1 MO DERNIS ME: TOWARD THE DES IGN C U LTURE Ajuntament de Barcelona Institut de Cultura Museu del Disseny de Barcelona Barcelona Design Museum exhibition Edition Ajuntament de Barcelona Institut de Cultura de Barcelona Museu del Disseny de Barcelona Direction Pilar Vélez Direction Pilar Vélez Audio guides Nubart Collections Teresa Bastardes Josep Capsir Rossend Casanova Isabel Cendoya Isabel Fernández del Moral Sílvia Ventosa Sílvia Armentia Laia Callejà Curators Mireia Freixa Pilar Vélez Documentation Centre Albert Díaz María José Balcells Conservation and restoration Sílvia Armentia Audiovisual and photo reproduction material Ajuntament de Girona /CRDI, Archivo Pepe Ribas, Arxiu Històric Municipal de Anglès, Arxiu Fotogràfic Centre Excursionista de Catalunya, Arxiu Fotogràfic de Barcelona, Arxiu Històric del Col·legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya; Archivo Víctor Oliva, Càtedra Gaudí, Centro de Documentación del Museu del Disseny, Le Cercle Guimard, Col. Juan José Lahuerta, Diputació de Barcelona, Fundació Institut Amatller d’Art Hispànic. Arxiu Mas, Museu Arenys de Mar, Museu de Ceràmica La Rajoleta. Esplugues de Llobregat, Museu del Disseny de Barcelona, Museu Frederic Marès, Museu d’Història de BarcelonaMUHBA, Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Wien Museum Publications Board Jordi Martí Grau Joan Subirats Humet Marc Andreu Acebal Gemma Arau Ceballos Águeda Bañón Pérez Marta Clari Padrós Núria Costa Galobart Albert Dalmau Miranda Laura Pérez Castaño Jordi Rabassa Massons Joan Ramon Riera Alemany Edgar Rovira Sebastià, Anna Giralt Brunet Exhibitions Àngela Cuenca Anna Soler Educational Service and Activities Carmina Borbonet Jordi Andrés Communication Director Águeda Bañón Editorial Services Director Núria Costa Galobart Communication and Identity Xavier Roig Patrícia Altimira Coordination Anna Soler Collection Management Teresa Bastardes with the participation of Àbac. Conservació-Restauració SL (Laia Abelló, Núria Deu, Maria Molinas), Xisca Bernat, J.M. Bonet vitralls SL, Bumaga Conservació SL (Marta Freixa), Mireia Campanyà, Lourdes Domedel, Èlia López, Mireia Piqué, Voravit Roonthiva, David Silvestre, Beatriz Urbano, Montserrat Xirau External Relations Eva Joan Comunication Xavier Roig Patrícia Altimira Audience Management Serra París with the collaboration of Divina Huguet Resources David Chéliz Paco García Cristina del Peral Josep Maria Sánchez Exhibition design Ignasi Bonjoch, Marta Moliner, Andrea Serda Graphic design Wladimir Marnich Production and assembly Croquis Audiovisuals and projections Enric Juste Accessibility resources 3IDEM Access Friendly acknowledgements catalog The Barcelona Design Museum would like to thank all the people and companies whose cooperation has made this exhibition and this catalog possible Edition by Pilar Vélez Arxiu Històric Municipal d’Anglès, Arxiu Fotogràfic Centre Excursionista de Catalunya, Arxiu Fotogràfic de Barcelona, Arxiu Històric del Col·legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya, Bagués-Masriera, Rossend Casanova, Càtedra Gaudí, Josep M. Claparols, Jordi Cucurull, Diputació de Barcelona, Jordi Falgàs, Mireia Freixa, Fundació Institut Amatller d’Art Hispànic. Arxiu Mas, María Mercedes Gomis Bertrand, Juan José Lahuerta, Museu Arenys de Mar, Museu de Ceràmica La Rajoleta. Esplugues de Llobregat, Museu Frederic Marès, Museu d’Història de BarcelonaMUHBA, Museu d’Història de Girona, Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Judit Nadal, Víctor Oliva, Abel Pascual, Inma Pascual, Enric Pericas, Pepe Ribas, Pepa Serra de Budallés Texts Josep Bracons, Ricard Bru, Josep Capsir, Rossend Casanova, Aleix Catasús, Isabel Cendoya, Jordi Falgàs, Isabel Fernández del Moral, Mireia Freixa, Núria Gil, Juan José Lahuerta, Teresa Navas, Ernest Ortoll, Mónica Piera, Teresa-M. Sala, Marta Saliné, Pilar Vélez, Sílvia Ventosa, Mercè Vidal Likewise, it wishes to reiterate its gratitude to the donors who have recently contributed to significantly increase the Museum’s modernist collections, the city’s heritage, especially to BD Barcelona Design Bosch.capdeferro arquitectures Victòria Cantavella Espai Corbat Escofet 1886 SA Teresa Granell i Carbonell Mobles 114 Magdala Pey Casanovas Editing support Patrícia Altimira Translation and review process coordination Albert Mestres Marta Fontanals Christian Smith Design and layout Pere Fradera Printing Ce.Ge All rights reserved © of this edition: Museu del Disseny. Ajuntament de Barcelona © of the text, their authors © of the photographies, their authors or owners Barcelona, 2020 Museu del Disseny de Barcelona Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, 37-38 08018 Barcelona T. 93 256 68 00 museudeldisseny@bcn.cat museudeldisseny.bcn.cat barcelona.cat/barcelonallibres ISBN: 978-84-9156-274DL: B XXX-XXXX Printed on recycled paper 4 5 To Anna Calvera, who helped us bring this project to life 7 SUMMA RY 11 First part 13 Modernisme, toward the culture of design. The why and how of an exhibition Pilar Vélez and Mireia Freixa 13 A re-reading of Modernisme from the design perspective 16 From the art-industry debate toward the culture of design 18 The exhibition seen by and from the inside 20 The first art collections of Barcelona municipal heritage 22 The first modernist collections of the Barcelona art museums 24 Discourse and areas of the exhibition 37 Catalan Modernisme and international Art Nouveau, a path of concomitant and divergent forms Mireia Freixa 39 Modernisme and Art Nouveau 41 Historifying Art Nouveau 45 Architecture and design in Catalunya, in a view parallel to international Art Nouveau 51 From industrial arts to artistic industries: the role of exhibitions on the path to the culture of design (1880-1907) Pilar Vélez 53 Nineteenth-century exhibitions: large showcases of the industrial arts 56 The artistic industries exhibitions promoted by the Barcelona City Council 60 The need for a modern design school for industry 65 Second part 66 The exhibition 69 1. Modernisme, an attitude and long road 73 First Modernisme, the final review of historicism 83 “Art Nouveau” Modernisme 95 The last attitude, a move toward Noucentisme 101 2. Art industries, the new culture of design: project, production, diffusion and consumption 103 Exhibitions, diffusion vehicle for art industries 113 The rise of reproductions: art available to everyone, from the museum to the living room 123 3. The grand protagonists of Modernisme 125 The furniture arts 139 Wall and floor coverings 159 Metalwork 167 Stained glass art 175 The art object 187 Fabrics and embroideries 195 Bookbinding techniques 205 Gaudí as designer… or not 211 229 F I R S T PA RT 4. The bourgeois home, symbol of a societal ideal 5. The art of twentieth century and the discredit of Modernisme 231 L’Escola Superior de Bells Oficis (The Graduate School of Fine Trades) (1914) and the “job well done” 241 From Noucentism to the Civil War: tradition, Art Deco and avant-garde 249 Noucentist affirmation of anonymous and popular design 253 The simplicity of popular craftsmanship in modern design 257 Artisanal techniques at the service of art: designer art 271 6. The recovery of Gaudí and Modernisme 273 Art history and legacy aªrm Modernisme 275 An international trend: the psychedelic style and Pop style 279 “Design classics”: a second opportunity for Modernisme 293 7. Reflection: the second triumph of Modernisme 295 Bibliography 11 Modernisme, toward the culture of design. The why and how of an exhibition Pilar Vélez and Mireia Freixa A re-reading of Modernisme from the design perspective Modernisme has been visited and revisited many times since the mid-twentieth century when interest emerged for the movement condemned to oblivion decades earlier. Indeed, the review of the studies started years ago and especially those dedicated to the movement from the point of view of the decorative and/or industrial arts, one of the main protagonists of the time, has led us to consider that Modernisme is even more important than what has been hitherto considered in terms of its role or influence on the birth of the “modern world” and the so-called culture of design. An open door to contemporaneity, or an open door to the path toward contemporaneity, could be a correct and also a real definition, a way of understanding that the influence of modernisme extended far beyond the few years that it lasted. Surely, Modernisme was a short-lived movement, dating back to the Barcelona Universal Exhibition of 1888 and the beginning of World War i, just over twenty years. After the great splendor around 1900 and the subsequent decline of Noucentisme, the recovery 13 came in the second half of the twentieth century, which saw a critical bonanza and a “second triumph” for the movement. At the same time, in the 1960s the recognition of modernist creations as movable heritage was promoted by the boards of the Art Museums of Barcelona. This is how, as we will detail later, the first collection of modernist objects in Barcelona’s museums was born from the organization of two exhibitions (1964 and 1969-1970), which meant public recognition of Modernisme. The decorative and applied arts gained a principal place after half a century of oblivion. In addition, for several decades, Modernisme, both architectural and decorative, the two being inseparable, has become the visible image of the Catalan culture of 1900, with major works recognized internationally. The Museum of Design, attentive to and involved in the latest studies and exhibitions on Modernisme, within the scope of its historical collections, now dedicates an exhibition and a catalog, trying to o¤er a pluralistic view, reading the collection in terms of “culture of design.” That is, rethinking objects from the idea, the production process and materials, di¤usion and social purpose, valuing design as a process that runs from the initial proposal all the way to the use and even disuse or subsequent recovery. The creations of Modernisme have been habitually explained from the perspective of art history or artistic styles. In other words, the major players in decorative and applied arts, whether artisanal or industrial, are usually valued especially from a formal or stylistic perspective. This exhibition, on the contrary, is based on another approach. It is a vision from the perspective of the culture of design, which leads us to review Modernisme and its survival to the present day. A reading that should be done at Barcelona’s Museum of Design, given that their collections, from medieval decorative arts to contemporary design and designer arts, allow us, and almost require us, to enter into reflecting on the past of local design and its international context. In fact, it is a project that could form a part of and headline, chronologically speaking, the review of the formation process of the so-called “Barcelona Design System,” led by design historians Anna Calvera and Isabel Campi, which was in its day considered a path toward the modernity that we mentioned above.1 A project born out 1. See A. Calvera (coord.), La formació del Sistema Disseny Barcelona (1914-2014), 14 of the line of study of the Research Group on the History of Art and Contemporary Design of the University of Barcelona (GRACMON), the aim was to review key moments in the history of design in Barcelona in order to understand the historical foundations of its Design System. Plural and interdisciplinary research, in which the Fundació Història del Disseny (History of Design Foundation) also participated, covered one hundred years, from 1914 to 2014. As such, it began with Noucentisme and the proclamation of the Commonwealth (Mancomunitat) of Catalunya, though it is true that it was already part of previous research, materialized in the book From industry to art. Shaping a design market through luxury and fine arts (Barcelona 1714-1914), a period that coincides with the historical background of design throughout Europe, with a leading role in the debate about the relationship between art and industry, or vice versa, generated from London’s first Great Exhibition in 1851. At the same time, the Barcelona History Congress, organized by the Barcelona History Seminar, coordinated by Ramon Grau, in the City Historical Archive, reviewed in its editions from 2003, 2005 and 2007 the Barcelona of the second half of the nineteenth century, and published some works on this debate and its context.2 Also, some years earlier some exhibitions had already taken place, now considered landmark ones, led by the exhibition entitled “El Modernisme”, which took place in 1990 at the then Museum of Modern Art, as part of the cultural events promoted by the Cultural Olympiad.3 When the present exhibition opens, it will be thirty years since the organization of that great exhibition. For the first time, it opened all the fields of culture, surpassing previous exhibitions focused only on the visual and decorative arts. In fact, it was the first to set sideby-side literature and the visual arts along with music, the decorative and industrial arts, as well as the graphic arts, film and photography, and architecture. The aim was to achieve the perception of Modernisme as a whole. Since then studies have grown in such a way that today we have a rich and plural bibliography on the various aspects of the movement un camí de modernitat. Assaigs d’història local, GRACMON-Publicacions and Edicions Universitat de Barcelona, 2014. 2. See Ramon Grau’s summary, «Trenta anys de congressos per a vint segles de vida urbana. Una crònica», in Ramon Grau (coord.), Presència i lligams territorials de Barcelona. Vint segles de vida urbana. Barcelona Quaderns d’Història, 18 (2012), p. 9-60. 3. El Modernisme (exhibition catalog), Barcelona, Museu d’Art Modern, Parc de la Ciutadella, 1990, p. 121. 15 and from di¤erent perspectives, including the culture of design.4 Particular advances have been made in the field of the arts, which, in the area relating to the architectural explosion, endowed the exterior and interior of the new homes with personality, especially in Barcelona, but also in Terrassa, Reus, etc., giving way to the best of Catalan Modernisme. It is no exaggeration to say that decorative and applied arts, artisanal and industrial, are the most advanced fields of study in Modernisme research.5 With all this background, this exhibition aims to o¤er a reading of the museum’s collection in terms of design, rethinking Modernisme from the design perspective, or rethinking design from the perspective of Modernisme. These concepts, as well as “the design before the design,” could be ways of summarizing the meaning of this exhibition,6 which goes beyond the time of Modernisme and continues to the present day. Be that as it may, it aims to bring us closer to the culture of design, as a preamble to the beginnings of design that have been recognized as such since the mid-twentieth century. From the art-industry debate toward the culture of design Design is not a “finalist” activity. Scholars define it as a complex process that begins with the initial approach, the conception of an idea, which develops and takes shape when one reaches the production stage that materializes it. It is clear that design conception from the second third of the twentieth century is not the same as that from the end of the nineteenth century. Academic orthodoxy states that the beginning of design can be traced to the transition from craft to industry, a fact that largely separates the decorative arts from design. That is, with nineteenth-century industrialization, the path toward 4. This is the case of the publication Dos segles de disseny a Catalunya (1775-1975), the product of a series of lectures organized by the Royal Catalan Academy of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi during the Design Year (2003). 5. A good testimony is a recent post dedicated to Modernisme: Virtuosisme modernista. Tècniques del moble, Barcelona, Associació per a l’Estudi del Moble-Museu del Disseny, Barcelona, 2019. 6. We want to mention how we had started talking to Anna Calvera, an expert on these issues, a good friend and collaborator of the museum in the early days of the project. Unfortunately, Anna su¤ered a relapse soon thereafter and we couldn’t continue the talks that could have brought us so much. All in all, we wanted to dedicate this catalog to her memory. 16 design begins, or rather, the beginning of the culture of design. This is why we talk about culture of design, not design in the current sense. The aforementioned art-industry debate emphasized the need to create good products by applying art to industry in order to reconcile beauty and utility. Exhibitions, museums and schools were considered throughout Europe to be the basic ways to train good professionals, the so-called draftsmen designers, industrial draftsmen or industrial designers, to some extent precursors of designers, and at the same time to educate the public so that new products could be appreciated. Art industry exhibitions, as we will see throughout the catalog, played a very prominent role in Barcelona where, after the Universal Exposition of 1888, the City Council proclaimed itself a promoter and organizer (a role filling the void of a state that was incapable of doing so in accordance with the socio-economic demands of the day). Therefore, we cannot speak of Modernisme from this perspective without referring to the leadership exercised by the Barcelona City Council, which also promoted policy for heritage and the first museums in Barcelona. It is also worth mentioning the support of the Barcelona Province Council (Diputació), responsible for financing the School of Fine Arts –since 1900 the Graduate School of Arts and Artistic Industries and Fine Arts– which regularly provided scholarships and grants to students and professionals so that they could travel through Europe and learn about new technical procedures for their introduction to Catalan companies. On the other hand, certain names of reference in this environment cannot be forgotten either: Carles Pirozzini, Salvador Sanpere i Miquel, Josep Lluís Pellicer or the architect Domènech i Montaner, among some of the most important contributors to the artistic-industrial “regeneration” of the turn of the century. But as the twentieth century came, the art-industry debate was blurring, because the times were changing. The widespread triumph of architecture throughout Europe, and as a result of architects gaining first-class social recognition, contributed to the change. The architect then became the coordinator of some craft and industrial works that constituted the uniqueness of the new construction projects. This is key to understanding the path toward the culture of design. Architects always counted on notable collaborators, decorators, usually from cabinetry –the old upholsterers, the curators of the 17 home boom at the beginning of the nineteenth century– who in turn had a well-nourished group of professionals, draftsmen, carpenters, stained glass workers, locksmiths, etc., with whom they created the most representative sets of Modernisme. Designers designed both unique objects or serialized ones, especially in small runs, according to the possibilities of Catalan workshops working halfway between craft and industry. Moreover, because all of these objects, especially those aimed at the new bourgeois classes, were endowed with an extremely attractive argument: the concept of art or the artistic consideration of the piece. Art as an added value to attract the customer, as a selling point. Useful and beautiful works thanks to the virtuous work of very good craftsmen. This is the great conceptual di¤erence with modern design, which defends beauty as a product of utility, without additions. Although objects conceived and manufactured by the art industries often attained, as William Morris and other theorists and architects of the time argued, the correspondence between materials, procedure and use, the aesthetic or artistic challenge was priority. That is, half a century after the beginning of the aforementioned art-industry debate, during Modernisme, art triumphs, though in a new framework. Because at this time the modernization of the workshops, the mechanization, the standardization of certain manufacturing processes, the inspiration for visiting international exhibitions, the professionalization of industrial draftsmen, the advertising of products, a new way of organizing work, etc., all became a reality. This is what is hidden under a splendorous artistic image. All this constitutes the fabric of the new culture of design, which would not end in Modernisme, but would, on the contrary, survive, the good and the bad, from other perspectives, but without being able to do so without the work of so many professionals, theorists, architects, artisans and industrialists, who laid their foundations in the last third of the nineteenth century. The exhibition seen by and from the inside This is a semi-permanent, several-year-long exhibition that focuses mainly on the collections of the Museum of Design, far from what would be a temporary exhibition that would permit the loan of many more pieces by public and private owners. For this reason, the ma18 jority of the objects comes from its own collection and others from municipal collections (MFM, MUHBA and MNAC), others from another museum (Museum of History of Girona) and others, very few, from a private collection. The exhibition is also complemented by lesser-known, sometimes unpublished, documentary and photographic materials from the Museum’s Documentation Center that are central to explaining the context in which the new culture of design unfolds. Some years ago, when we started thinking about the possibility of this new reading of Modernisme in design –never materialized in the form of an exhibition until now –we went deep into the museum’s collections–, in particular from the old Museum of the Decorative Arts –but also the Textile and Clothing Museum, the Museum of Ceramics and the Graphic Arts– to know which pieces were available to show and what others it would take to make it a reality. Given the complex life of