Antoni Gaudí
I felt some excitement at a long overdue first trip to Barcelona to see the works of Antoni Gaudí and the other architects associated with the Modern Movement in Barcelona. As an architectural student in Dublin there was little exposure to this movement. True, we had the example of Michael Scott and Busáras (the Central Bus Station) and the architects own house at Sandycove but these were post-war and isolated and we knew little of the Irish designer who was at the very vanguard of the Modern Movement, Eileen Gray and the wonderful E1027 at Roquebrune in the South of France
http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/09/e-1027-roquebrune-cap-martin.html
Instead we tended to associate the movement with disciples of Berthold Lubetkin and Tecton in England who were at the more brutalist end of the International Movement. So seeing the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow School
http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/07/charles-rennie-mackintosh.html
emphasised both how far adrift Ireland had been from the zeitgeist of European Architecture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries due to political turmoil and the conservatism after independence. Mackintosh also showed how he was part of a “Glasgow School” of fellow architects, artists and crafts people and showed how this was a great opportunity lost for an independent Ireland to establish its own identity, a point further reinforced when you see how an independent Latvia embraced Art Nouveau during its remarkable period of independence between the wars
http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/08/riga-capital-of-country-in-transition.html
Like many visitors before me I had come to Barcelona to experience the animal-, vegetable- and mineral-like buildings that have made this architect's work synonymous with the city they adorn. Barcelona equals Gaudí. This makes sense, because Gaudí was a fervent Catalan nationalist, and an equally fervent Catholic, whose architecture has been a rallying point in stone, concrete and his hallmark broken glazed tiles. The Modernist architects expressed themselves in different ways, some wanted to revive Romanesque architecture, others imported the French neo-Gothicism of Violet le Duc, others still searching for a modern style in Germany, Austria or France. What seems to be characteristic is the use of nature-forms: flowers, plants and animals, decorative forms in ironwork, ceramics and stained glass. The aim was to create a modern art based on Catalan traditions, mixed with the use of new materials, like cast and wrought iron.
Three buildings of the early 1880's seem to mark the beginnings of Modernism : The publishing house of Montaner i Simon(1880), Josep Vilaseca's factory for F. Vidal (1884) and Gaudi's Casa Vicens (1883- 5). All three flow from a revival of a Spanish style: the neo- Mudéjar, with the use of Moorish decorative forms and techniques as characteristics. Modernism seems to have begun earlier and ended later than in most countries in Europe. Modernismo was the term which in Spain described the fin-de-siècle style which in Germany and Austria was called Jugendstil, and in France Art Nouveau. For this reason Gaudi's work is never at the “form follows function” end of modernism but incorporates colour in the Moorish manner as transferred to Spain and reflects his obsession with natural forms which gives his designs an organic feel which gives them a feeling of humanity which transcends architectural conceit or grandiosity.
Casa Vicens
This single-family residence for Manuel Vicens was the first Gaudí designed. The site was small (smaller today after the widening of the street) and conventional structures already existed in the area. This early work exhibits several influences, most notably the Moorish (or Mudéjar) influence, particularly evident at the top. The house is constructed of undressed stone, rough red bricks, and colored ceramic tiles in checkerboard and floral patterns. Manuel Vicens was the owner of a brick and tile factory so the ceramic tiles pay tribute to his employment. The yellow, zinnia-flowered tile, designed by Gaudí, was manufactured by Vicens.
The son of a coppersmith, Antoni Gaudí was born in Reus, Spain in 1852. He studied at the Escola Superior d'Arquitectura in Barcelona and designed his first major commission for the Casa Vincens in Barcelona using a Gothic Revival style that set a precedent for his future work. Antonio Gaudí was a unique architectural talent, not easily compared with other architects in the terms used by architectural historians. Not only was his work strongly individualized, but Antonio Gaudí was fortunate to have loyal clients to support him. From early in his career, wide attention was given to his work, although Gaudí shunned publicity becoming almost hermit like in later life.
Antonio Gaudí has been identified with the Catalan Modernisme movement of the late nineteenth century and, by extension with the international art nouveau style. His strong personality drew like-minded people of talent to him, and the collaboration of structural engineers, sculptors, and metalworkers was needed to carry out his ideas. It is often possible to identify the artists and engineers involved.
