Ramón Masats Spanish, 17/03/1931–4/03/2024

We are down among them, wedged so close to the ring that a spectator’s blurred knee and shoe crowd the near edge of the frame, and from this low vantage the whole gym opens like a shallow stage. A tiled floor runs back to a stained wall hung with two circular emblems and a platform of leather striking-pads; a boxer in a white long-sleeved shirt sets his guard at the corner post while, at right, two more spar along the sagging ropes. Nothing is arranged, yet everything falls into place.

What makes the picture modern is how casually it distributes its bodies across the depth of the room. In the foreground a young man lies on a thin mat doing sit-ups, elbows spread, entirely indifferent to the fight rehearsal behind him; each figure occupies a separate plane and a separate task, so the eye travels the scene the way it might read a staged tableau. Masats lets the grain thicken the air, and the accidental composition acquires the deliberateness of something posed for the camera.

Neutral Corner is the reason Masats is spoken of alongside the AFAL photographers who pulled Spain into the modern documentary current, and it stands among the achievements that led to his Premio Nacional in 2004. This gelatin silver print holds the coarse, available-light grain as part of its content rather than a flaw, the pearl-grey tiles and chalky wall giving the scene its worn intimacy. It is a training room, but photographed with the attention usually reserved for a stage.