municipal collections and the various changes in their locations over a century, up to the last recent transfer to the Museum of Design, a thorough review was needed. Given the volume and diversity of the collections, we were able to find and rediscover objects that were there for many years and that came from the field of these arts or had a prominent role in them. Pieces of this type had remained discreetly in reserve at the di¤erent headquarters over the years, without having the opportunity to be admired because they did not correspond to the previous museographic discourses. So, some have now regained life and are part of this catalog. On the other hand, one of the museum’s heritage goals is to increase the contemporary collection of product, graphic and fashion design, but also to fill the existing gaps in the historic collections arriving at the GATCPAC. From this point of view, this exhibition has allowed us to work to try to fill some of the gaps. New objects and some documentary archives, mainly recent donations or acquisitions, have enriched the display sample and the catalog, allowing us to expand the usual range of products from the art industries. Among the donations standing out are Masriera ceramics or jewelry, the dining room furniture set by the architect Jeroni Granell, tiles by Rafael Masó, the Escofet documentary archive and some of its pieces, some materials designed by Josep Pey from the Casa Lleó Morera and his archive, embroidered sheets by Eusebi Bertrand i Serra, a Thonet canapè, the archive of the jeweler Jaume 19 Mercadé, and some current reissues of modernist objects –Gaudí, Jujol, etc. Among the purchases that the museum made in recent years already thinking about a possible exhibition, it is necessary to mention some of the very representative and at the same time unique ones such as the neo-gothic seat by the José Ribas workshops, some ceramic pieces from the Palau de la Música, a beer jug from the Els Quatre Gats tavern, a large frame by Rafael Masó and a noucentiste brooch by Jaume Mercadé. In addition, during this time the Museum signed a loan in cooperation with the Gaudí Chair of the Graduate School of Architecture of the Polytechnic University, currently under the direction of Juanjo Lahuerta, so that the Gaudían objects from the Chair –already integrated for more than one year into the collection of the Museum of Design– would be on loan for a period of thirty years. This demonstrates the willingness to collaborate in the study of Gaudí and Modernisme, and of course the opportunity to show, for the first time in this exhibition, pieces of reference by an internationally renowned architect, considered one of the forerunners of modern design. All told, this adds to the existing collections, some of them very important, such as the collection of objects, and especially of tile projects, flooring, fabrics, jewels, etc., by the draftsman designer Mateu Culell, donated by his daughter, Margarita Culell, in 1960 and 1972; and the few but interesting pieces that remain from the purchase from the descendants of the Casa Lleó Morera that the Barcelona City Council made in 1966-1967, the bulk of which today are shown o¤ at the MNAC. The first art collections of Barcelona municipal heritage Among all the objects selected, the museum wants use this exhibition to highlight a number of pieces acquired in the exhibitions organized by the Barcelona City Council, some of which, as we remarked, are relevant testimonies about the context in which we move. The formerly named Barcelona Art Museums were the destination of the acquisitions that the Barcelona City Council made of some objects presented at the Fine Arts and Art Industries exhibitions since 1891. 20 As a result of the Universal Exposition of 1888, the City Council decided to start a museum policy by taking advantage of a series of available palaces and pavilions, which could be converted into museums. In 1891 the opening of the first three took place: the Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Artistic Reproductions and the Archeological Museum. A year later, in 1892, the Museum of History was opened, in the building of the Exhibition restaurant, by Domènech i Montaner, known by the nickname Castle of the Three Dragons, which in 1902 merged with that of Reproductions. In 1902 the Museum of Decorative and Archeological Art was also created. In fact, these museums underwent various groupings and relocations over the years, and the Museum of Artistic Reproductions was the one to su¤er the most adversities and most immediately.7 Contemporary pieces and artistic reproductions presented at the exhibitions of the art industries, but also those of fine arts, became part, as we have said, of these first museums. From some as representative as the stained glass window by Antoni Rigalt, allegorical of the Third Exhibition of Fine Arts and Artistic Industries of 1896, which was kept in the collection of the Museum of Decorative Arts until 1936 (now at the MNAC), to the inlaid cabinet (arquimesa) by Joan Busquets, presented at the Fine Arts and Art Industries exhibition of 1898, today at the Museum of Design. Also some unpublished pieces, such as the posters in the Gilding and Painting Workshop by Victor Brosa Sangerman, which demonstrated their virtuosity in the specialties of chiseling and pasting and could be applied to furniture, walls, etc., presented at the exhibition of 1896. Another group of pieces that deserve a specific comment are the artistic reproductions. The mere fact that the first museum to be opened in Barcelona in 1891 is that of reproductions already demonstrates the interest in it, widespread throughout Europe. The purpose of these museums was twofold: first of all, reproductions of all kinds –of architecture, sculpture, ceramics– covered the gaps in the museums, and had an educational purpose, as an inspiration and encouragement to draftsmen designers, and dissemination of the general history of art among the public. Second, these reproductions were the result of new technical procedures that allowed serial production with good and faithful results. The City Council’s interest 7. Andrea A. Garcia i Sastre, Els museus d’art de Barcelona: Antecedents, gènesi i desenvolupament fins l’any 1915, Barcelona, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, 1997. 21 is also reflected in its acquisitions, some of which are now in the Museum of Design. Because, as we have said, the lives of Barcelona’s museums have been very complex over time, their collections have been assembled or divided more than once, they have su¤ered irreversible accidents and the heritage and museum criteria have changed. But one hundred and thirty years later, the museums of Barcelona, with other names, but with the same responsibility for heritage, not only preserve them, but rediscover them and disseminate them. The first modernist collections of the Barcelona art museums The exhibition can then also be read in the context of the history of the Barcelona museums and the life history of the pieces. That is why it also explains how the collections of the modernist decorative arts of the museums were shaped after decades of rejection and oblivion. It is necessary to remember two exhibitions that were not only strategic for the public recognition of Modernisme, but also for the “oªcial” start of the modernist collections of the museums in Barcelona. Coinciding with the international recovery of Art Nouveau in the sixties of the last century, Joan Ainaud de Lasarte, director of the Art Museums of Catalunya, was the driving force behind it. In October 1964, the “Exhibition of sumptuary arts of Barcelona Modernisme” was organized at the Palau de la Virreina, with 634 pieces, of which three sets stood out: designs, models and works by the jeweler Lluís Masriera; designs of the furniture maker Gaspar Homar, plus a piece of furniture and seven mosaic panels; and the spectacular set of the main floor of the Casa Lleó Morera by Domènech i Montaner, safeguarded by descendants when the property was sold in 1939. At that time, the museums had little modernist heritage, except for a discrete donation. The show represented the move toward public awareness of the modernist heritage that some families had rejected years ago. If the organization of the exhibition was key, the consequences were even more positive, since between 1966 and 1967 Joan Ainaud was able to buy the objects of the Casa Lleó Morera, one of the most attractive interior decoration sets in European modernisme, preserved and on display in the current Museum of National Art of 22 Catalunya, plus three mosaic panels by Gaspar Homar, to name the main acquisitions. This resulted in a series of notable donations. When in 1969-1970 Joan Ainaud was responsible for the selection of works for the large exhibition “Modernism in Spain” (fig. 4), which was held in Madrid and Barcelona, promoted by the Directorate General of Fine Arts of the Ministry of Education and Science, these pieces and some others that were acquired at the time were on display. The catalog today is still a bibliographic reference and a good testament to its magnitude. The double exhibition strategy of 1964 and 1969 was completely successful from a heritage point of view. Between the purchases of the Barcelona City Council and a series of parallel donations by some prominent modernist artists, the city’s public collections were beginning to recover the modernist legacy. Since then, as Joan Ainaud pointed out, the increase has not stopped.8 Finally, we would like to add here the donation from the Bertrand Serra family’s collections, which took place in the 1970s and 1980s. In addition to the number and quality of the pieces they consisted of –furniture, carvings, liturgical ornaments, civilian clothing, textiles, stained glass, etc.– one of the collections revealed a technique that until then was practically unknown in Barcelona. We refer to cloisonné glass, manufactured by the F. Vidal workshops (see p. 170 and 172), of which the Bertrands were great clients, a fact that was researched by Manuel García Martín9 and that was a true contribution to the history of the decorative arts of Modernisme. In short, the exhibition wants to highlight some pieces from the Museum of Design or other sources, representative of the history of municipal collections. Some are of recent entry, practically unheard of until now. Others, of course, are already known and have been catalogued and studied well in previous projects by some of the same specialists who are contributing to this catalog. But now they are presented from a di¤erent perspective, because we are interested in objects based on a discourse of the culture of design and all that it entails. Because objects speak to us and can be read in many ways. 8. Joan Ainaud de Lasarte, «Les exposicions del Modernisme de 1964 i de 19691970», in El Modernisme, op. cit., p. 17-25. 9. Manuel García Martín, Els vitralls cloisonné de Barcelona, Barcelona, 1985. 23 Discourse and areas of the exhibition Three Modernismes The exhibition begins with the 1888 Universal Exhibition, a symbol of the context on which the first part, the first four areas, focuses. The first is an area of synthesis that brings together objects from the three stages in which it has been agreed to divide Modernisme. To begin with the so-called first Modernisme, from 1888 to 1900, in which Catalan architects, followed by industrialists, made a last and late recreation of historicist models, especially the neo-gothic one, always, though, in a free and creative way and with an archaic and historicist taste. Then, the full Modernisme, when the taste for the stylized and curving forms of international Art Nouveau that triumphed in Paris at the exhibition of 1900, and finally a last stage, influenced by the Viennese Secession, in transit to Noucentisme. It is obvious that a chronological evolution can be appreciated, but it is also an aesthetic option that can be appreciated simultaneously. In the world of applied and decorative arts, the process would range from Francesc Vidal i Jevellí’s artistic industries workshops, a precursor of Modernisme, to Rafael Masó’s designs, already noucentist. Also present on this path are architects –Domènech i Montaner, Gaudí, Puig i Cadafalch, Gallissà, Pericas, Masó– as are industrialists and designers –Homar, Pey, Busquets, Ribas, Casas i Bardés, Pujol and Bausis or Bru– who form a representative sample of the movement in the fields of architecture and decorative and applied arts. All of this is synonymous with modernity, of an aspiration that defended culture as a regenerative instrument to overcome a backward localist culture, turning our eyes to Europe, without forgetting, though, the link with the past, one of the hallmarks of movement, which helps to understand how, at the same time, political Catalanism had begun to be forged in parallel, present and key in certain aspects of the movement. The art industries and the new culture of design: design, production, dissemination and consumption The second area focuses specifically on the art industries and the new culture of design in the whole process of moving from design, production and dissemination to consumption. In Catalunya, the artistic industries, which are dedicated to the production of consumer objects, excelled especially in service of home decoration. 24 Art industries are also synonymous with modernization. Of technical modernization, that is to say, of innovative workshops, with imported machinery and new professional practices that allow the standardization of certain works to achieve a greater profitability of time and e¤ort, and even the emergence of the figure of the artistic director. But they are also a model of aesthetic modernization, as they transcend historicisms and make nature the main model, without disregarding the legacy of the past. At the same time, a new need, the commercial dissemination of these products, coincides with the birth of modern commercial advertising, which in turn is a consequence of the new graphic reproduction procedures. That is, a new model of workshop, manufacturing and product marketing is born, which often takes the form of attractive shops decorated in the “modern” style, that is, modernist. The figure of the aforementioned draftsman designer or industrial designer –as in the case of Mateu Culell, still too unknown and well represented in the collections of the Museum of Design– plays a key role. At the same time, a new concept emerges, l’objet d’art, understood as a sales argument and a legitimator of bourgeois status: because everyone agrees, art ennobles the industry. Hence, the art and craft symbiosis, which is seen in the commissions that the workshops give to renowned artists or architects, to o¤er products with more prestige. These types of objects include artistic reproductions, generally those considered to be the best works of art in history. An industry of great modernity, both in terms of the technical procedures employed –such as the electroplating process, which allowed the attainment of metal objects by electrolysis– and in the contribution to the education of industrialists and designers, as a stimulus and a model, and to that of the public as well. Those in charge of the new art industries not only took part in, or at least visited, national or European exhibitions, but they also had libraries or subscribed to international magazines, which allowed them to keep up to date with the latest news and latest lines of art dominant in Europe. One more data point that tells us about the beginning of a new culture of work. Decorative and applied arts, great protagonists of Modernisme The third area is dedicated to the great protagonists of Modernisme: decorative and applied arts, which had a spectacular development, 25 either as ornamental object or as applied to architecture. In the same way as in other countries, such as Britain, the old artisanal techniques were being recovered. But in Catalunya this process did not reject manufactured objects and, while craftsmanship made local values more visible, the industrial process tinged it with a cosmopolitan spirit. In this sense, it is possible to speak of mixed forms of manufacture with manually finished industrial products or handmade products distributed by a modern commercial system, and the valuation of standardized products without detracting from the consideration that the singular piece would have. With a desire to synthesize and highlight the most outstanding values or innovations, and without the pretense of completeness, a space is devoted to the techniques and workshops that are most representative of the art industry, with an emphasis on novelties and contributions. Because the subsidiary industries of construction and all those specialized in ornamental products worked hard for the renovation of their designs, often, as we have said, with the participation of prestigious designers and architects. Furniture is the grand protagonist of the decorative arts of Modernisme. There are several ways of working the wood, which come from the past but are recovered and adapted to the taste and the advances of the moment. Carving, inlay and pyrography are the main ones, carried out by the large-scale commissioning workshops in which the architects shaped their interiors –Homar, Busquets, Ribas, Casas and Bardés for Gaudí or Domènech i Montaner, among others. Added to this is the use of wood on parquet flooring, which added to the comfort of the interiors. At the same time, standing out among the applied arts are those dedicated to the covering of floors and walls: the modern floorings of hydraulic mosaic, which became very widespread until the 1920s and beyond, in which the Escofet workshop specialized; other types of materials with cement, such as crystalline tiles, decorated on top and covered with a glass that protected the ornamentation and at the same time gave them a characteristic shine; or the most popular and a¤ordable alternative of embossed chromolithographed tiles. Another prominent place is occupied by ceramics applied to architecture. As with tiles, of Catalan, Valencian or Andalusian origin, there were designs by recognized artists or reproductions of ancient, medieval or Arabic ornamental themes. Ceramics were greatly appreciated by architects, and this played a major role, especially in the 26 shape of tiles, usually floral-themed, applied both on the interiors and exteriors of the buildings. Skirting boards, embossed ceiling applications, mosaic trencadís, whether in large living rooms, kitchens and bathrooms, patios or even furniture and fireplaces, all of which provided color, are a good example. Among the pieces on display we are pleased to mention the faces, hands and refined porcelain elements designed by Josep Pey, a great draftsman and designer, and manufactured by the A. Serra workshop, which were part of the mosaic’s skirting boards of the dining room on the main floor of the Casa Lleó Morera by Domènech i Montaner, also designed by Pey, under the coordination of Gaspar Homar, today at the Museum of Design thanks to the Magdala Pey Donation (see p. 156-157). Standing out among metalwork is forged iron, an ancient artisanal technique of great tradition in Catalunya and well alive during modernisme, to the point that Santiago Rusiñol became a promoter and collector of many pieces at Cau Ferrat in Sitges. A rather unknown piece, also from collecting, is the title of master blacksmith of Ricard Cabot Fita, a design by the architect Josep Vilaseca, which is part of the Frederic Marès Museum collection. With industrialization, new resources were added to automate basic processes, such as trimming, drilling or stamping, and especially the welding system. At the same time, companies like Ballarín S.A. –partners of Josep Puig i Cadafalch– also introduced modern marketing systems. But despite forging being the technique most closely identified with Modernisme, also used were cast iron, brass or artistic foundry in bronze –which we will discuss later– both for making objects and decorative sculptures and for decorating pieces of furniture. The stained glass area focuses on three typologies very characteristic of the movement. The reclaimed leaded stained glasses, longstanding and ever present, with all kinds of glasses, smooth, printed, plaques (rolled precious metals), painted in gray or enamel, joined by a network of lead. Antoni Rigalt Blanch, who in 1888 had already won a gold medal at the Universal Exposition, in association with Jeroni Granell Manresa, was the designer of the most spectacular stained glass in international Art Nouveau –the unique central skylight of the auditorium of the Palau de la Música Catalana– under the direction of Domènech i Montaner. The Amigó shop was responsible for the unique trichromy cultivated by Gaudí, overlap27 ping three plates of primary colored glass and with varying degrees, examples that come from the Gaudí Chair collection (see p. 168-169 and 173). Cloisonné glass, which Frederic Vidal Puig, son of Francesc Vidal, learned in the London company The Cloisonné Glass Co. around 1899, is a technique of great diªculty and limited di¤usion, in Barcelona only cultivated by Vidal. The first client was the Bertrand Serra family, which donated many pieces to the Barcelona City Council –doorways, windbreaks, lamps, etc.– in the seventies. Also incorporated within the same area are those that can be called “the most decorative arts,” that is, those objects that came from workshops already called “art”: the Porcelain and Stoneware Art Factory A. Serra and the Masriera gold work and art jewelry, as the contemporary critics called it, are among the most representative, together with the “salon bronzes” or artistic foundry, of Masriera and Campins. Artistic foundry mainly specialized in monument sculptures by great sculptors, which began to fill streets and squares, and in a new, more widely used typology: decorative sculpture or salon bronzes (see p. 176-181). A product of the recovered old technique of lost wax smelting, they developed the luxury bibelots of those years, o¤ering small-format versions of the works of famous sculptors of the time. Because, we insist, Modernisme elevated decorative objects to the category of objets d’art and art became an argument for selling and promoting workshops. Fabrics and embroidery also have their place. Catalunya excelled in several specialties of the textile area. Upholstery, which is fundamental in the fabrication of upholstered furniture and interior decoration –upholstery, curtains, etc.