Gaudí's House & furniture - Parc Güell
The nationalist desires of Catalonians had been a problem of long standing for Spain. By the late nineteenth century, Barcelona had developed strong trade relationships with the UK and Western Europe. The wealth created contrasted with the difficult economic times in the rest of Spain and the loss of its last possessions in the war of 1898. The artistic activity in Barcelona was supported by business clients who by their travels were well acquainted with other countries, particularly with the arts and crafts movement in the United Kingdom. The development of illustrated periodicals further spread the art news to Barcelona. The cafe Els Quatre Gats, where Picasso's early work was shown and for which Antonio Gaudí designed menus in 1899, was an example of the international influences of the time.
Over the course of his career, Gaudí developed a sensuous, curving, almost surreal design style which established him as the innovative leader of the Spanish Art Nouveau movement. With little regard for formal order, he juxtaposed unrelated systems and altered established visual order. Gaudi's characteristically warped form of Gothic architecture drew admiration from other avant-garde artists. Although categorised with the Art Nouveau, Gaudí created an entirely original style. He died in Barcelona on July 10, 1926 after he had been knocked down by a tram three days before. He was buried in the Crypt of the Sagrada Família on the 12th July and it is said that the whole city turned out to honour Gaudí.
After the traumatic Civil War Franco despised Barcelona and Catalonia, where even the speaking of the Catalan language was outlawed. Not only was it one of the key centres of opposition to his petty and spiteful fascist regime, but the city was a commercial and cultural rival to Castilian Madrid. It suffered during the Franco years, yet Gaudí's architecture gave it a mystery, a swagger and a wilfulness that helped to keep its head held high.
From the very beginning Gaudi's designs were different from those of his contemporaries. His work was greatly influenced by forms of nature and this is reflected by the use of curved construction stones, twisted iron sculptures, and organic-like forms which are traits of Gaudi's Barcelona architecture. Gaudí's style of architecture went through several phases. On emergence from the Provincial School of Architecture in Barcelona in 1878, he practiced a rather florid Victorianism that had been evident in his school projects, but he quickly developed a manner of composing by means of unprecedented juxtapositions of geometric masses, the surfaces of which were highly animated with patterned brick or stone, gay ceramic tiles, and floral or reptilian metalwork. The general effect, although not the details, is Moorish - or Mudéjar, as Spain's special mixture of Muslim and Christian design is called. Examples of his Mudéjar style are the Casa Vicens (1878-80) and "El Capricho" (1883-85) and the Güell Estate and Güell Palace of the later 1880s, all but "El Capricho" located in Barcelona. Next, Gaudí experimented with the dynamic possibilities of historic styles: the Gothic in the Episcopal Palace, Astorga (1887-93) and Casa de los Botines, León (1892-94) and the Baroque in the Casa Calvet at Barcelona (1898-1904). But after 1902 his designs elude conventional stylistic nomenclature.
Except for certain overt symbols of nature or religion, Gaudí's buildings became essentially representations of their structure and materials. In his Villa Bell Esguard (1900-02) and the Güell Park (1900-14), in Barcelona, and in the Colonia Güell Church (1898-c. 1915), south of that city, he arrived at a type of structure that has come to be called equilibrated - that is, a structure designed to stand on its own without internal bracing, external buttressing, and like, as Gaudí observed, as a tree stands. Among the primary elements of his system were piers and columns that tilt to transmit diagonal thrusts, and thin-shell, laminated tile vaults that exert very little thrust. Gaudí applied his equilibrated system to two multi-storeyed Barcelona apartment buildings: the Casa Batlló (1904-06), a renovation that incorporated new equilibrated elements, notably the facade; and the Casa Milá (1905-10), the several floors of which are structured like clusters of tile lily pads with steel-beam veins. As was so often his practice, he designed the two buildings, in their shapes and surfaces, as metaphors of the mountainous and maritime character of Catalonia.
