3=Ibero Mundial de Ediciones|lt=Ibero Mundial}} strips ''Claro de Luna'' and ''Romántica i Marilin''. It was also for this publisher that she drew, with scripts by Roy Mark (the pseudonym of {{Interlanguage link multi|Ricardo Acedo|es}}), the series ''Mary Noticias''.

Through agencies she worked for the international market: [[Scotland]], [[France]], [[England]], and [[Sweden]].<ref name=Atlas/>

===''Mary Noticias''===
<!-- Mary Noticias redirects here. -->
Carmen Barbará's most famous comic is ''{{Interlanguage link multi|Mary Noticias|es}}'', published from 1962 to 1971 for Ibero Mundial.<ref name=Atlas/> Its title character revolutionized the image of women in cartoons, breaking from their traditional romantic roles. Mary works as a television reporter. Her freedom of movement was of some concern to censors of the day.<ref name=censura/>

The strip began on 21 June 1962 and 484 issues were published.

==Style==
Barbará's style evolved from the "sappy softness" of the "marvelous comic" to the harder realism of [[romance comics]].

==Personal life==
Married with two sons, Barbará worked at home for years while taking care of them. She retired at age 65 in 1998.<ref name=censura/>

==Work==
{| class="sortable wikitable" style="margin:1em auto;"
|-
!Year
!Title
!Writer
!Type
!Publication
|-
|1951
|
| 
|Serial
|''Carmencita''
|-
|
|
|
|
|''Colección Azucena''
|-
|1953
|''Luisa'' 
|
|Series
|''Florita''<ref name=Atlas/>
|-
|1955
|
|
|Serial
|''Mari Tere''
|-
|1955
|
|
|Serial
|''Alicia''
|-
|1956
|
| 
|Serial
|''Rosarito'' (Jobar)
|-
|1956
|
|
|
|''Pinky'' (Jobar)
|-
|1956
|
| 
|Serial
|''Tres Hadas''
|-
|1956
|
|
|Serial
|''Graciela''
|-
|1958
|''Yo te contaré...'' 
|
|Series
|''Florita''<ref name=Atlas/>
|-
|1958
|
|
|Serial
|''Marta'' (Cliper)
|-
|1958
|
|
|Serial
|''Princesa Carolina'' 
|-
|1958
|
|
|Serial
|''Lindaflor''
|-
|1962
|''Caterina''
|Silvia Duarte
|Short comic
|''Claro de Luna'' #174
|-
|1962
|''[[Mary Noticias]]''
|Roy Mark
|Serial
|Ibero Mundial
|-
|1964
|''Mary Noticias Extra''
|Roy Mark
|Serial
|Ibero Mundial 
|-
|1964
|
|
|Serial
|Cuentos Rosita [[Editorial Bruguera|Bruguera]]
|-
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/barbara-genies_carme.htm Carmen Barbará] at [[Lambiek]] ''Comiclopedia''
* [http://www.tebeosfera.com/autores/carmen_barbara.html List of works] at Tebeosfera {{in lang|es}}

{{Authority control (arts)|country=ES}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbara, Carmen}}
[[Category:1933 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century Spanish women artists]]
[[Category:Artists from Barcelona]]
[[Category:Spanish editorial cartoonists]]
[[Category:Spanish comic strip cartoonists]]
[[Category:Spanish comics artists]]
[[Category:Women artists from Catalonia]]
[[Category:Spanish women editorial cartoonists]]
[[Category:Spanish women illustrators]]
[[Category:Spanish female comics artists]]