– as well as applied ceramics or stained glass, contributed to the chromaticity of the spaces and, of course, to the comfort, even though the wear and tear produced by everyday use has not allowed it to be preserved to today. As for the world of embroidery and especially lace, both handmade, or legitimate as they used to say, and mechanical ones from the mid-nineteenth century, were very common. Visible in every home, they have a notable place in the exhibitions of artistic industries, both the ones by feminine hands as well as those from more modern manufacturers, such as Josep Fiter or Santiago Brugarolas, first-order names, closely linked to entities and associations for the promotion of these arts, the Center for Decorative 28 Arts and the subsequent Foment de les Arts Decoratives (Promotion of the Decorative Arts). In relation to the world of the book, and at the same time to the decorative object, a space is dedicated to bookbinding because of its relation with the mentioned artistic techniques. The book conceived as an object of art is valued for its outward appearance, that is, for the binding that surrounds it. But once again, just as processes became industrialized and new materials introduced –fabrics that were hot stamped in bronze molds– old artisanal procedures such as embossed leather were also recovered, which also has its place in art industry exhibitions. Of all of them, Josep Roca Alemany was the leader, a great promoter of the industrial arts at the end of the century, much of whose workshop was acquired in 1983 by the Barcelona City Council and currently conserved in the Museum of Design. To finish the references in the third area, it is necessary to mention a monographic space dedicated to some of Gaudí’s projects, good examples of the architect’s use of materials, be it wood, ceramics or iron. Immersed in artisanal techniques, he knew at the same time how to find repeatable solutions or serial processes done by his collaborators. It is good to remember that from an early age Gaudí designed objects, in addition to the more well-known furniture –such as the chairs in the Casa Batlló– “worked” pieces, which took into account the movements of the human body and they have designated him the precursor of ergonomics. This panorama of techniques and materials used by the artistic industry workshops, of which there is a good representation, with the contribution of some new or little-known names, is complemented by photographic and audiovisual materials, as well as some unpublished original projects, which help us understand some manufacturing processes and, above all, to put us in charge of the organization and operation of these modern artistic industries. The bourgeois home, symbol of the bourgeois society ideal The fourth area focuses on the bourgeois home, symbol of the ideal of an industrial bourgeois society, full of contradictions. Presided over by the dining room of the architect Jeroni Granell Manresa, not exhibited until, donation by Victoria Cantavella, one of his granddaughters, the area focuses attention on the decorative objects that enrich interiors. From those imported from Europe to those of local 29 or national production, which followed the taste of the time and generally were accessible to a larger audience. The Gothic-styled dining room, from 1892, is enriched by carving, bevelled glass, ceramics and applied metal. It is accompanied by an Art Nouveau floral curtain, which accompanied it for some years, presumably in spaces decorated with leaded stained glass by Antoni Rigalt, who thanked him for the contact and ability to collaborate with Domènech at the Palau de la Música and other projects. In the dining rooms, salons and galleries there also generally used to be, in addition, some auxiliary piece of furniture –canapés, rocking chairs– of curved wood, the popular imported Vienna furniture, such as the Thonet or the Kohn, or of local, generally Valencian, manufacture. Artistic objects or objets d’art, as advertised by workshops or specialty stores in magazine and newspaper advertisements or on the same posters published by them, invaded the salons’ tables, bu¤ets and pedestals. In fact, the consumption of the modernist object legitimized the bourgeois status and became an object of “representation” in a frame of luxury and comfort, criteria inherent in modernity. The explosion of the international modernist or Art Nouveau style fostered a taste for these types of objects starring flowers and the feminine figure of symbolist tone. The nymphs of Lambert Escaler, who in 1903 published a catalog of serialized objects in polychrome terracotta –pots, vases, mirrors, etc.– a Catalan version of the most characteristic bibelots of the time present around Europe, or also glassed porcelain pieces by the Serra workshops, designed by artists such as Gargallo or Smith, were very successful during the first decade of the twentieth century. Made of paste, stucco or terracotta, there were many creations from other workshops that specialized in them, such as Esteva & Co., Dionís Renart, José Vives, Joan Rodon or Antoni Bofill, the latter with productions available to the most modest classes, as noted by Manolo Hugué, who had worked in his Paris studio. The exhibition also traces the transition from designer Modernisme to anonymous Modernisme or Modernisme within reach of all, which is evidence of its transformation from a regenerationist movement, in its initial moment, to a simple “modern” decorative style. Proof of this is the spread of modernist furniture in the hands of more modest workshops, which could o¤er more a¤ordable prices and, therefore, more accessible, which would last for several years, while Modernisme had already been surpassed by the new noucentist style. 30 Although the power of Modernisme was weakened by this gratuitous decorativism, some of its ideals, taken in part from the Renaixença (Renaissance), were still in use during Noucentisme, a period during which some notable fruits were produced, in accord with the new focus of the country that defended culture as a pillar for a new social structure. To this point, the first part of the exhibition, focused mainly on the artistic industries and the contributions to the culture of design, as we have said, from the objects back to the idea, the production process and the materials, the di¤usion, the social purpose and the decline and disuse. Noucentisme, Art Deco and avant-garde: popular art, pillar of modernity and design The second part begins with the fifth, more complex area, which focuses on presenting the link between Modernisme, Noucentisme and the modernity of the GATCPAC, gateway to contemporary design. After the great splendor achieved by Modernisme, despite the rejection of its politico-cultural ideals, Noucentisme picked up some aspects –the task of dignifying the trades and the art industries– in an institutional blueprint. If Modernisme had been centered in intellectual and artistic circles with a desire to modernize a culture and integrate into Europe, Noucentisme, in spite of blaspheming Modernisme and eighteenth-century individualism with its institutionalizing vocation, it did fulfill some of the modernist cultural proposals. The artistic industries, the artistic trades or fine trades, as they were called, established a nexus between the two movements and continued defining the path of the culture of design, while emphasizing the social value of art. The founding in 1914 of the Escola Superior dels Bells Oficis (Graduate School of Fine Trades), a pedagogical project for the sake of artistic trades, comparable to other Europeans, is well proven. “To make beautiful the useful” or to integrate art into society in order to improve people’s lives, was the challenge of Joaquim Folch i Torres, key name of the noucentist culture and alma mater of the school. The aim was to work for national identity, for the achievement of a Catalan art with Mediterranean roots that beautified the city through the good practice of fine trades. Or as we would say now, to put design at the service of identity. 31 Noucentisme also revalued the artisanal tradition and recuperated techniques and materials. But its collective orientation, guided by its desire to improve the lives of the people, led him to push for the simplicity of anonymous and popular design –the traditional bulrush chair– and the search for national art through popular art. In 1923, at the International Exhibition of Furniture and Interior Decoration, an international competition for furniture and decoration of the humble home was convened, a good example of the awareness of the living conditions and workers’ housing around Europe. The Foment de les Arts Decoratives participated there with the motto, “For the beauty of the humble home.” But while Noucentisme replaced the imported world of the North with Greek-rooted Mediterranean culture, new French influences introduced modernity, Art Deco, or the “false modern,” as it was called by those opposed to its virtuous and purely formal decorativism, which coexisted with the vernacular fine trades. The early avant-gardes also did not take long to fight modern decorative art, noucentist or Deco, despising anything that was standardized. Rationalism arrived through the GATCPAC (Group of Catalan Architects and Technicians for the Progress of Contemporary Architecture) and the concept of decoration was replaced by interior design. The culture of design advanced in a new context where tradition, modernity and avant-garde coexisted, while Gaudí was defended by Dalí and the surrealists. In summary, the contribution of noucentisme to the culture of design is the defense of popular art as the foundation of modernity. The motto of the highest beauty being maximum simplicity was also shared by the rationalism and the avant-garde of the thirties, but with a more open look, which led them to the introduction of mediterraneanism in design, as shown by the furniture and the interior design of the GATCPAC. The armchair intended for the pavilion of the Republic of the 1937 International Exhibition in Paris, today is a symbol, or rather, the icon par excellence. The development of name-brand arts Finally, to close the area, we dedicate a special space to the so-called name-brand arts. The gradual emergence of design in the second quarter of the twentieth century coincides with a turning point in the art world: the boundaries between arts disappear and artists feel free to cultivate them all. While industrial design rejects added or32 namentation and opts for serialized industrial production, the fine trades are a new way of experimentation, beyond their utilitarian side. It is the explosive moment for these author arts, called namebrand arts: or “designers arts”: art ceramic, art glass, art jewelry.... All of these pathways were cultivated by creators, often recovering and adapting artisanal techniques to unique works. This path continues today, at a time when design is rethinking new roads, and in which the boundaries between design, craft and art melt away. The Museum of Design preserves remarkable collections, of great and recognized authors, especially of ceramics, enamel and jewelry, that correspond to these artistic expressions. Recovery and rediscovery of Modernisme The exhibition also proposes to explore the memory of Modernisme up to present day. If we have so far tried to follow the process of the culture of design up to the war, the sixth area focuses on the recovery and rediscovery of this movement since the mid-twentieth century and from various perspectives. The patrimonial value of Modernisme was emphasized very soon after in art and architecture history. Joan Francesc Ràfols –who had been Gaudí’s first biographer (1928)– defined it as a cultural movement in El arte modernitsta en Barcelona (1943) and in Modernismo y modernistas (1949), followed by art critic Alexandre Cirici in El arte modernista catalán (1951). In this context, the Amics de Gaudí association was created in 1952, which organized an exhibition at the Saló del Tinell in 1956, a year when the Gaudí Chair of the Graduate School of Architecture was also created, directed at first by J.F. Ràfols himself, and finally, in 1963, the Gaudí House-Museum was inaugurated at Park Güell, under the direction of Josep M. Garrut. Two years earlier, in 1954, the first exhibition on Modernisme took place in Sala Parés, a large exhibition on Els Quatre Gats, with 133 pieces, which received more than one hundred thousand visitors and an outsized journalistic attendance, a circumstance that defined it as the recovery by Barcelona’s people of a glorious time in the city. But Gaudí’s international recognition came when the MOMA dedicated an exhibition to him in 1957, after overcoming the reluctance of those in charge of the museum, defenders at all cost of the modern spirit. Its promoter was Columbia University professor Georges R. Collins, founder of Friends of Gaudí USA, who discov33 ered him at the Tinell exhibition, and at the same time, architect Kenji Imai of Waseda University promoted him on the Japanese side. In 1967, Nikolaus Pevsner’s book The Sources of Modern Architecture and Design, a classic today, argued that the free and functional forms of Art Nouveau had been the spark of modern design. This work generated the recovery of Art Nouveau and the great figures such as Guimard, Horta, Mackintosh, and also of Gaudí and of Modernisme. There also was a series of publications led by Oriol Bohigas, such as Arquitectura modernista (1968), with photographs by Leopold Pomés. At the same time, as we have already mentioned, the Barcelona museums –then directed by Joan Ainaud de Lasarte– started the collections of modernist heritage as a result of the holding of two exhibitions, “Artes suntuarias del Modernismo barcelonés” (1964) and “El modernismo en España” (1969), which not only entailed a series of purchases of first-order sets by the City Council of Barcelona – such as the the entire main floor of the Casa Lleó Morera– but also a series of donations as a result of having realized the importance of the movement, so many years despised and forgotten even by many of its former owners. In this sense, the words of Cirici in 1951 are significant, in which he aªrmed that as a child had heard the grown ups abhor modernist “bad taste.” Modernisme, he added, was synonymous with the illogical, and during his adolescence in his own home he had helped to set aside the pieces of junk and furniture of bad taste of this style. Later, the revival of Barcelona after the 1992 Olympic Games also manifested itself in this area. The organization of the large display “El Modernisme” (1990) in the wake of the Cultural Olympiad not only entailed a major revision and updating of the subject, but also a new patrimonial rise. Later events such as Gaudí Year (2002) and a large number of national and international exhibitions, catalogs and books, have also helped keep the movement alive. Another reconsideration of Modernisme came from the field of graphic design, especially as a result of the attraction for popular images from the graphic past. Pop, Neoliberty and the mass culture of the ’60s and ’70s discovered the sinuous forms of Art Nouveau, which they saw as a clear opposition to the rationalism espoused by the definers of modernity. In Barcelona, Pop graphics, visible in the publishing and recording world, were a symbol of an attitude against the Franco regime’s 34 su¤ocation. The group, known as the Gauche Divine, from the enlightened and cosmopolitan bourgeoisie closely linked to the new cultural industry, spread this spirit, symbolized by the iconic logo of the Bocaccio discotheque (1967-1985) on Muntaner Street, and the advertising graphic for the movie Tuset Street. It reflected on Art Nouveau that psychedelic art being spread by the Pop movement was becoming fashionable in Europe. Finally, international Art Nouveau design, as well as the modernist, was rediscovered, reconsidered and praised by contemporary design. In other words, modernist design has finally been valued by designers, both internationally and locally. The reissue of flagship pieces by Mackintosh, Guimard or Hofmann has made these elements “design classics.” The first Barcelona reissues of modernist designs, except for a previous attempt by Bigas Luna, who had sold some of them in 1973 to Gris, his store, were the work of Bd-Ediciones de Diseño in the early seventies, and in specific in 1976, the first pieces of Gaudí. In this way, emblematic pieces of Gaudí, but also of Jujol or Masó, in the care of other publishing houses such as Mobles 114, were equated with the international “great classics of design,” a concept that is both a selling and distinctive cultural argument, as the denomination of “classics” endows them with an artistic aura, evoking the “classics of art.” An interesting phenomenon, worthy of reflection. It should be remembered, however, that some objects, such as Viennese curved wood furniture and some emblematic pieces by Peter Behrens, and in the Catalan case, some Escofet flooring or the Masriera jewellery, never stopped being produced. The second triumph of Modernisme, the good and the bad Entering the third decade of the 21st century, modernisme has become one of the main cultural and tourist attractions in Barcelona. It is now long ago when modernist objects, considered pieces of junk from bad taste, were forgotten in attics or there was talk of the demolition of the Domènech i Montaner Palau de la Música Catalana ... since 1997 declared a heritage of the humanity for UNESCO! For several years now we have been witnessing a process of “museumization” of the Art Nouveau European cities and Barcelona is an emblematic case. While the academy has put Modernisme at the forefront of research, design is producing quality replicas and 35 the arts are inspired by curving forms or artisanal techniques such as trencadís, tourism, by contrast, has developed merchandising that it is far from what our heritage and our city deserve. At the time of writing, reflections arising from the Covid-19 pandemic can and must contribute to this. It is necessary to promote a change of mentality that establishes the pleasure of culture and a tourism based on knowledge and study, for the sake of cities and heritage. We must not forget that the foundations of the history of Catalan art from the twentieth century are laid in Modernisme. The contemporary history of Catalunya cannot be understood without Modernisme. In the same way that modernist art creations cannot be understood without knowing the operation of art industry workshops and their commitment to modernization. A new path toward the culture of design. Catalan Modernisme and international Art Nouveau, a path of concomitant and divergent forms1 Mireia Freixa The architect Jeroni Martorell i Terrats (1876-1951), in 1903, published an extensive article entitled, “La arquitectura moderna. La estètica. Las obras” (Modern architecture. Aesthetics. Works),2 which o¤ers us an excellent starting point for introducing us to the relationship between international Art Nouveau and Catalan modernisme. The young Martorell,3 just one year after his architectural degree, demonstrates his full knowledge of the new European architecture 36 1. This text is part of the research carried out within the GRACMON research group of the University of Barcelona, and is part of the project funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, “Between cities: cultural landscapes, scenes and identities (1888-1929)” (HAR2016-78745-P). 2. Jeroni Martorell: «La arquitectura moderna : i. La estética. ii. Las obras», Catalunya: Revista Literària Quinzenal, 18 (30 September 1903), p. ccxli-cclviii; «La arquitectura moderna : i. La estética. ii. Las obras (Acabament)», Catalunya, 24 (30 December 1903), p. dlxi (561)-dlxxvii (577). For the sake of lightening this text the specific references to each citation that are located in the ARCA repository are not used. 3. See Raquel Lacuesta, Restauració monumental a Catalunya (segles XIX i XX). Les aportacions de la Diputació de Barcelona, Barcelona, Diputació de Barcelona, 2000; “Jeroni Martorell, arquitecte de l’Administració pública”, in Plecs d’Història Local, supplement of the magazine L’Avenç, 152 (February 2014); and with David Galí, “Antoni Gaudí i Jeroni Martorell”, QCTRM Quaderns Científics i tècnics de Restauració Monumental, 14 (2004), p. 11-28 . 