Gaudí also adorned many of his buildings with coloured tiles arranged in mosaic patterns. This added another important dimension to his buildings which is so often overlooked by architects - the use of colour. The combination of original design, interesting shaped stonework, and vibrant colours in Gaudi's work give the viewer a truly breathtaking visual experience.
One of Antonio Gaudí’s loyal clients and friends was Count Eusebio Güell, for whom Antonio Gaudí designed many projects. For the housing development near Barcelona, Antonio Gaudí designed his famous park (1900-1914) on a sloping site. The Park Güell extends over a market area and is supported on columns sloped to reflect the transfer of loads from the plaza above. The use of coloured tile is most remarkably evident in the curving bench at the edge of the plaza. The tile work was designed by Antonio Gaudí’s collaborator, Josep Maria Jujol I Gibert (1879-1940) and is considered an important work of art. The park was left incomplete because the development project failed to attract investors, particularly with the start of World War I.
Parc Güell
This park is a place of great plastic beauty. A grand stairway divided by a mythological dragon or lizard leads to the large hypostyle hall. Originally intended to act as a “market place” for the planned community. This is built with 84 inclined columns. These in turn support the great upper plaza, a fine balcony over-looking the city and the sea and feature superb tiled circular designs on the underside. The large plaza is delimited by an extraordinary balustrade-bench which twists in serpentine manner to form winding course, recesses and small semi-enclosed areas where the facing of brightly coloured ceramics creates a spectacular collage which seems to have anticipated a vein explored by later avant-garde artists.
Casa Milà has become known in Catalan a "La Pedrera" - 'the quarry'— which was the name an astounded Barcelona population gave to this completely unique building. It could be compared with the steep cliff walls in which African tribes build their cave-like dwellings. The wavy facade, with its large pores, reminds one also of an undulating beach of fine sand, formed, for example, by a receding dune. The Casa Mila apartment house is a late example of Antonio Gaudí’s commercial design. On a corner site, the building facade is curvilinear in form and based on organic concepts. The heavy facade is tied to the floors behind. The most successful portions of the design were the roof vaults, clustered chimneys, and balcony railings designed by Jujol. This design caused much public comment, and Antonio Gaudí was forced to defend his organic forms in general terms.
Casa Milà - "La Pedrera"
The façade is an impressive wave-like mass of rough-shipped stone. The windows and doors seem to be dug out of this stone mass and are trimmed in exquisitely crafted wrought iron work with vegetal forms on the balconies and astonishing grilles on the two street-doors. On the stepped terrace, coming as an elegant surprise are the huge stair exits of sculptured spirals and faced with broken ceramics and marble. The chimneys bring to mind knights wearing visors. All of this makes up a fantastic and futurist space. The interior marine decoration - ceilings, columns and the furniture designed by Gaudí for this house are extremely modern.
Casa Batlló has been described as “Mighty pillars that appear to resemble the feet of some giant elephant are the first thing to meet the eye of the passer-by from street level. The roof reminds him of a completely different animal: it is bordered by a jagged line similar to the backbone of a gigantic dinosaur.” Apartment block totally renovated by Gaudi between 1904 and 1906 in Barcelona for the Batllo's family. One of the architect's most complete works, it produces an indefinable sensation of lightness in spite of the profusion of forms and motifs. At the first floor level of the undulating façade is a striking stone structure in the form of loggia supported by columns which frame fine windows decorated with stained glass.
Casa Batlló
The ceramics and multi-coloured glass mosaics of the upper part are interrupted by iron balconies in the form of Venetian masks. Crowning the whole is a suggestive tile roof over double garrets, which evokes the back of a fantastic dragon. The first floor was decorated by Gaudi who created some of his best interior design pieces for it, a magnificent built: fireplace, plaster whirling ceilings, stained glass, wrought iron elements, wooden doors and "avant garde" furniture.
The Palau Güell is a town mansion (translated literally a "palace") in Barcelona, Catalonia, designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí for his great patron industrial tycoon Eusebio Güell. The house was greatly expanded and remodelled from Antonio Gaudí’s designs from 1885 to 1890. The facades are more severe than in Antonio Gaudí’s other works, except for the extensive wrought-iron work, the polychrome roof forms, and the principal internal event, a central space rising up through the house to the capping cupola. Drawings of sections of the palace were displayed in Paris in 1910.