37 –keeping in mind, though, that Martorell, like most architects of his day, are grounded in the concept of “total art,” understood as the unity of all the arts under the shelter of architecture. In the first part of the article, he reviews the history of architecture from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century, saying that it has been “redeemed” by the contributions of two modern apostles, John Ruskin and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. The great value that both theorists would share is in the rediscovery of Gothic art, in a review upon which the renewal of architecture and ornamentation should be based. In the second part, he recounts the work of the great contemporary architects, while doing an important review of a production that he simply calls “new.” He begins by describing 1. Otto Wagner. Pavilion of a city train station on Vienna’s Karlsplatz, 1899 Photo: Lisa Rastl © Wien Museum and leaves.” The fact that a young architect denotes such an exhaustive knowledge of the work of his contemporaries demonstrates the high level of architectural culture in Catalunya during the years of modernisme. It must also be remembered that the article was very widespread, since, in addition to the magazine Catalunya, it was published in Spanish in Arquitectura y Construcción, in 1908.4 Martorell devotes the last part of the article to reflecting on the situation in Catalunya, concluding that Catalan architecture could be fully enrolled along this new line. He cited the Camil Oliveras Maternity House as a model, to end without mentioning names, “Catalunya begins today a new architecture,” adding that, “We have very personal architects.” He then emphasizes the need to create a Catalan “school” that contains at the same time the parameters of “novelty and tradition,” a condition that has become one of the basic points for understanding the originality of Catalan architecture. Martorell clearly observed that a language was being created to transcend historical styles and that, for this very reason, it could be converted into an international language, but at the same time he recognized the need to not forget tradition. The article is essential to understand the concomitances and di¤erences of Catalan architecture –and by extension the decorative and industrial arts– with the movement that we now define as Art Nouveau. Modernisme and Art Nouveau the Viennese school extensively, which he discovered on the journey he made at the end of his studies. He quotes Otto Wagner (Fig. 1) and Joseph Maria Olbrich, to discuss the Belgian school with Victor Horta, whom he considers a follower of Pierre Cuypers. He then speaks of Hector Guimard, who states that he would be “the first to produce a completely clean work of archaisms.” He then makes a reference to the United States as well and dedicates a few paragraphs to British home architecture to cite Raimondo d’Aronco’s work in Turin. In closing, he emphasizes the need to find new art that allows us to overcome historical styles, although the result does not have to be any particular “style.” However, some identifying traits can be appreciated, such as “the use of the curve” and the use of a decoration based on “the study of beautifully transformed roots 38 As Martorell described in 1903, each European region certainly developed its own language, albeit with di¤erent denominations, art nouveau, modernisme, modernismo, sezessionstil, liberty, florale or jugendstil. All of them would be di¤erent “styles,” but united by the desire to define a new art. At present, however, the trend is to refer generically to the movement as Art Nouveau. This was also the name Siegfried Bing gave the objectes d’art store –many of which were of Japanese origin– that he opened in Paris in 1895; as well as the pavilion that opened at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1900.5 In the field of historiography, it was also the title of the book by Nor4. Arquitectura y Construcción, 192 (July 1908) p. 205-212. 5. Los orígenes del l’Art Nouveau. El imperio de Bing, Amsterdam, Paris, Van Gogh Museum, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, 2004. See the article by Karine Loquemant, “El Pabellón de l’Art Nouveau en la Exposición Universal de 1900”, p. 189-232. 39 wegian historian Stephan Tschudi Madsen, in 1957, who was first to analyze the movement from a joint perspective.6 It is now accepted that what we call Modernisme is the Catalan version of international Art Nouveau. From a strictly formal point of view, both languages justify the overcoming of historical styles in both architecture and applied and decorative arts. For the first time since the Renaissance, architecture and design were no longer interpreted as the revision of previously coded styles, and their eyes were turned to nature. The result was astonishing: nature was freely copied or interpreted through a process of stylizing forms, a technique that had been common since the late nineteenth century, through Japanese influence. Stylization finally resulted in the creation of almost abstract forms that were of great modernity. But, as we show throughout this exhibition, Catalan Modernisme –unlike international Art Nouveau– maintains a very deep link with history, in the last decade of the nineteenth century, in the period we call first Modernisme and this linking, would condition the second era, from 1900, which we classify as full Modernisme. We must be aware though that, today, we use the term Modernisme to define a historical period. It is a resource of present-day historiography since at that time the only group to call themselves the modernists were the group of intellectuals who gathered around L’Avenç magazine in the 1890s, or those who, with Santiago Rusiñol at the helm, celebrated the Sitges Modernist Festivals during the same times. In fact, in the early years of the twentieth century, the concept of modernisme had already been completely disqualified and was associated only with the more stylized symbolism and decadentism.7 Never would the architects who were part of the more benevolent society have adhered to a movement that they considered to be tasteless, decadent, and of low moral content. The recovery –both of the taste and of the experts’ curiosity– of Art Nouveau and Modernisme is one of the topics covered in this exhibition, and in various texts in this catalog we present the historiographic debate that has taken place around the subject. 6. S. Tschudi Madsen, Sources of Art Nouveau, Oslo, Aschehoug, 1957. 7. Joan Lluís Marfany, “Modernisme i Noucentisme amb algunes consideracions sobre el concepte de moviment cultural”, Els Marges, 26 (September 1982), p. 31-42. From the same author, “Problemes del modernisme” and “Sobre el significat del terme ‘modernisme’”, published in Aspectes del modernisme, Barcelona, Curial, 1975, p. 15-60. 40 Historifying Art Nouveau To give a simple description of Art Nouveau, we can turn to the aforementioned Tschudi Madsen, the first to organize a coherent historical account. According to this author, two major trends could be defined: the first was developed between Brussels and Paris, characterized by the use of sinuous and stylized forms, while the second was with the cities of Glasgow and Vienna as reference, which promoted straight lines and a rational sense of architecture. In Vienna it was called, from the beginning, Secession.8 They were two very di¤erent languages that served the same principle, since the definition of a style was not only the use of a particular formal language, but the application of theoretical approaches, the creation of new and international art. In short, Art Nouveau was not just a style, it was a trend. The cradle of Art Nouveau –where the models of Arts & Crafts and English aesthetics came together, fused together with a new way of interpreting architecture and industrial arts– has to be located in Belgium in the city of Brussels in the last decade of the century, thanks to two great architects and designers, Victor Horta with the Hôtel Tassel (1893), and Paul Hankar with the Hankar houses (1893), and designer Henry van de Velde (Fig. 2). They transformed plant forms into the beautiful curving line that would characterize the movement, not only in an ornamental sense, but as a result of a rigorous structural conception of architecture and ornamentation itself. The role of this group is also remembered by Van de Velde himself in a letter written in 1956: “The development from 1893, of an idea, to create a new style and Belgium (with Horta, Hankar and myself) was the cradle; [this style] is at the base of a rational vision that should bring Beauty to the empire.’’9 François Loyer10 further honors the Belgians’ responsibility for the internationalization of the movement, highlighting designer and architect Gustave Ser8. In reality Tschudi Madsen divides it in four, the schools of Glasgow, Viena, Brussels and Paris-Nancy, but clearly they form two large groups which is as interpreted by historiography. 9. The translation is mine. The text is cited by Robert-L. Delevoy, “Van de Velde”, in Pioners du XXe siècle. Guimard, Horta, Van de Velde, Paris, Museum of Decorative Arts, 1971, p. 68. 10. “Les villes Art nouveau, entre le cosmopolitisme et la tradition locale,” in Lluís Bosch; Mireia Freixa (pubs.), CDf International congress, Barcelona, Publications and Editions by the University of Barcelona, 2015 (ePub). 41 2. Study room at the Nietzsche archive with furniture by Henry van de Velde, c. 1903 rurier-Bovy, responsible for setting up an exhibition at the Casino Gréty in the small town of Liege, in 1895. Loyer documents Hector Guimard, Otto Wagner, Charle Rennie Mackintosh and sisters Margaret and Frances MacDonald in attendance. Very soon thereafter in France, Hector Guimard designed the Castel Beranger in Paris (1894-1898). In Nancy, Henry Sauvage with the cabinetmaker Louis Majorelle design the latter’s dwelling place (1901-1902); at the same time Émile Gallé (1846-1904), famous for his ceramics and glass creations, founded the Provincial Alliance of Art Industries. At the same time, a movement was developed dependent on the same premises but based on straight lines and formal simplicity. This is the case of the Glasgow School with the extraordinary Mackintosh personality together with the MacDonald sisters and Herbert MacNair, and especially of the Vienna School, culminating in the work of architects Joseph Olbrich, Jose¤ Hofmann and painters Koloman Moser and Gustav Klimt. The enormous spread of Art Nouveau, on the other hand, came from the great international echo of the Universal Exhibition of 1900 –with the new stations on the Metro de Guimard (Fig.3) or the pavilion that Henry Sauvage did for the performances of the American dancer Loïe Fuller– and the First International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art in Turin, in 1902. This is the historiographical discourse that, in broad lines, was organized by Tschudi Madsen and has been in e¤ect until very re42 cently. Little by little, other names, Antoni Gaudí or Eliel Saarinen, are often added as isolated geniuses, but it has been diªcult to appreciate the wide geographical framework of the movement; not only in Europe –Barcelona, Terrassa, Alesund, Bad-Nauheim, Aveiro, Ljubljana, Riga, Prague, Helsinki, Budapest, Moscow, Milan, Warsaw, Palermo, Subotica, Oradea, Tbilisi– but also in the United States of America –Chicago or New York– and the rest of the continents –Rosario, Buenos Aires, Havana, Ponce– just to name a few of the cities and territories identified by the Art Nouveau European Route.11 But before we move on, consider the significant contribution made by Nikolaus Pevsner, who, already in 1936, with the book Pioneers of the Modern Movement: William Morris to Walter Gropius, had begun a more interpretative line of study. Pevsner argued that in the free and functional forms of Art Nouveau resided the principles of modern design.12 We are interested in highlighting that a second work by Pevsner, The Sources of Modern Architecture and Design,13 already incorporates Gaudí’s work –only Gaudí’s– as a first example of the recognition of Catalan Modernisme. Gaudí, in fact, was virtually unknown until George R. Collins promoted an exhibition at MOMA, in 1957-1958, “The Architecture of Gaudí,” curated by Henry-Russell Hitchcock, which had to overcome great reluctance by those responsible for the museum, which gave him entry, merely, as a representative of an early surrealism. We must recognize that the first narrative by Tschudi Madsen and Nikolaus Pevsner stayed until the year 2000, when two major exhibitions on Art Nouveau were celebrated to mark the cente11. <http://www.artnouveau.eu/ca/city.php?id=44> (22 November 2019). 12. All this process has been summarized by Peter Trowles, “From Academia to Cultural Tourism: New Approches to the Histiorigraphy of Art Nouveau”, Bosch; Freixa, CDf International congress, op. cit. 13. London, Thames and Hudson, was translated the following year into Spanish by Gustavo Gili Publishers. 43 3. Hector Guimard. Paris Metro entrance, 1899 Le Cercle Guimard. Photo: Arnaud Rodriguez Architecture and design in Catalunya, in a view parallel to international Art Nouveau nary of it at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London with the title “Art Nouveau. 1890-1914,” and in the Grand Palais de Paris, simply called “1900.”14 These large displays incorporated some names and regions considered “peripheral,” but, in our opinion, they did so as satellites to a historiographical account already established. The value of these other centers had taken place, already in the new century, promoted by some very specific groups of researchers, and by entities –municipal or regional– who wanted to stimulate quality tourism. We can cite as an example the congresses L’École de Nancy et les décoratifs en Europe (2000) and Idée nationale et architecture en Europe 1860-1919. Finland, Hongrie, Roumanie, Catalogne (2006).15 It must be recognized, finally, that the richness and extent of the movement has been enhanced, above all, through two entities promoted under patrimonial protection: the Reseau Art Nouveau Network, created at the initiative of the Direction des Monuments et des Sites de the Région de Bruxelles-capitale, active since 1899, and the Art Nouveau European Route, based at the Municipal Institute of Urban Landscape of the Barcelona City Council. La Ruta also promotes CoupdeFouet magazine, with thirty-one issues on the street by 2019, and coordinates congresses in collaboration with the University of Barcelona research group GRACMON, by whom were made three editions, in 2013, 2015 and 2018. In view of the contributions of recent years, it can be said that Art Nouveau is structured as a multiplicity of centers that interconnect with one another with astonishing dynamism. Undoubtedly, the ease in connection –the trips–, the circulation of books and magazines, and the great consumption of art objects were decisive. On the other hand, the concepts of “international” versus “national” should deserve a review. International language becomes national in many small nations like Slovenia, Catalunya or Finland, which have become a sign of identity as a result of complex relationships with very powerful states such as the Austrian Empire, Spain or Russia. Going even further, peripheral Art Nouveau regain traditional traits with a compositional freedom that the laws of eclecticism would never have allowed. This precipitous review through the evolution of Art Nouveau and the way in which it has been interpreted by history, leads us, finally, to the search for the “concomitant and divergent” aspects of Catalan Modernisme. A first starting point is to understand that Catalan Modernisme has a much wider meaning because it represents the desire for the modernization of an entire culture, in a process in which the visual arts and music also played a fundamental role, but especially literature, law and language. And this fact also has clear social implications, such as the emergence of political Catalanism and all its consequences. On the other hand, the Catalan movement moved within an apparent contradiction, maintaining its cultural roots and traditions while defending modernity. In this way, the cosmopolitan spirit of Art Nouveau is translated in Catalunya as a general idea of “modernity” –with the desire to create an international, cosmopolitan style, in accordance with the end-of-the-century mentality– but a modernity that seeks to project the country into the future from the absorption of its deepest roots. But it is in the very chronological development of Modernisme that we can find the keys to deciphering its features. It seems important to us to base a periodization of the movement on the model established by Giovanni Previtali, in 1979, in La periodizzazione della storia dell’arte italiana.16 The remote origins of Modernisme, Protomodernisme,17 can be traced to a period that corresponds to the euphoria of the speculative period, known as “Gold Fever,” since 1876 and with the subsequent crisis that started in 1882, until it was redone with the preparation for the Universal Exposition of 1888. Architects and industrialists sought to find the relationship between new techniques and design –eclectic models– based on functional use of the ornamentation. In addition, some architects, such as Gaudí and Domènech i Montaner, developed a vibrant and creative eclecticism, with unusual textures and colors –like the ceramic trencadís–, very di¤erent 14. London, Victoria & Albert Museum, National Gallery of Art, 2000; Paris, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2000. 15. Nancy: Éditions Serpenoise, 2000; Jean-Ives Andrieux; Fabienne Chevalier; Anja Kervanto Nevanlinna, Idée nationale et architecture en Europe 1860-1919. Finlande, Hongrie, Roumanie, Catalogne, Rennes, Presses Univeritaires de Rennes / Institut national d’Histoire de l’art, 2006. 44 16. Published in Storia dell’arte italiana, I. Materiali e problemi, 1. Questioni e metodi, Turin, Einaudi, 1979. It can be found at <https://giovannipediconeart.altervista. org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Previtali-Giovanni-la-periodizzazione-della-storia-dellarte-italiana-Storia-dellArte-Einaudi.pdf> (28 November 2019). 17. I made my first attempt at periodization, strongly influenced by Previtali (vid. supra), in El Modernismo en España, Madrid, Ediciones Cátedra, 1986. 45 4. Joan Martorell Montells. Proposal for a new façade of the Cathedral de Barcelona, 1882 © Joan Martorell. Historical Archive at the Col·legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya from what was then done in Europe. We have enough representative examples, such as the Pavilions of the Güell Tower porter’s lodge (1884-1887) by Gaudí or the Café-Restaurant (1888) of the Universal Exhibition, by Lluís Domènech i Montaner, or the productions of the artistic industries by J. Vidal or by J. Ribas and sons. At that time there was also a major debate in the city over the appropriateness of the Gothic style as a result of the works to finish the facade of the Barcelona Cathedral (Fig. 4). In March 1882, an exhibition was presented to the cloister of the same cathedral with various designs, and public opinion was divided between the model presented jointly by Josep Oriol Mestres and August Font, and that of Joan Martorell i Montells, who had to be the master of Gaudí.18 Two very young architects, Gaudí and Domènech i Montaner, helped to outline the facade. There was no doubt about the choice of gothic, but there were deep di¤erences between the two options. Mestres and Font defended an archaeological interpretation, that is, based on the recreation of models, while Martorell promoted a freer, more creative style interpretation –with great ornamental richness– in the line of British ecclesiologists, followers of Augustus Pugin. Martorell knew British architecture because of his family’s business ties and Pugin’s works can be documented in his library. We must think that the latter eclecticism, permeated with a knowledge of the ornamental meaning of the mudejar and grafted with the compositional arbitrariness of British religious architecture, is the basis of the Modernisme that would be defined in the 1890s. Other researchers, Ignasi de Solà-Morales or Carlos Flores, as Eliseu Trenc has analyzed, also agree on this point.19 18. Judith Urbano Lorente, “La polémica restauración de la fachada de la catedral de Barcelona en el siglo xix”, Hispania Sacra, lxvi:133 (January-June 2014), p. 209-233. 19. “Antoni Gaudí, le Modernisme et l’Art Nouveau, un état de la question”, in Bosch; Freixa, CDf International congress, op. cit. 46 5. Josep Puig i Cadafalch. Neo-gothic bedroom on the main floor of the Casa Amatller Barcelona, 1900 Fundació Institut Amatller d’Art Hispànic. Arxiu Mas The First Modernisme must be considered in the cultural and political context that generated it, the process of modernization of Catalan culture that took place after the Universal Exhibition of 1888 and was consolidated in the 1890s. From L’Avenç magazine in its second stage, the first e¤orts were made to hold the tongue at the same time that the visual arts introduced the new impressionist trends. Architects, industrialists and artists enthusiastically joined the process. Thus, while in Brussels, Horta was building the Hôtel Tassel or Mackintosh in Glasgow, the Glasgow School of Art, Catalan architects, followed by industrialists, did a final and late recreation of historicist models. This was, in fact, a revision of the Gothic style from a free interpretation of the style, which would lead them to accept many elements inherent in other historical languages and even other cultures, as long as they defended this spirit of archaic and historicist aftertaste (Fig. 5). Obviously, this step would have been impossible without the skill of Joan Martorell and the power that the debate had on the facade of the cathedral of Barcelona. But not everything was a matter of formal models, since work was being done on the recovery of old artisanal crafts in a parallel process, albeit much later, to that of the British Arts & Crafts, at the same time, though, the new systems of industrial production of objects were accepted without any problem. E¤orts to promote the art industry also multiplied. In 1892, the Barcelona City Council organized the first Exhibition of art applied to industry, the National Exhibition of Artistic Industries and International of Reproductions. Shortly 47 6. Joan Busquets. Chair with sinuous lines, typical of Art Nouveau, Barcelona, 1902. Juan Busquets Catalogue of Artistic Furniture Donated by Joan Busquets Guindolain, 1998. MDB Casa Joan Busquets Collection after, in 1894, the Center for Decorative Arts was created, which published, between October 1894 and May 1896, the magazine El Arte Decorativo. All kinds of industrialists, cabinetmakers, ceramicists, mosaicists, blackmiths, but also gilders, businessmen of blondes and wallpapers, engravers, sketchers, sculptors, etc. took part. All these e¤orts culminated in 1896 in the Third Exhibition of Fine Arts and Art Industries, in which, for the first time, fine arts were compared with the applied and decorative.20 The process we have defined has a turning point in the early years of the twentieth century with the period of full Modernisme. The Paris International Exhibition popularized Art Nouveau (Fig. 6) everywhere and made it the fashionable language of a bourgeoisie that wanted to be cosmopolitan. Two years later, the Turin decorative arts exhibition called for attention to techniques that were still considered minor. The art industries enthusiastically embraced the new language, while architects such as Lluís Domènech i Montaner, Antoni Gaudí and their followers made di¤erent interpretations while letting themselves be influenced by the imitation of nature and the sinuous forms of Art Nouveau, without renouncing the paradox of being modern derived from tradition. Others, such as Enric Sagnier, the most prestigious architect in Barcelona of the moment, or Jeroni Granell i Manresa, were influenced by this style which they practiced as yet another eclecticism. The last chapter of Catalan modernist architecture is defined by a series of architects and industrialists who abandoned the French Art Nouveau fashions and became interested in the more regular and logical forms of the Viennese Secession. It was popularized through illustrated magazines and also by the widespread e¤ects from the celebration of the Eighth International Congress of Architects in Vienna in 1908. This aesthetic was presented as an alternative to Modernisme and was connected with a new social and cultural attitude, Noucentisme. The best representatives of this trend were two 20. See in this same catalog Pilar Vélez, “From industrial arts to artistic industries: the role of exhibitions on the path to the culture of design (1880-1907)”, p. 51-63. 48 7. Rafael Masó. Dining room, Casa Masó, Girona. Lamp from 1910 and sideboard from 1919. Stereoscopic image, 1923 Photo: Joan Masó. Girona City Council/ CRDI architects who also excelled as designers, Rafael Masó21 (Fig. 7) and Josep M. Pericas. This is the final contradiction of Catalan Modernisme, at a time when it was a style clearly surpassed, architects and designers would see in the Sezessionstil a way to regain the rationality of the design process, while at the same time achieving high levels of quality in the treatment of the materials. Concomitance and divergence, of course, are what we find when valuing Modernisme in relation to Art Nouveau. In fact, a process similar to what would happen in Romania, Finland, Slovenia or any other region considered peripheral. And, just as in these areas, we can say that Catalan design and architecture has gained international recognition, but no e¤ort has been made to integrate it into the general evolution of the movement. Only a wide circulation of literature has been generated, and the studies of a more scientific nature that have been published within our borders have no international recognition or, in other words, they do not appear in the literature. Despite the popularity of Modernisme today, considerable e¤orts are still needed to include it in the general discourse of the history of culture in Europe. 21. For the relevance of Rafael Masó to the noucentista movement, see J. Tarrús; N. Comadira, Rafael Masó. Arquitecte noucentista, Barcelona, Lunwerg publishers, 1996. 49 From industrial arts to artistic industries: the role of exhibitions on the path to the culture of design (1880-1907) Pilar Vélez When at the gates of 2020 we look at the origins of the design culture in Catalunya, we already have a large and plural number of studies, projects and research that allow us to get closer and understand a wider picture, both from the socio-cultural perspective as well as industrial and economic. Beyond the Modern Movement, beyond postmodernism, the vision of the phenomenon of Modernisme is broader and more flexible than ever before, which allows us to analyze it as one of the factors that contributed to the formation of the aforementioned culture of design, with lights and shadows, but with a series of key contributions, as they overcome historicism and defend creative freedom.1 With industrialization began the path to design, or rather, toward the culture of design, marked in the first stage by the art-industry debate. It is impossible to speak and understand the context 1. Without the intention of being exhaustive, we will cite the latest works from this perspective, which are the reference for now: Gracmon-UB (eds.); A. Calvera (PR), From Industry to Art. Shaping a Design Market through Luxury and Fine Arts (Barcelona, 1714-1914). Essays on local history, Barcelona, Ed. Gustavo Gili, 2011; Anna Calvera (coordinator), La formació del Sistema Disseny Barcelona (1914-2014), un camí de modernitat. Assaigs d’història local, Gracmon, Barcelona, Universitat de Barcelona, 2014. 51 of the industrial arts or art industries of Modernisme and beyond without knowing the panorama of the art-industry debate since 1851, the year of the first major Universal Exhibition in London. This phenomenon, which spread throughout Europe, also had a significant impact on Catalunya. The art-industry debate, that is, the discussion of how art should be applied to industry in order for new industrial products to be beautiful and useful, also became a good selling point. Art as a model of industry, industrial arts considered as the “true arts of modernity” or useful art, have been themes and reflections present in Barcelona for decades (Fig 1).2 At an early stage, the industrial arts mechanically imitated art, and their products were considered degenerate, adorned, and vul- of promoting their national and international competition, as some governments realized that the value of teaching design and its close relationship with the economy and products carrying the national label. On the other hand, the look and inspiration of the art of the past had to bring with it the collection of antiques and the creation of museums that would combine these arts or their reproductions. This explains the rise of reproduction museums in Europe –with a discreet role in Barcelona– as well as the presence of art reproductions in the aforementioned exhibitions. Likewise, schools specifically emerged aimed at the formation of these new industrialists, although in Catalunya this goal was achieved too late, much too late, with Modernisme overtaken. In fifty years, from 1851 to 1900, the year of the great Universal Exhibition in Paris, which signified the triumph of Art Nouveau, it went from praising the possibilities of the industrial arts then in front of academic art considered obsolete and useless, to the praise of modern art and the artist at the turn of the century, far from the Academy, and to a great popularization of the decorative arts or artistic industries, which allows us to consider them the main protagonists of modernisme. It was also clear that design was the basis of technical and artistic learning and the foundation of art and industry and, consequently, an instrument at the service of the modernization of countries’ industry and trade– a key idea, comparable to the contemporary consideration of industrial design, but let’s focus on the role of exhibitions. gar. This fact provoked reflection on the urgent need to educate its authors and also its users. Across Europe, as well as in Catalunya, exhibitions, museums and schools, and also certain types of publications, were considered to be basic paths for training professionals, the so-called draftsmen designers, industrial draftsmen or industrial designers, precursors of designers, and at the same time to educate the public so that they could appreciate the new products. That is, exhibitions to display, museums to learn and enjoy, schools to train, and publications to be inspired by. Undoubtedly, the exhibitions were instrumental in this process, as they became a way of disseminating the industrial arts and a way Nineteenth-century exhibitions: large showcases of the industrial arts 2. I developed the subject at the Barcelona History Congress in 2007. See “Les arts industrials: bellesa, utilitat, economia,” Dilemes de la fi de segle, 1874-1901, Barcelona Quaderns d’Història, 16 (2010), p. 129-161. 52 3. Ramon Grau; Marina López, «L’Exposició Universal del 1888 en la història de Barcelona», in Exposició Universal de Barcelona. Llibre del Centenari 1888-1988, Barcelona, L’Avenç, 1988, p. 113-119. 53 1. Fan: a souvenir of the Great Universal Exhibition of London, 1851 Museu Frederic Marès. Photo: Ramon Muro From the first Universal Exhibition of 1851 the exhibitions of fine arts and of industrial arts or of artistic industries became the great showcases of technical progress, so coveted by nineteenth-century society that it considered it as the way to improve the life of humanity. Although it is true that exhibitions or expositions of industrial arts in Catalunya were counted since 1822,3 they generally focused on exhibiting industrial products – not art. In fact, they were a sign of the advancement of technical knowledge, which, as pointed out, was key to helping improve the living conditions of society. It was a utopian view of the possibilities of industrialization that magnified the benefits of mechanization. But these expositions did play a role. Several were held in Barcelona: 1822, 1825, 1826, 1828, 1829, 1844, 1848-1852, 1860, 1871 and 1877, usually taking advantage of the attendance of Spain’s kings or queens –often known with very little time to organize them– to show o¤ the good health of Catalan industry and to take the opportunity to ask for measures of protection or economic and legal support. But the last three –1860, 1871 and 1877– made a significant qualitative leap, with Catalan industrialists familiar with universal exhibitions since 1851, visiting and even winning prizes. In fact, they may be considered a certain preamble to the Universal Exhibition of 1888. But the exhibitions that symbolized the true introduction of the art industries were two organized by the Institute for the Promotion of Labor in 1880 and 1884, strictly focused on the production of objects intended for home decoration –furniture, lamps, rugs, etc.– of an artistic nature. That is to say, throughout the nineteenth century in Barcelona numerous exhibitions of industrial products were held. However, they gradually became more and more “cultural” and less industrial, with a new concept emerging during the 1880s: “industrial fine arts” or “fine industrial arts,” which was a way of calling the art industries or artistic industries that were gaining ground. From this moment of the journey, the two aforementioned organized by the Foment del Treball (Institute for the Promotion of Labor) stand out.4 In 1880 the Exhibition of Decorative Arts and its application to industry was celebrated, with 972 objects, where design –as the catalog emphasizes– was the main protagonist. As much in a first section dedicated specifically to methods, procedures and educational materials for its teaching, as in five other sections, dedicated to design applied to the painting, weaving and embroidering of fabrics; construction and ornamentation of furniture and accessories; metal objects; objects of ceramics, glass and crystal; and illustration and book binding. Plus a seventh section, dedicated to antiques. A young Antoni Gaudí voiced a scathing criticism of it for its lack of individual style of our arts, vulgarly a French mimic.5 4. An entity that bore this name from 1879 and in 1889 would be renamed simply Foment del Treball Nacional. However, it went back to 1771, born to promote the Royal Company of Yarn, Weavings and Stampings of Catalunya. 5. Antoni Gaudí, «L’Exposició d’Arts Decoratives en l’Institut del Foment del 54 In 1884 the Exhibition of Industrial Arts with Application to the Decoration of Rooms took place, in this case dedicated to the arts that applied to the home, distributed in ten sections, from furniture to embroidery, carpets, upholstery, metals, glass, marble objects, ceramics, flooring and much more. The catalog is the best example of the eclecticism of those years, and speaks to the presence of most prominent firms and names of the day, led by Francesc Vidal’s workshops, at which worked some of the people who were the main protagonists of Modernisme. A breakthrough in the arts is evident in relation to the 1880 exhibition, which critics praised.6 It is good to remember that it was precisely in 1884 that the Diputació (Barcelona Provincial Council) created a Chair of Theory and History of Industrial Fine Arts, with this double name, a measure that speaks to us of the gradual awareness of the importance of these arts for Catalan society and the economy. Four years later, Barcelona was able to organize the Universal Exhibition, which today we consider the origin of modern Barcelona and the gateway for the city, and in fact, for Catalunya, to Europe and modernity (Fig. 2). An important conclusion of the universal exposition, according to one of the main theorists of the art-industry debate, Salvador Sanpere i Miquel, was the consideration that the present and industrial future of Barcelona was centered on the art industries, which had to be improved,7 and proposed once again the already mentioned means as measures of change –exhibitions, museums, schools, etc. In fact, the transition from the concept of industrial arts to “fine industrial arts” or the art industries, which was forged in the 1880s, took place definitively in the 1890s. This was accompanied by the appearance of a new style of workshop, of manufacture and of commercialization, as much for serial pieces as for singular pieces. At the same time, the figure of the industrial 2. La Exposición: oªcial publication of the 1888 Barcelona Universal Exhibition. Volume ii. Barcelona, 1888 MDB Treball Nacional», La Renaixensa, 52 (1-ii-1881), p. 709-711; and 53 (2-ii-1881), p. 739740. 6. Diario de Barcelona, (24-xii-1884), p. 14772-14774. 7. «Las Artes Industriales», in Ateneo Barcelonés. Conferencias Públicas relativas a la Exposición Universal de Barcelona, Barcelona, Busquets y Vidal, 1889, p. 589-593. 55 designer or art director was forged, as responsible for the quality and image of the company, precursors of contemporary designers and art directors.8 The artistic industries exhibitions promoted by the Barcelona City Council 3. Catalogue for the National Exhibition of Artistic Industries and International Reproductions Publisher: Imprenta de Henrich y Cia., Barcelona, 1892 One of the consequences of the Universal Exhibition was a great change in the conception and organization of exhibitions in the city. The Barcelona City Council realized the importance of these events and took the reins. In 1890 they decided to organize periodic exhibitions that would alternate between art and industry; or rather, the fine arts and the art industries. In this way, every two years, art and industry could specifically show their status and progress. In addition, the City Council reserved the right to purchase the exhibits to become part of the first municipal museums, also born as a result of the Universal Exhibition. In 1891, the first General Exhibition of Fine Arts: painting, drawing, architecture and reproductive arts (sic), of international scope, took place. That is, in addition to original works, artwork reproductions were also presented. In 1892 the National Exhibition of Artistic Industries and International of Reproductions was held, the first held in the whole country dedicated exclusively to these new “beautiful industrial arts,” as was stated in the catalog addressed “to all those who cultivate the fine industrial arts and all those who are dedicated to meeting the artistic needs of the human spirit.” Despite having a first-rate organizing commission –the architect Domènech i Montaner, the critic Miquel i Badia, the jeweler Josep Masriera i Manovens and the theorist Sanpere i Miquel, among others– and a large participation, it did not achieve its stated goals because it seems that some of the objects presented were artistically lacking in nature and did not meet the concept of art MDB 8. As described in Area 2 of the exhibition. See in this same catalog p. 101-122. 56 industry. The overall balance was pretty negative, and only the Reproductions section seemed to live up to the expectations.9 A missed opportunity (Fig. 3). On the contrary, because of this fact, in 1894, a group of industrialists created the Center for Decorative Arts, under the auspices of the Foment del Treball Nacional. The main purpose, as the bylaws show, was to promote the art industries and facilitate the artistic and scientific enlightenment of their associates, fostering the development and culture of those industries. To spread the word, they created a magazine, El Arte Decorativo, which became their spokesman.10 In the same 1894 the Second General Exhibition of Fine Arts took place, which also had a reproductions section of international scope. But in 1895 the center organized a large exhibition called the First Product Manifestation, which gained great public attention and widespread circulation in the media, as it became clear that these arts and our city were progressing. In an extraordinary edition El Arte Decorativo collected the speech of the President, Josep Fiter, and the remembrance of the Secretary, Francesc Jorba, on the state of these industries, both recalling the instance raised to the Minister of Public Works about the high urgency for more attention and protection for these arts given “the embarrassing orphanage in which the Decorative and Industrial Arts live in Spain.” In the same way, a wide range of press releases is a testament to the progress made in this area. A year later, in 1896, the Third Exhibition of Fine Arts and Artistic Industries,11 (Fig. 4) which for the first time showed fine arts and the art industries at the same time –for fear of repeating the failure of presenting only art industries– and was 9. Cristina Mendoza, «L’Exposició Nacional d’Indústries Artístiques de 1892 i les arts industrials a les exposicions generals de Belles Arts de Barcelona», in Gaspar Homar. Moblista i dissenyador del Modernisme (cat. exhibition), Barcelona, Museu d’Art Modern del MNAC, «La Caixa» Foundation, 1998, p. 167-181. 10. Josep Bracons Clapés went deeper in «Les arts decoratives del Modernisme i la cultura del disseny a Catalunya», in Pilar Vélez (coord.), Dos segles de disseny a Catalunya (1775-1975), Barcelona, Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi, 2003, p. 75-95. 11. The oªcial name was “Industries of essentially artistic character”, insisting on this aspect so as not to fall into the failure of 1892. 57 4. Illustrated catalogue of the third Exhibition of Fine Arts and Artistic Industries A. de Riquer (cover) Publisher: J. Thomas, Barcelona, 1896 MDB 5. El arte decorativo. Headpieces in No 1, October 1894, and the extraordinary edition of May 1896, designed by A. de Riquer Private collection also deserving of a great extraordinary edition of El Arte Decorativo,12 key to understanding the Barcelona panorama and state of these arts (Fig. 5). Among other things, the aforementioned instance was collected, in which the Catalan industrialists underscored the role of the new industrial designer, who had to be able to conceive and draw based on the function of the object, far from the freedom of the artist, “think that in many cases the same aesthetic emotion is obtained by pure art as by the decorative art or the art industry, which the latter did not have the all-encompassing freedom to choose theme, material or manufacture; that he could not mimic examples of things for others abundant in Nature; that he had to be confined to the limits of material space, color, movement of line, subject, style, and sometimes even at the same remunerative price.”13 In other words, the appraisal of the industrial designer was ahead of that of the artist because he was able to create a useful and beautiful work at the same time, beyond merely artistic parameters. In short, the entity –which incomprehensibly disappears shortly afterwards– and its activities show how, after decades of defending “its territory,” the art industries were starting to become more professional and at the same time its creators were beginning to enjoy social recognition. However, its praxis remained linked to aesthetics and artistic value. The road toward the culture of design had begun, but the context, despite the Catalan peculiarities, still responded to a branch of nineteenth-century thought, with William Morris at the 12. El Arte Decorativo. Número extraordinario ilustrado con motivo de la Tercera Exposición de Bellas Artes é Industrias Artísticas Mayo 1896 (May 1896). 13. «Instancia elevada al Excmo. Sr. Ministro de Fomento, por el “Centro de Artes Decorativas de Barcelona” pidiendo igual protección para las Artes Decorativas y para las Industrias Artísticas que para las Bellas Artes», El Arte Decorativo. Número extraordinario ilustrado con motivo de la Tercera Exposición de Bellas Artes é Industrias Artísticas Mayo 1896 (May 1896), p. 2-8. 