Palau Güell
This was the first large-scale work by Gaudi to clearly show the search for new ideas in construction as well as a totally personal, innovative interpretation of historical styles, with Moorish elements. The building is centred on a grand vertical space crowned by a large parabolic dome with star-shaped windows. The others areas: salons, corridors, living rooms are organized around this space which constitutes the main salon. The luxurious interior decoration is a magnificent compendium of the taste of the time- marble columns, ceilings panelled in precious woods; elaborate iron work, incredible stained glass windows, paintings and astounding furniture. On the roof there are eighteen chimneys in various suggestive forms covered with broken pieces of ceramics. UNESCO classified the Güell Palace as a World Heritage site in 1984.
Casa Amatller is a building in the Modernisme style in Barcelona, designed by Josep Puig i Cadafalch. Along with Casa Batlló and Casa Lleó-Morera, it makes up the three most important buildings in Barcelona's famous "Mançana de la Discòrdia" ("Block of Discord"), noted for its unique modernist buildings. The building was originally designed as a residence for chocolatier Antoni Amatller and was constructed between 1898 and 1900. The Casa Amatller is beside the Casa Lleó Morera and the Casa Batlló. This building with its stepped gable (more reminiscent of northern Europe than Spain) is Puig i Cadafalch's most elaborate creation. The facade is largely influenced by religious Catalan Gothic (especially the window surrounds on the lower floors) but the architect has added some playful touches. The facade is covered in ceramic tiles with a slight metallic sheen.
Casa Amatller
Gaudí had a bad temper (there is a Catalan saying: "Gent de camp, gent de lamp," which means "People from the country are quick-tempered people"). He said that his bad temper was the one thing he was never able to control in his life. On the other hand, Gaudí took interest in the social problems of the workers, and felt attached to the people. In his old age, Gaudí was a man who conformed to little in the way of convention and dressed without much care; so much so that the day of his accident nobody recognised him as he lay on the ground. On June 7, 1926, he was run over by a tram at the intersection of Carrer de Bailén and the Gran Vía, and the taxi drivers refused to take a poor vagabond to the hospital (the municipal police fined them later for not assisting an injured man). He did not seek out contact with journalists and he avoided cameras, so there are few photographs of the architect.
This change in attitude may have been caused by a series of events that took place beginning in 1912. That year, his niece, Rosa Egea, who lived with him in Barcelona, died. In 1914, his faithful collaborator, Francesc Berenguer Mestres, died, and for matters of professional fees, he was involved in an acrimonious legal case with the Milà family. In 1915, the continuity of the construction of the Sagrada Familia was endangered by a serious economic crisis. En 1914, construction of the Colonia Güell was interrupted by the war. Two years later, his friend, Doctor Torras i Bages, Archbishop of Vic, died. In 1918, his best friend and patron, Eusebio Güell, passed away. They were sad events that affected him but did not limit his energy and desire to see his greatest work, the Sagrada Família, come into being but from his appearance and behaviour it probably left him without a sense of balance in his life.
Sagrada Família
Gaudí died at the age of 74 (June 10, 1926), but if it hadn't been for the tram he may have lived many more years, since his father had lived to the age of 93, with all his vigour. Half of Barcelona dressed in black to give final homage to a man that had become very popular, although few had ever met him personally. His body was buried in the crypt of the edifice where he had worked for the last 43 years of his life, the Sagrada Familia. Gaudí himself was unlike other architects before or since. An intensely religious celibate vegetarian ascetic who lived increasingly like a hermit and dressed in what seemed to his contemporaries like rags, he nevertheless designed some of the most highly charged, highly wrought buildings yet known.
For me on this journey to Barcelona it was better to arrive as to travel for the legacy of Modernisme and of Antonio Gaudí is a remarkable statement of design, of craftsmanship and of the spirit of Barcelona and Catalonia. This is even more remarkable as this was the architecture of a wealthy elite in a city riven with class tensions which were often expressed violently. However with the resurgence of Catalan identity this unique legacy is the patrimony, not of an elite, but of all the citizens of this unique and artistic city and of a proud and dynamic Catalonia.
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