58 helm, defending the aesthetic mission of design, not to mention an ethical and social backdrop. In 1898 the Fourth Exhibition of Fine Arts and Artistic Industries took place, very similar to the one of 1896, in which Modernisme was already well latent. But the loss of Cuba and the arrival of Catalanism to the Barcelona City Council in 1901 led to another change in the type of exhibitions. Until 1907 no equivalent was celebrated to those discussed thus far. In contrast, in 1902, the great Exhibition of Ancient Art took place, which collected 1,890 pieces, mainly from Catalan art until the mid-nineteenth century, from the main museums, cathedrals and private collections in Catalunya, with the aim of showing the best of Catalan heritage, from a perspective of advocating cultural nationalism. In 1907, a date that may seem late to us, what might be considered the “most modernist” exhibition of all took place. Undoubtedly, the Fifth International Exhibition of Fine Arts and Artistic Industries was the most important of fine arts and artistic industries in Barcelona. All the great names were present, from many arts, even though the complex and inadequate organization of the event makes it diªcult to find them in the catalog that was published, as some of them, such as the furniture makers Homar and Busquets, were decorators in some rooms and did not appear as participants in the general index. In fact, everything is explained by the fact that the period between 1898, date of the last exhibition of the art industries, and 1907, was, without a doubt, the time of greatest splendor of these industries, a fact especially noticeable in a series of home interiors built during these years, designed by the main architects and their regular collaborators, the most prominent furniture makers and decorators of Modernisme. Just as an example, we can recall the Casa Batlló by Gaudí, the Casa Lleó Morera, in Barcelona or the Casa Navàs in Reus, by Domènech i Montaner, or also the Casa Amatller by Puig i Cadafalch. In 1911 the Sixth International Fine Arts Exhibition took place. Dedicated only to the fine arts, it no longer responded to the objectives of the previous ones, immersed as it was in another cultural environment, with the arrival of Noucentisme, which that year presented itself in partnership with the Almanach dels noucentistes. In any case, despite all the obstacles, the exhibitions of artistic industries from 1892 to 1907 were the only fully successful measure 59 of the various ways in which they were to contribute to the di¤usion and progress of the art industries. Because, despite the City Council’s desire to create museums after the universal exhibition, they did not reach their desired goals. On the contrary, there was a collecting of antique decorative arts, largely Catalan, which replaced the existence of certain museums, also by means of some exhibitions.14 It only remains to add that when the Museum of Decorative Arts was finally founded in 1932, the context and needs were di¤erent. Too late. The need for a modern design school for industry Before the exhibitions, the first step toward quality production was proper training, that is, a good drafting school –today what we would call design– a key to instructing future professionals in the art industry. The School of Fine Arts, known as Llotja, was born in 1775 at the service of the manufacture of indianes (stamped cotton fabrics), which despite its shortcomings was the only educational center in Barcelona. This is where the first reflections and the first calls for the adequate training of industrialists came from, as early as the 1870s. Only to provide an example, we cite the discourse that José Martí y de Cardeñas, archeologist and collector, read in the 1876 public session,15 which emphasized the need for good instruction in schools, visits to museums and participation in exhibitions, as a means, he thought, to bring art closer to the people. In 1900, however, a decree of the Spanish government converted the schools of fine arts, such as Barcelona’s Llotja, into the Graduate School of Arts and Industries and Fine Arts of Barcelona, which could not be realized due to lack of teaching sta¤ and possibility of creating a truly new organization. In short, the state was not capable of making one of the measures, arguably the most 14. See, for example, Vicente Maestre, «Las primeras exposiciones retrospectivas, coleccionismo y museos: temas para un capítulo de historia del arte en la Barcelona de la Restauración», in B. Bassegoda (ed.), Col·leccionistes, col·leccions i museus, Barcelona, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Universitat de Barcelona, Universitat de Girona, Universitat de Lleida, Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Memoria Artium 5, 2007, p. 59-117. Also Pilar Vélez, “Arts sumptuàries o decoratives a les col·leccions vuitcentistes barcelonines: un model per a les noves arts industrials”, in El culto al objeto: de la vida cotidiana a la colección, Associació per a l’Estudi del Moble, Barcelona, 2010, p. 37-45. 15. El arte en sus relaciones con la industria, Minutes of the Public Session held on March 19, 1976, Barcelona, Academy of Fine Arts, p. 21-40. 60 basic, into a reality, for the promotion of the art industries: solid and adequate training. Within this context was the 1896 proposal by a commission of professors of the Graduate School of Architecture of Barcelona, composed of Lluís Domènech i Montaner,16 Adrià Casademunt, Joaquim Bassegoda and Antoni Gallissà, submitted to the provincial Diputació council, which supported it, for the creation of a Graduate School of Decorative Arts and Art Industries, following the preparatory period for architectural education. The first objective was to enhance the artistic character of national (i.e. state) industries and especially those of Catalunya. They also wanted to encourage production and they aspired that it acquire a “national character,”17 an idea that was beginning to appear more and more often, closely linked to modernist ideology. It is not surprising that this proposal came from architects, since their role as coordinators of the arts became clearer after the great social recognition they received throughout Europe. A key factor in understanding the road toward the culture of design. It was intended to award the titles of Master of Decorative Arts and Master of Art Industries, after four years of studies where theoretical subjects had a prominent role, alongside practice in painting and decorative sculpture, ceramics, glass and mosaics, metals and jewelry, carving, cabinetmaking and woodworking. That is, all those arts applied to the architectural structure in the hands of expert artisans coordinated by the architect. Unfortunately, the proposal did not succeed. But just keep in mind that Gaudí, Domènech i Montaner and Puig i Cadafalch –not to mention the entire long list of architects– had established close relationships with all their collaborators, understanding architecture as the synthesis of industrial arts, and at the same time, these arts as the expression of the earth. That is why, for all three, despite the particularities of each one, more or less explicitly, making architecture was synonymous with “making a homeland”; a symbiosis of old and new, of tradition and modernity, so characteristic of Catalan Modernisme. As an example, let’s re16. Domènech was already part of the organizing committee of the National Exhibition of Artistic Industries and International of Reproductions. 17. Graduate School of Architecture of Barcelona, Bases propuestas a la Excma. Diputación provincial para la creación de una Escuela Superior de Artes decorativas o Industrias artísticas aneja al período preparatorio de la enseñanza de Arquitectura, Barcelona, 1896. 61 6. First emblem of the FAD by Joan Busquets i Cornet, c. 1903 MDB member how, after the 1892 Exhibition, a young Puig i Cadafalch gave a conference entitled, “On the regional spirit in the art industries of Catalunya,” in which he emphasized the symbiosis of art and industry, but in which remarked about, as we had already seen with Gaudí in 1881, the lack of autochthonous character of our artistic industries. He stated: “Our works in the artistic industry today are wholly lacking in character, copied or plagiarized, artistically speaking, from here and there, they have the cosmopolitan look of bastard daughters of unknown parents, artificial o¤spring only from a machine of iron, dead bodies that do not animate the spirit of the people that produce them, of this Catalan race who works and raises children that don’t look like them, as if they were not their own children or as if, perverted, they were a people without character, confused and useless in the abyss of cosmopolitanism.”18 Within the same context of the promotion of the artistic industries, at the beginning of the twentieth century, in 1903, a new entity was born, inheriting in part the old Center for Decorative Arts. We are referring to the Foment de les Arts Decoratives (FAD, Promotion of the Decorative Arts), which, although during modernisme had a discrete role, was subsequently a key referent in the arts and the fine crafts in Catalunya, especially with the organization of a series of monographic exhibitions and the participation of its members in international exhibitions (Fig. 6). In any case, at the beginning the FAD pitched a proposal to create a Museum of the Techniques of Fine Crafts, without success. The culture of design was advancing, but despite the new model of the workshops, the technical modernization, some serialization applied in the manufacture of objects of all kinds, the artistic and aesthetic value prevailed. At the end of the aforementioned exhibitions and with the nineteenth century definitively closed, in a di¤erent socio-cultural 18. I traced it to Pilar Vélez, «Josep Puig i Cadafalch i les indústries artístiques: un camí cap a l’arquitectura “nacional”», Butlletí de la Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi, xv (2001), p. 21-27. 62 situation, the Mancomunitat (Commonwealth) stage, the mechanisms for evaluating, promoting and disseminating the artistic industries, then called fine crafts, were others. The long sought after school to train professionals in these arts or crafts finally arrived with Noucentisme: a modern and national project to “educate about beauty, integrating art into society to improve the lives of peoples,” as Joaquim Folch i Torres argued. Modernisme, however, had laid the foundations, and exhibitions were the best showcase for raising awareness. In addition, they contributed to the forging of the city’s first public collections of decorative and industrial arts. 63 S E C O N D PA RT 65 Modernisme (Art Nouveau), synonymous with the will of modernity and cultural regeneration, is currently one of the main poles of international attraction in Barcelona and one of the most popular artistic styles. The Museu del Disseny (Design Museum) wants to o¤er a reading in the “keys to design,” that is, rethinking objects from the idea, production techniques and materials, to promotion, dissemination and function, with design understood as a process that spans from concept to use and even disuse. The exhibition focuses on Modernisme as the beginning of design culture, frames it in the European context and highlights the links and singularity of the Catalan case. Because unlike other places in Europe, there was no contradiction between craft and industry in Catalunya and they knew how to marry tradition and modernity, looking to the future without renouncing historical legacy. After the great modernist splendor at the beginning of the twentieth century and the subsequent rejection of Noucentisme (twentieth century-ism), which alternatively consolidated some cultural proposals of the modernists, the revival of modernisme arrived in the middle of the twentieth century. Meanwhile, the link between popular local tradition, vindicated by Noucentisme, and the outbreak of modern Mediterranean66 based design in the hands of GATCPAC (Group of Catalan Architects and Technicians for the Progress of Contemporary Architecture) had taken place. Moreover, this new path branched into another one: the traditional craft techniques in the hands of visual artists found a new way of contemporary expression that continues today. A second resurgence of Modernisme from the sixties to now, through both the history of art and heritage as well as from design, has led to the international di¤usion and recognition of certain modernist objects as “design classics.” All in all, Modernisme, a key movement in understanding contemporary Catalan culture, can be recognized as the inaugural moment of design culture, which began with the artistic industries, still far from the modern concept of design, yet already based on some aspects that play a key role in it. 67 Modernisme, an attitude and long road Authors of the texts JB RB JC RC AC IC JF IFM MF NG JJL TN EO MP TMS MS PV SV MV Josep Bracons Ricard Bru Josep Capsir Rossend Casanova Aleix Catasús Isabel Cendoya Jordi Falgàs Isabel Fernández del Moral Mireia Freixa Núria Gil Juan José Lahuerta Teresa Navas Ernest Ortoll Mónica Piera Teresa-M. Sala Marta Saliné Pilar Vélez Sílvia Ventosa Mercè Vidal “Modernisme” is synonymous with the will to modernize a culture and to integrate into Europe. The Universal Exhibition of 1888, the first international event organized by the city of Barcelona, is considered the gateway to Europe and modernity, as well as the start date of the movement. The desire for modernity, driven by intellectuals and artists, defended culture as a regenerative instrument to overcome a local and backward atmosphere, focusing on Europe. At the same time, overcoming it, it looked to the past, as the Renaixença (Renaissance) had done, a romantic cultural movement that had recovered native roots. Looking to the future without yielding to historical legacy constituted the singularity of Modernisme, the beginning of a long road toward modernity and at the same time the cradle of political Catalanism. The year 1888 ushered in moments that historicisms characterize as the first Modernisme, until around 1900 when international Art Nouveau was added, which advocated art for art’s sake and nature as a model, and became known as full Modernisme. The last stage of Modernisme, a prelude to Noucentisme and precursor of rationalism, was influenced by the Viennese Secession, in fact a language also Art Nouveau. 69 ¡ A precursor to Modernisme A seat of respect: the “roman armchair” In 1879, Francesc Vidal i Jevellí opened various large artistic industry workshops that constituted a model for the integration of the arts, for technical and commercial innovation and importing artistic objects. He can therefore be considered a precursor to Modernisme. His ‘Roman’ chair was one of the most representative furniture pieces of the last two decades of the nineteenth century in Barcelona. If we evaluate a product by its acceptance in the marketplace, the Roman armchair scores excellent. It is a friar’s chair, of severe appearance and luxurious production. A reference for men’s oªces and salons. The design is clean, with basic geometric shapes: the circle and the rectangle embedded in orthogonal frames joined by an oblique that defines the sides. The straight chamfers accentuate the geometry and the slats and moldings are mechanically cut to give an ideal point of coldness for the project. It has no added decoration, but following progressive parameters, it is presented in the same structural elements. Griªns and claws transmit authority following a long tradition, accompanied by battlements and acanthus leaves in reference to nobility, while lathing bring the required dose of severity. The carving is handmade, and especially artistic are the griªn heads with a threatening expression. Thus, the chair exemplifies how the workshops select manual or mechanical finishes according to the aesthetic nuances to be achieved. The Jacquard loom upholstery by B. Malvehí is of the highest quality with a color palette that stands out against the light background and dark frame. The design does not forget comfort with its seat of springs. The chair comes from the Pau Casades residence in Barcelona, decorated by F. Vidal, maker of the model since 1884, based on F. Ewerbeck’s Gotischer Lehnstuhl published in 1874. The Barcelona version is a Roman version of the German gothic seat. Other models were designed at the time with diagonal uprights and animal heads, but none achieved such a perfect form. This is why many workshops have incorporated it into their repertoires and it is so diªcult to identify authorship. Roman armchair Francesc Vidal i Jevellí (1848-1914) Alexandre de Riquer, fabric design (1856-1920) Vidal y Cía. Talleres y Almacenes, producer Benet Malvehí, upholstery production Barcelona, 1885-1890 99.4 x 69 x 71 cm Walnut carved, turned and molded. Silk Jacquard fabric, satin on the bottom and chiseled velvet on the motifs, horsehair, rope and braided webbings of burlap on the spring upholstery. Brass for the tacks Bibl.: s t o d t b a u e r P i e r a 2015. i e w e r b e c k 1874; g o u l a 1994; F r e i x a 2014; F o n d e v i l a 2015; MP Donation Carlos Casades de Còdol, 1967 MADB 113.842 70 71 First Modernisme, the final review of historicism The period between 1888 and 1900 can be called First Modernisme. Catalan architects, followed by industrialists, made a late-blooming recreation of historicist models, especially the neo-Gothic, clearly defined by Josep Puig i Cadafalch as a “national” architecture. It is a free and creative recreation of the medieval styles that would bring these architects to also accept elements typical of other historical languages and other cultures, always, however, with an archaic and historicist vibe. A result of this context are the “talking” objects, signs of a characteristic will strongly represented by the new ruling classes. Artistic industries provided housing with all kinds of applied elements and decorative objects, a reflection of their clients’ ideals. 73 Two “talking” furniture pieces: medieval tradition and love for country Saint George Bench José Ribas e hijos Barcelona, c. 1895 304.5 x 185 x 69 cm Walnut carved and gilded. Fabric stamped and pegged, trimming. Paint stenciled on cloth, imitating tapestry (panels with painted scenes) with metal applications Purchase, 2014 MADB 138.918 A seat from the 1890s and another from around 1905 are a good example of the cultural ideals of Modernisme. The bench-seat, a piece of furniture of simple structure, generally with a wide back, such as those around the fireplace of Catalan farmhouses, has been documented since the eleventh century. Its presence in the homes of the Barcelona bourgeoisie, that is, the families who had moved to the flats of the new Eixample, speaks to us in a way to conceive of housing. The home, in addition to living in it, was “to receive” in it, as a meditated “scenography,” visible in spaces of representation that exuded the social status of the owners. If European Romanticism and the Renaixença (Renaissance) cultural movement had set out on the path of pursuing homeland identity –in words of the age–, Modernisme was their heir and shaped through its architecture and decorative arts a cultural ideology. The bench-seat, from the medieval period, where its roots were sought, was a symbol. Generally located in vestibules or living rooms, converted then into a sofa-seat, they welcomed visitors. This bench, commissioned by the Pons family at the José Ribas and sons workshops, is a piece of furniture that has a medieval characterization, except that it specially confers the painted triple tapestry of the upper back with images that appear custom-made for the client. Of carved and gilded walnut, it is the typical four-poster, high-backed sofa, decorated on top by three painted tapestries presided over by a central theme, and surrounded by a floral border, all crowned by the canopy also with upholstered diagonal stripes with plant themes on the inside. Following the tapestries from left to right we can see: 1) a medieval lady with a head covering in the manner of the fifteenth century and a book in her hands, on whose cover is written “Art.” In gothic lettering, below, “Art and Industry was the Essence and the north of the children of our Land.” 2) St. George killing the dragon. In gothic lettering, below, “Honor, Chivalry and Valor was the teaching of my homeland.” 3) Another very similar medieval lady, holding a scroll in her right hand on which is written, “Gay Saber (Happy Knowing).” In gothic lettering, below, “Poetry was always the language and emblem of love in Catalunya.” The symbolism is clear. It is a song of love for the homeland in an advanced, industrial, cultured Catalonia, seen through the eyes of the Romantic Renaissance, which created and exalted the medieval imaginary, through the recovery of its language and history. The lover of the homeland is a knight, personified in Saint George, patron saint of Cata74 75 Vestibule on the first floor of Casa Lleó Morera, with a bench attributed to G. Homar Fundació Institut Amatller d’Art Hispànic. Arxiu Mas Bench Attributed to Gaspar Homar i Mesquida (1870-1955) Barcelona, c. 1905 340 x 180.5 x 58 cm Walnut carved, turned, molded and stained. Pine in the seat structure lunya, who defends us from evil, while two ladies reinforce the same idea of love: through the work reflected in the art-industry symbiosis so debated since of the middle of the nineteenth century and exponent of the socio-economic progress of the country; and through poetry, that is, language, the attitude embodied in “Gai Saber,” duty of the troubadors and symbol of the Jocs Florals (Flower Games) –restored in 1859– sign of the three loves: to God, to the Homeland and to the Lady. The originality of this seat lies in the painted triple tapestry, which allows us to define it as a “talking” piece of furniture. Tapestries painted with tempera directly on twill fabric became fashionable in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Here they are integrated into the furniture, combined with the floral upholstery of printed cotton fabric, giving it high chromatic quality. But, though we have documentary evidence that the seat comes from the workshops of José Ribas, we cannot name the specific author of the tapestries. The second seat, from around 1905, confirms that Modernisme took over the patriotic ideals of the Renaixença (Renaissance), with the 76 77 Originally from the Casa Lleó Morera, Barcelona Purchase, 1969 MADB 106.055 aim of creating a modern country, always respecting the historical legacy. This seat comes from the main floor of the Lleó Morera House, on the corner of Consell de Cent and Passeig de Gràcia, 35 –where the family of Dr. Albert Lleó Morera lived– one of the most successful Barcelona ensembles by Lluís Domènech i Montaner and at the same time the most spectacular interior of Gaspar Homar, as a model of integration of the arts, so characteristic of modernism as well. However, while the furniture –furniture, lamps, decorative panels, etc.– that decorated the main living room and dining room form a unitary whole, the neo-gothic seat is a standalone piece of furniture. Vintage photographs attest that it was nestled along a hall wall, as if it were a custom-made one, as it allows you to see how the upper left corner of the canopy fits in with the sculptural group of Eusebi Arnau representing the traditional cradle song of The Wet-nurse of the King’s Son that decorates the entire corridor, the main axis of the house, in memory of a son who died very young. These scenes of medieval tone are crowned with a scene of Saint George killing the dragon, a theme, as we said, that Modernisme adopted. The neo-gothic seat blends with the poem and is a manifesto that welcomes us to the home. As for the authorship, all told we are led to attribute it to Homar. As we know, he was responsible for the decoration of the house, a modernist complex that can be admired today at the National Art Museum of Catalonia, where projects from the Homar collection are preserved. However, the neo-gothic bench, decorated with pointed arches and ridges and fantastic zoomorphic figures of a high quality, corresponds to another style, which Homar also cultivated. Among the more than 2,000 preserved photographs of his projects, there are neo-gothic furniture pieces that are very similar. In fact, the case of this bench is curious, never found in any documentation or catalog until 1994, which was part of the exhibition “Arts Decoratives. Col·leccions per a un museu” (Decorative Arts. Collections for a Museum), which took place in the Palau de la Virreina. The most unique part of the piece of furniture is the phrase on the front side of the canopy, “Faith-Homeland-Love” and “Onward-Always-Onward,” two sayings closely related to the Jocs Florals. In fact, they were the motto: “Homeland, loyalty, love. Love for the country, source of the noblest feelings; love for God, source of the purest feelings; for true love, the inexhaustible source of sweet emanations,” that is, “the happy knowing,” as we have said. To prepare a prosperous future, one must look to the past, in times of splendor, reinterpret and 78 identify it with a language, Catalan, a key sign of identity. Recall that Domènech i Montaner himself was a prominent person in the political and cultural world of his time. President of the Catalanist Union, he had close ties with the Jocs Florals, the Ateneu Barcelonès and Catalan Youth [La Jove Catalunya], whose goal was to recover the language, precisely through the adherence of the restored Jocs Florals. The Games continued during the so-called Second Renaixença (Renaissance) of the 1880s, which was becoming more radical and more Europeanist in favor of modernization, and reached Modernisme, which aimed at cultural regeneration with a view toward Europe. In short, the spread of the Renaixença ideals adopted by Modernisme also reached furniture. Both seats, very close in concept, are talking furniture pieces, “patriotic,” which they say about those belonging to a group, and are prominent exponents of the art industries of the time. Bibl.: Arts Decoratives a Barcelona 1994; P i e r a 2019; v é l e z 2019. PV Gargoyle Fábrica Hijo de Jaime Pujol y Bausis, producer Esplugues de Llobregat, c. 1900 94 x 74 x 70 cm Ceramic decorated with blue and metallic sheen Donation Industrial Ceràmica Vallvé, S.A., 1984 MCB 142.901, 142.904, 142.905 and 142.919 79 Ceiling plate Tiles Fábrica Hijo de Jaime Pujol y Bausis, producer Attributed to Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1867-1956) Fábrica Hijo de Jaime Pujol y Bausis, producer Esplugues de Llobregat, c. 1890 6.5 x 40 x 40 cm Esplugues de Llobregat, c. 1900 10 x 20 x 20 cm Terracotta molded, glazed, slip-painted and with metallic sheen Terracotta molded and decorated in blue, with finish and varnish on white slip and metallic sheen Fundació Institut Amatller d’Art Hispànic. Foundation Permanent Loan, 1970 MCB 142.833 MCB 145.621 Donation Industrial Ceràmica Vallvé, S.A., 1984 MCB 142.873 Amphora Fábrica Hijo de Jaime Pujol y Bausis, producer Molding Attributed to Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1867-1956) Fábrica Hijo de Jaime Pujol y Bausis, producer Esplugues de Llobregat, 1903-1911 51 x 23.8 cm Ceramic with blue stencil and free stroke decoration Esplugues de Llobregat, c. 1900 15.5 x 26 x 12.5 cm Molded piece decorated in blue and green tones on white slip and glazed finish. Border decorated with stenciled flowers on a pink background Donation Industrial Ceràmica Vallvé, S.A., 1984 MCB 142.942 Fundació Institut Amatller d’Art Hispànic. Foundation Permanent Loan, 1970 MCB 142.838 80 81 Ceramic panels “Art Nouveau” Modernisme Antoni Maria Gallissà i Soqué (1861-1903) Fábrica Hijo de Jaime Pujol y Bausis, producer Around 1898, the first wave of the Art Nouveau style began to be seen in Barcelona, already visible at the 4th Exhibition of Fine Arts and Artistic Industries. In 1900, the spread of Art Nouveau at the Universal Exhibition of Paris entailed a change of direction. Architects and industrialists were influenced by this new style, inspired by nature and the organic, curving forms that were, mostly, practiced as one more kind of eclecticism, without forgetting the usual styles. The most committed architects and industrialists made a more original and modern interpretation, but from tradition. The desire to marry this paradox, between the roots of tradition and Art Nouveau cosmopolitanism, is what gives Catalan architecture and Modernisme’s decorative arts such high levels of originality. Esplugues de Llobregat, 1891-1904 and 1902 39 x 53 x 3.5 cm (panel) 66 x 53 x 2.5 cm (panel) Ceramic glazed and polychromed by stencil From the International Exhibition of Fine Arts and Art Industries, Barcelona 1907 MCB 852 and 851 82 83 The armchair with curving lines from the Busquets workshop One of the pioneers of Art Nouveau was the artist Eugène Grasset, who in accepting the new status of the work of art at the time of its technical reproducibility suggested “art in all.” Under his direction he published La plante et ses applications ornementales (The plant and its ornamental applications,1896), a collection of sheets that aimed to become a method of application among the artisans. Joan Busquets i Jané made some furniture with floral ornaments, such as the blue lily embroidered on the silk warp, which is part of a bedroom chair, and which would be repeated with pyrography on the wardrobe, bed and bedside table. In the watercolor project of the armchair (1899), Busquets draws a model of winding lines that carries a modern design concept, both in terms of formal lightness, which makes it functional, and in terms of finishes or compositional combinations of the furniture bodies. So, for convenience, the wood can be gilded and upholstered with silk if the order is for a living room, or we can leave the natural wood if the client so requests. Also, the seat and the backrest can be made with or without arms, at the same time they can be combined according to the chosen heights. As we have noted on other occasions, the Busquets style is fully represented in the form of oblique crossbeams and legs ending in characteristic folds. Joan Busquets i Jané (1874-1949) Barcelona, 1902 93.5 x 59.5 x 61 cm Carved ash wood, upholstery with warp fillet base and embroidered iris series with application of silk and trimming Purchase, 2009 MADB 138.664 Bibl.: l e P d o r 2011; s a l a 2006; s a l a 2014. TMS 84 Armchair 85 Gaspar Homar: marquetry at the service of Catalanist aªrmation Panel Mother of God of Montserrat Gaspar Homar i Mesquida (1870-1955) Josep Pey i Farriol (1875-1956) Barcelona, c.1902 113 x 50 cm Mahogany with marquetry and bronze applications Museu Frederic Marès. Barcelona MFMS-234 Artistic marquetry is an old craft of decorative coating that is used to embellish a piece of furniture, flooring, panel or any wooden surface. The “pictorial marquetry,” also called “wood painting or mosaic,” is executed by marquetry men. In the age of Modernisme, Gaspar Homar renewed its decorative possibilities, with the incorporation of fashion repertoires and the use of a varied color palette. As for designs, some were copies of publications or originals drawn by artists, such as Josep Pey. The technical execution was mostly in the workshop of Joan Sagarra and sons. From a previous project, which is custom-made on vegetable paper, the colors are painted to see the compositional result. Then, a “diversity of woods are assembled to achieve the appropriate tones, without having to make use of the dyes [...] and a loving eagerness to look for unknown woods, the rarest, for a preconceived purpose” (“Marqueteria. Plafons decoratius”, Ilustració Catalana, I:3, 1903, p. 43-44). Apart from nature-inspired motifs, Homar made multiple versions of the Virgin of Montserrat and St. George. The Montserrat devotion had grown since the Millennial Festivals, held in 1880, when the Virolai was introduced as a hymn (written by Jacint Verdaguer, with music by Josep Rodoreda) and the spiritual and popular symbol of old was consolidated. The representation of the Virgin was made from a drawing by Josep Pey, as it appears in the Dietari de J. Pey (Dietary of J. Pey), dated April 1902: “Homar drawing finishing Virgin Montserrat 250 ptes.” It is a clear exponent of spiritual aªrmation where tradition and modernity meet a marked sense of Catalanist aªrmation. Bibl.: P u j o l ; b r u l l 1903; g a s P a r h o m a r 1998; s a l a 2003; s a l a 2005a; s o l e r 2013; s a l a ; s o l e r 2015. TMS 86 87 The Casa Calvet coat rack: a ready-made by Gaudí Coat rack Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852-1926) Casas i Bardés Workshop, producer Barcelona, 1899-1901 23 x 22 x 24 cm Oak wood carved and turned with iron tape From Casa Calvet, Barcelona Loan Gaudí Chair CGEX 0022 Calvet House coat rack is one of Gaudí’s smallest pieces of furniture, but reveals the complexity of major works, for which works like this constitute the test piece. It consists of a central body of wood, rectangular, wavy-edged, crossed by three elongated openings, and joined by two brass-plated iron strips to two other elements, also of wood, turned, one of which was a parietal support and the another, the hanger itself, though accessories such as scarves and umbrellas could also be hung on the central body bars. The ribbons retain the vivacity of some hands, those of Gaudí, undoubtedly, who made a bow out of which one could join the three parts of wood: light and undulating, they bind them gently, without forcing them, while maintaining a complete independence between them. As in so many works by Gaudí, there is no “design” in this coat rack, in the sense of having to materialize a project, but there is action, that of fingers manipulating the tape with which the wooden elements are subtly joined. But what are these elements? One, the one that hangs on the wall, looks like a mass production stand; the other, the coat hanger, one of those turned crowns so plentiful in furniture and railings; and, finally, doesn’t the third give the impression of one of those grids that hold the book on a lectern? Three disparate elements, which are actually three objets trouvés, linked by a ribbon that, though brass, exhibits free and undulating forms of the living freshness of the freshly knotted knot: the result is an amazing assemblage, a ready-made one for which Gaudí does not “design” the elements he needs, but “collects” them before deciding what they will be used for. Bibl.: Gaudí. Art i Disseny 2002. JJL 88 89 The angels of the home of the Casa Lleó Morera salon, design by Josep Pey Angels from a fireplace in the Casa Lleó Morera in Barcelona Josep Pey i Farriol (1875-1956) Joan Carreras i Farré, embosser Barcelona, 1905 126 x 50 cm, each Embossed copper From Casa Lleó Morera, Barcelona Purchase, 1967 MADB 71.792-3 Angel decorations on the fireplace, 1905 Centre Excursionista de Catalunya Photographic Archive These angels were part of the decoration of a fireplace in the great salon on the main floor of the Lleó Morera House, on Passeig de Gràcia, by Domènech i Montaner, where Dr. Albert Lleó Morera’s family lived. Right in the space that forms the corner, there is a fireplace under a canopy supporting slender columns and with an upholstered seat on each side. It was presided over by a sculptural relief depicting the Adoration of the Magi, a work by Joan Carreras, a regular collaborator of Homar, and which was delimited by an angel on each side. Made of hammered copper, they were joined by a relief of the Epiphany, with a verse by Jacint Verdaguer: “We come from the East guided by the star; the one at dawn is beautiful; you, O rising sun.” In profile, very refined, in the praying posture, they are crowned by a halo and at the bottom and the middle of the robe, of medieval inspiration, there gleam floral designs –roses– very characteristic of other sets by Homar. The novelty we bring is the name of the artist of the angels. If before it had been said that Carreras was the artist, after consulting the Josep Pey Archive –preserved in the Documentation Center of the Design Museum thanks to the Magdala Pey Donation 2019– we have been able to verify authorship by Josep Pey, under the general coordination of Gaspar Homar. If we follow the notebooks in which Pey painstakingly wrote down all his works and the prices of each, the first contact with Homar was in December 1899, through Sebastià Junyent with whom he collaborated in the making of the pictorial friezes of the shop of the decorator and cabinet maker (see p. 120-121). From then on he painted tapestries for Homar in 1900 and 1901, until 1902 when he began to make sketches for inlay, of St. George and the Virgin of Montserrat, among other subjects. But it is not until the notebook of 1905 that an emphasized page records: “Drawing series for the dining room mosaics of Mr. Morera. Four with figures [770] and landscape [220] / Three small inlay panels Morera living room [150] / Panels for the two doors of the Mr. Morera living room (inlay) at 100 pts [200] / Angel drawing to chisel the chimney and two tracings (only profile drawing) [25]” (see. p. 156). The same year, the general list specifies other inlays and mosaics of the Lleó Morera House, as well as in 19 years he works simultaneously for Homar on the dining room panels of the Burés House. 90 So the artist was Pey, and Carreras was only the executor, in the same manner that he was also the artist for the design of the faces, hands and other elements of the mosaics in the dining room on the same floor (see p. 156-157), made in the workshops of Antoni Serra, as well as of the themes for the inlaid and carved panel, work of Carreras and the marquetry man Joan Sagarra. The angels, like most of the furniture and decorative panels from the house, were sold by the Lleó Morera family to the Barcelona City Council in 1966-1967. But these angels, such as the neo-gothic vestibule seat (see p. 76-77), were not included in the catalog of the first two exhibitions, which, driven by Joan Ainaud de Lasarte, director of the Art Museums of Barcelona, recovered Modernisme (1964 and 1969-1970), although in both the star attraction was the entire Lleó Morera collection. Furthermore, neither the angels nor the seat entered the Museum of Art of Catalonia (today MNAC), where the ensemble is currently conserved. Bibl.: c a r b o n e l l -c a s a m a r t i n a 2002; d o m è n e c h 2019. PV 91 An artistic embroidery by Cristina Ribera Embroidery Cristina Ribera i Cirera Vilafranca del Penedès, 1888 158 x 49 cm Satin base, silk warp and cotton fabric embroidered with Bargello stitched polychrome silk threads From the Exhibition of Fine Arts and Art Industries, Barcelona, 1898 MTIB 587 Cristina Ribera presented this embroidery at the Universal Exhibition in Barcelona in 1888 and at that of Vilanova i la Geltrú in the same year, in which she won two gold medals, respectively. In 1898 she again exhibited it at the 4th Fine Arts and Art Industries Exhibition, in the Art Industries Section where she won a third medal. The Barcelona City Council then acquired it together with other pieces. The awards received and the signature show that it was the work of a professional embroiderer of artistic subjects and not merely of domestic work. This embroidery is an example of the revival of late gothic and Renaissance themes and techniques in Modernisme. It depicts a young woman sitting in a dreamlike pose, dressed in a set inspired by the late fifteenth century clothing. At that time, the dresses had two sleeves separated from the body. In fact, this set has two cu¤s on each arm, which make a joint with a doublet, under which a shirt is seen. She also wears a tailored fabric skirt with tail, and an apron that covers the front and back from the waist. This figure could be inspired by a Renaissance-style contemporary opera or opera character, as her clothing is not exactly historical. The acu pictae (needle painting) embroidery is figurative and mimics painting, as done in the Renaissance. The stitching of this embroidery is the bargello stitch nuanced in di¤erent shades and filled in, since the base fabric is not visible. The drawing is not outlined, but we can glimpse traces of pencil where there is loss of embroidery. The drawing is marked by changes in the direction of the stitches. On the face and hands, where these are smaller, the blue eyes and the carmine mouth stand out for their chromatic vivacity. The embroidery is probably inspired by a portrait of the embroiderer’s brother, the painter Romà Ribera. Some of his portraits from the 1890s show a pattern reminiscent of embroidery. Its warm earthy color palette is also recognized in the present work. The painter organized an individual sample of his work at the 1888 Universal Exposition and the Fine Arts Exhibition in 1894, in which he probably unveiled his sister’s embroidery. Bibl.: I V Exposición de Bellas Artes e Industrias Artísticas 1898; t o m à s i e s t r u c h 1898; El Modernisme 1990. SV 92 93 The last attitude, a move toward Noucentisme Ceramic panel Lluís Domènech i Montaner (1850-1923) Lluís Bru (1868-1952) Fábrica Hijo de Jaime Pujol y Bausis, producer The look toward popular art and the interest in artistic crafts for a national art as a reflection of a culture of its own, beyond the recovery that Modernisme had already made, is the defining feature of the step toward Noucentisme in the fields of architecture and decorative arts. The traditional Catalan home is the reference for architects and craftsmen, from Barcelona and from other places in Catalunya, such as Girona or Vic, who, well aware of Central European secessionist movements, introduce a formal renewal while creating their own modern style, yet without forgetting the roots. The Escola Superior de Bells Oficis (Graduate School of Fine Trades), founded in 1914, is a reflection of the social aims sponsored by the government of the Mancomunitat (Commonwealth). Esplugues de Llobregat, 1901-1907 90 x 20 x 3.5 cm Ceramic enameled with stenciled polychrome decoration From the Exhibition of Fine Arts and Art Industries, Barcelona 1907 MCB 846 94 95 Frame Rafael Masó i Valentí (1880-1935) Miquel Pratmans, cabinetmaker Nonito Cadenas i Caballer (1876-1930), locksmith and blacksmith Girona, c. 1906 148 x 159 x 14.2 cm Chestnut wood and embossed wrought iron Purchase, 2017 MDB 1.326 Cendra Homs family Arxiu Històric Municipal d’Anglès Rafael Masó modernist: the Cendra family’s frame This was possibly the first commission that Tomàs de Cendra (18641938) made for Masó. Formally, as well as due to its size and ornamental work, it is one of the most prominent decorative pieces of the young Masó, fully immersed in the modernist aesthetic. Cendra, a landowner from Anglès, entrusted to Masó the reform of a farmhouse in Sant Hilari Sacalm, the Soler de Mansolí, when he had just finished his architectural studies in 1906. That is why we can date it to the beginning of their relationship, 1905 or 1906, when Masó had not yet developed the stylized geometric style that would distinguish him, but, as in this case, he used floral and organic forms for inspiration, especially in the design of liturgical and domestic ornamental objects. However, it seems that this framework was made for the Cendra manor house, Ca l’Espinàs, which Masó reformed a few years later, between 1913 and 1916, known since then as Can Cendra (now the headquarters of the City Council). The inscription engraved in the lower center of the frame indicates the wedding dates of Tomàs de Cendra with Dolors Homs i Burés, and the birth dates of his daughters: “Wedding / 15 May 1891 / Births / Carmen 14 March 1890 / Pilar 20 June 1891 / Lluisa 11 January 1895.” Some sources claim that it framed an image of the Sacred Family, but this inscription also suggests that it could have been designed to frame a portrait of the Cendra family. Whatever the image, it is obvious that Masó wanted to create a truly imposing object based on the contrast between materials, shapes, volumes and colors –the hardness of iron and the geometric shapes opposed to the delicacy of roses in high relief, the metal in the form of ribbons and bows, the sinuousness of the curves and the profiles of the wood– always with his characteristic will to emphasize the quality of the craftsmen who worked with him. Bibl.: t a r r ú s ; c o m a d i r a 1996; r a m s 2006; g o n z á l e z et alt. 2007; F i g u e r e d a 2012. JF 96 97 A frame by Josep M. Pericas to remember the newlyweds Tiles Rosari (Rosary) and Canaleta (Flute) The design of objects is one of the fundamental pillars that characterize the work of Josep Maria Pericas. In 1914, following the wedding between the architect and Josefa Soler, he designed a set of everyday objects (jewelry, furniture, clothes, etc.) among which is this wooden frame that later he painted by hand with floral motifs inspired by the Viennese Secession. In applied arts, as in his architecture, Pericas introduced constant references mainly to Romanesque style and, secondarily, to Central European art, which he combined with forms of nature such as floral or animal elements. The architect was responsible for drawing all the elements associated with the orders and for controlling all the production processes up to the completion of the work. The original designs can be seen on all kinds of garments, stained glass, irons, wooden reliefs, engravings, etc. From the start, Pericas looked to the figure of the designer architect, popular in Central European art circles, mainly Josef Ho¤mann and Joseph Maria Olbrich, well known among Catalan architects at the turn of the century. The control over the whole of the work assured him of a harmonization between the di¤erent elements that made up the exterior and interior of his buildings. As with the Viener Werkstätte, the architect surrounded himself with a small group of artisans, mainly from the Osona region, who acted in coordination through Pericas’s commissions and collective exhibitions in art. These include the painters Darius Vilàs or Llucià Costa, the sculptors Joan Borrell Nicolau and Josep Maria Camps Arnau, the blacksmith Ramon Collell or the carpenter Josep Bigas. Rafael Masó i Valentí (1880-1935) La Gabarra Faiances Emporitanes, producer La Bisbal d’Empordà, c. 1912 and 1915-1916 20 x 20 x 1.5 cm and 20 x 20 x 1.8 cm Terracotta from plaster mold baked in woodfired oven (galena, quartz, white slip and water, straw color running varnish) and terracotta molded with cookie sheet baked in wood-fired oven (galena, quartz, white slip, water and iron oxide, running varnish with rust yellow oxide) Originally from the Athenea building, Girona Donation Bosch. capdeferro arquitectures SCP, 2017 MDB 1.265-1.266 Picture frame Bibl.: P l a d e v a l l 1980; c a t a s ú s 2016; c a t a s ú s Josep Maria Pericas i Morros (1881-1966) i c l a P a r o l s 2019. AC 1914 54 x 40 cm Wood painted with gold plaqué Josep M. Claparols Pericas Collection 98 99 Art industries, the new culture of design: project, production, di¤usion and consumption Industrialization laid the foundations of design culture. In Catalunya, artistic industries thrived, dedicated to the production of consumer goods especially in the service of home decoration. Artistic industries are synonymous with modernization: of technical modernization in innovative workshops with import machinery and new professional practices; and of aesthetic modernization, as they overcome historicisms and make nature the main model without forgetting the past. Likewise, a new way of disseminating the products is also opened. Commercial advertising is created thanks to new graphic reproduction procedures and the marketing and promotional exhibitions that are organized. A new model of workshop is also born, one for manufacturing and marketing, for both serial production and singular pieces. At the same time, the figure of the project designer or industrial designer, as they were called, appears as well as the new art director. In this context, a new commercial concept is born, the art object as a selling point, because art ennobles the industry. 101 ™ Exhibitions, di¤usion vehicle for art industries After the Universal Exposition in 1888, the Barcelona City Council decided to organize a new type of exhibition that would blend fine arts and art industries. Despite certain conflicts and changes of pace, from 1892 to 1898, art and industry could show, separately or together, their progress. The city council reserved the right to acquire exhibited objects so that they could become part of the newly created municipal museums. In 1894, following the first Exhibition of Art Industries in 1892, a group of industrialists created the Center for Decorative Arts. Through their large exhibition held in 1895 as well as through their magazine, El Arte Decorativo (1894-1896), they pursued development and protectionist measures from the Spanish government. 103 The stained glass window from the iii Exhibition of Fine Arts and Art Industries by Antoni Rigalt The collection of specialties from the Víctor Brosa workshop The display case from the Bobes Graphic Workshop: a unique commercial furniture piece After the Universal Exposition of 1888, one of the manufacturers’ main di¤usion paths at the turn of the century was the artistic industry expositions organized by the City Council from the early 1890s. In 1891, the first General Exposition of Fine Arts took place, followed in 1892 by the first National Exhibition of Artistic and International Reproduction Industries. One of the goals of the City Council was to purchase pieces for the museums created just after the Universal Exhibition: the Museum of Artistic Reproductions, the Archeological Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, which had a very small collection. After the 1892 exposition, which did not achieve the desired success, in 1894 a General of Fine Arts exposition was held, which also had an international section of reproductions. It gained much more resonance and public attention than the previous one, which caused the City Council in 1896 to reconsider organizing another exhibition dedicated specifically to the arts, though it was finally decided to do one for fine arts and art industries together, in addition to another for reproductions. From this exhibition, we present, first, the stained glass from the Third Exhibition of Fine Arts and Artistic Industries of Barcelona, valued at 3,000 pesetas (no. 990), work of the renowned workshop A. Rigalt & Co., design by the same Rigalt, who presented two more. He received a first-class medal for the whole set and the City Council purchased it for the museum. The stained glass, allegorical of the exhibition, and also of the stained glass industry, is a true advertising manifesto of the skill of the A. Rigalt workshop. When the Museum of Decorative Arts was opened in 1932, it could be admired in the Stained Glass Room. Secondly, some panels by Víctor Brosa Sangerman, a gold painter, displaying gilding, chiselling and imitations of enamels and marbles, one of them valued at 800 ptas. (no. 794) and two more displaying painting and chiseling. Today it is astonishing that the City 104 Council acquired these samples of decorative techniques, in which Brosa excelled, if not for the true municipal interest in promoting the art industries as a possible economic engine of the city. In 1898 the Fourth Exhibition of Fine Arts and Art Industries took place, very similar to the previous one, in which the modernist forms were already present. The City Council acquired an inlaid cabinet by Joan Busquets (no. 1400) valued at 10,000 pesetas, a true manifestation of the integration of the arts characteristic of modernism (see 130-131). They also acquired a delicate symbolist embroidery on colored silks (no. 1514-1518), by Cristina Ribera (see p. 92-93). Industries used to come up with high quality exhibit furniture. Gaudí himself, for example, had already designed the display case in which the Comella glovebox was shown at the Universal Exhibition of Paris in 1878, which was his first commission from the Güell family. Take a look at the iron and glass showcase from the Bobes Graphic Workshops, one of the largest lithographic companies in Barcelona in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Instead of commissioning a piece of wooden furniture, they chose metal and modernist decorative elements, even as early as 1910, and were still used for exhibit at the Barcelona International Exposition in 1929. Bibl.: a m e n ó s 2014; g i l 2014; s a l a 2014a. PV 105 Stained glass Allegory of the Third Exhibition of Fine Arts and Artistic Industries of Barcelona Antoni Rigalt i Blanch (1861-1914) Rigalt & Co, producer Barcelona, 1896 291 x 183 cm Leaded glass. Colored glass-plain, printed, plaques and molded piecesjoined by a network of lead and iron reinforcements. Glasses with grays, yellow silver and enamels of various colors Publicity Panel Brosa. Golds and Paint Víctor Brosa i Sangerman (1852-1920) Barcelona, 1896 90 x 134 x 15 cm Wood chiselled, gilded, polychromed and with pastillage Originally from the Fine Arts and Art Industries Exhibition, Barcelona 1896. Loan National Museum of Art of Catalunya (Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya) MNAC 1.323 Originally from the Fine Arts and Art Industries Exhibition, Barcelona 1896 MADB 1.889 106 107 Showcase of the Bobes Graphic Workshops Enric Campmany Metallurgic Workshops, producer Barcelona, 1909 270 x 107 x 65 cm Profiled, wrought and twisted iron bars; cast iron pieces; iron plates cut, stamped, punched and chiselled, painted and gilded, welded, riveted, screwed or fastened with clamps. Flat glass. Exterior paint in black and gold. Polychromic remains on the inner layers Talleres Gráficos Bobes, Box and wraps Bobes Graphics Workshops, printer Donation Bobes Graphic Workshops, 1988 GAGB 9.116/14 Barcelona, 1910-1925 Various sizes Chromolithographed paper on cardboard Donation Bobes Graphics Workshops, 1988 MDB 9.828, 9.9949.996, 9.999, 10.002 108 109 The exhibitor Mateu Culell, versatile industrial designer Exhibitor Third International Exhibition of Decorative Arts of Monza Mateu Culell i Aznar (1879-1943) Esteva y Cía. Barcelona, producer Barcelona, 1911-1912 129 x 125.5 x 6.5 cm Oak wood with applications of gilded stucco and glass. Lead pencil and gouache on paper for designs Donation Margarita Culell, 1960 MADB 69.685 Mateu Culell Aznar (Barcelona, 1879-1943) was the only son of a wealthy family. His father, a merchant by trade, was called Francesc and his mother Mercè. He studied at the School of Fine Arts and the School of Fabric Theory. In 1889, at the age of only twenty years old, he participated in the Concurs Artístich L’Excursionista (The Hiker Art Contest) in order to select the cover image of an illustrated monthly magazine, which we do not know if it was ever printed. But we do know that between 1878 and 1891 a monthly newsletter for the Catalanist Association of Scientific Excursions was published. Mateu Culell presented four figurative drawings and won first and second prizes. The next milestone in Culell’s formative period is 1901, when, while at the Catalanist School Center and in the context of celebrating a scientific and artistic contest, he received an honorary certificate for the best art work as well as a prize consisting of the Collection de Tissus Anciens (Tissus Anciens Collection), about the finest collection of fabric drawings for room and furniture decoration. Mateu Culell, highly qualified for drawing, would become an excellent industrial designer, with a workshop at 42 Ronda de Sant Pere. We have witnessed some of his projects on paper gouache for stairway sconces, for hydraulic flooring, for jewelry, for stained glass and for fabrics that show his artistic aptitude and his identification with the modernist movement, for which these were mostly inserted. The artist also found a way to publicize his work by attending various contests where he participated with the aim of earning well-deserved awards, events that he was not accustomed to attending in person because he was concentrating on his professional work in Barcelona. We can mention, among others, his participation in the 1903 International Exhibition in Athens, where he presented four projects for fabrics, and won the silver medal; his presence in the 1908 Spanish-French Exhibition in Zaragoza, where he exhibited projects for hydraulic flooring and fabrics and won a gold medal; at the Brussels Universal Exposition in 1910, where he exhibited hydraulic flooring projects that were highly esteemed by the jury and for which he won the gold medal. In 1912, and possibly for the first time, at the British-Latin Exhibition in London, he presented his decoration projects in a triptych display case, made by the Esteva y Cía. shop of Barcelona, giving them even greater visibility. On this occasion, he 110 111 The rise of reproductions: art available to everyone, from the museum to the living room Gold medal won by Culell at the Brussels International Exposition of 1910 Godefroid Devreese (1861-1941), medalist Alphonse Michaux (1860-1928), coiner 1910 70 mm diameter Golden bronze Donation Margarita Culell, 1960 MADB 69.665 was selling the furniture container along with his work for a price of 2000 pesetas, which nobody paid. This fact demonstrates that his work, apart from having a utilitarian nature since many of them often became material objects, especially stairway sconces or also hydraulic flooring, was considered by himself to also be, and for good reason, works of art. After some time, absent from competitions, the designer again wanted to be present at the international circuits, who knows if for the last time. In 1927 he intended to bring the same triptych display case, which housed some of his peculiar projects inside, to the iii International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Monza. However, certain indications point that he ultimately did not. Today is the most significant object contained in the great industrial artist Mateu Culell’s collection, with the Design Museum preserves. Bibl.: Artes Suntuarias del Modernismo barcelonés 1964; El Modernismo en España 1969; Pitarch; dalmases 1982; El Modernisme 1990; Da Gaudí a Picasso 1991; Arts Decoratives a Barcelona 1994; c a r b o n e l l -c a s a m a r t i n a 2002; c a r b o n e l l 2006; F r e i x a 2015. One of the reasons for the success of art reproductions was their value for social representation, since new reproductive techniques, such as electroplating –obtaining metallic objects through electrolysis– allowed the middle classes to possess decorative objects until then in the hands of only a few. Industrial advances allowed revolutionary changes in production, and art reached a wider audience. In the meantime, throughout Europe, reproduction museums were born –in Barcelona in 1891– created with the desire to educate the public, as much for the industrialists, as a stimulus and model, as for the public at large. The Barcelona City Council acquired for the museum some of the reproductions presented at the both the art industry and fine art exhibitions. JC 112 113 Artistic reproductions from around Europe The National Exhibition of Art Industries in 1892 featured an international section of Art Reproductions. The reason and the purpose were both significant within the artistic industries because of the di¤usion of masterpieces from all time periods between the industrialists, as a stimulus or model, and the public – just as the theorist Salvador Sanpere i Miquel, a member of the organizing committee, had been advocating for years. In addition, they could be purchased for the Museum of Reproductions created in 1891. The exhibition did not reach its goals, apparently because some of the items presented were lacking in artistic nature and did not meet the concept of art industry. On the other hand, the Reproductions section was highly rated. The success of the reproductions was due to the technical advances of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, which gave rise to new procedures. Electroplating served mainly in the world of decorative sculpture, since the recovery of the old lost wax casting technique was contributing to the success of “salon bronzes.” Lithography and photography and their photomechanical applications allowed for the faithful reproduction of book illustrations and publicity posters. The ceramic world was also renewed and the styles and techniques of the past were recreated while introducing new materials, such as cardboard chromolithographed in relief, which did not last long, but which reproduced the ceramic e¤ect at a very a¤ordable price. In 1892, industries from Barcelona, Andalusia and Valencia exhibited stained glass, decorative sculpture, ceramics, etc. International participation, scarce, focused on France and Germany and especially on Italy. Workshops for marble or metal decorative sculpture and ceramic manufactures in terracotta or majolica, with Barcelona representatives as A.R. Ferri, reproduced, as the catalog specifies, works conserved in museums, which shows the cultural consideration of museums as artistic centers and benchmark educators. Pitcher and tray Triton pitcher Carl Haas, producer Vienna, c. 1891 35.5 x 18 x 12 cm (pitcher); 5.5 x 45 cm diameter (tray) Electroplating reproduction and embossed metal Purchase, 1891 MADB 128 Tray Neptune and Amphitrite Cellini, Benvenuto (1500-1571) Giuseppe Pellas, producer Florence, 1891 52 x 63 cm Electroplating reproduction Bibl.: Arts Decoratives a Barcelona 1994. PV Purchase, 1891 MADB 228 114 115 The commercial publicity boom: the poster for the mosaics by Órsola Solá y Cía. A catalog of luxury: artistic flooring by Escofet y Cía. Poster Mosaicos hidráulicos Órsola Solá y Cía Alexandre de Riquer (1856-1920) Litografía Utrillo & Rialp, printer Barcelona, 1898 131.3 x 93.5 cm Chromolithography on paper Purchase, 2009 GAGB 35/09 The artistic industries were the protagonists of a positive confluence. Industrialization required the spread of products, meaning they needed to be advertised in order to be sold. At the same time, the birth of modern advertising needed to attract the buyer. A revolutionary graphic breakthrough, chromolithography, which introduced color to the print world, made commercial advertising in the form of posters, packaging, or catalogs. Industrialization, advertising and chromolithography came together. Lithography (from Greek lithos, stone, and graphos, drawing), invented by Aloys Senefelder in 1796, is based on the incompatibility between water and oil. On porous and polished limestones –and after 1895 on zinc plates– the image was drawn directly over the pencil or greasy ink. Then it is washed with etching and prepared with a composition of gummy water that only penetrates where there is drawing or greasy ink. When the damp areas are dyed they reject the ink, which is only in the greasy parts, and when the image is printed, it goes to the paper. Chromolithography requires as many plates as there are colors in the drawing –each with the image corresponding to its color– and all of them must overlap accurately, maintaining the registry to achieve the correct end result. They are then varnished for protection and gloss. On paper or on a can, it became the key to advertising in color. The poster was the great beneficiary of chromolithography. In the 1890s, during the first modernisme, its boom began. Throughout Europe, large companies held contests –in Catalunya the pioneers in 1898 were Anís del Mono and Codorniu– in which the most renowned artists participated. The earliest poster makers were artists, drawers and painters, who entered this new advertising through the fine arts. This is why the first advertising images, especially for consumer products, were closer to painting than advertising. The female image predominated as a lure, and at the beginning only the name of the manufacturer was used, as a guarantee of quality. The slogan about its benefits would come a little later. Alexandre de Riquer (1856-1920) was the great publisher of Art Nouveau in Catalunya, especially following his 1894 trip to London, 116 117 Commercial catalogue Pavimentos artísticos Escofet y Cía. S. en C. Album No 6 Escofet y Cía. S. en C. Barcelona, 1900 (1st. ed.) 55 x 43 cm Donation Escofet 1886 S.A., 2020 MDB. Escofet 1886 Collection where he came in direct contact with the Pre-Raphaelites and the environment of William Morris and Arts & Crafts. In addition, this visit served to rea¤irm its unique decorative character, visible in all its creations. If today we consider him the first professional in graphic arts of Catalunya, it is because he cultivated all genres and achieved a personal symbiosis between international modernity and tradition that make him unmistakable. Riquer is the prototype of a drawer-planner, also a painter: he designs furniture, flooring, stained glass, textiles, and is a great book illustrator, ex-libris, and even a poet and art critic. It is not surprising that when the art industries of the end of the century adopted advertising as a business strategy, they adopted Riquer’s symbolist women. This is the case of the Órsola Solà & Co. hydraulic mosaics, one of the oldest flooring workshops, where Jaume Escofet Milà, founder of the Escofet hydraulic mosaics (in 1895 Escofet, Tejera y Cía., and in 1904 Escofet y Cía.), had already worked, a leader in quickly incorporating the concept of design into its organization. The artistic director was the drawing artist Josep Pascó, author of the magnificent chromolithographic catalog of flooring in 1900. Riquer, like him and others –Domènech i Montaner, Sagnier, Gallissà or Vilaseca– were the artists. Truly exceptional publishers, we must not forget the first large commercial photographic catalogs of other workshops, such as the furniture makers Busquets or Ribas. Bibl.: v é l e z 2006; r o s s e l l ó n i c o l a u 2009; F a r r é -e s c o F e t 2017. PV 118 119 Sebastià Junyent and Josep Pey, decorators of Gaspar Homar’s shop Design of the decoration of the Gaspar Homar store Sebastià Junyent Sans (1865-1908) Josep Pey i Farriol, painter (1875-1956) Barcelona, 1899 11 x 44; 13.7 x 44; 13.5 x 78.7 cm Watercolor and pencil on paper Donation Magdala Pey Casanovas, 2020 MDB. Josep Pey Collection Gaspar Homar opened a “decoration” shop on 4 Canuda Street, next to the Ateneu Barcelonès, where he moved after the death of his father, Pere. The company made a lot of e¤ort to popularize its products. Josep Pey, another of the protagonists of this text, designed a poster depicting a woman –of quite pre-Raphaelite taste– with nymphs that carry decorative objects in their hands, accompanied by the caption, “Gaspar Homar. Furniture, lamps, mosaics. Canuda 4. Barcelona,” which in di¤erent variants was also reproduced as an advertisement card and vignette in various media such as the “Pàgina Artística” (Artistic Page) of La Veu de Catalunya, or other media and exhibition catalogs. It is worth mentioning also that the advertisement attested to the national and international exhibitions in which his shop had participated, and emphasized the medal, obtained at the one in Barcelona, in 1907. Similarly, the Serra de Cornellà workshop-museum, one of the other great contributors, conserves a porcelain cookie container that advertises, in this case, only the furniture maker. There is no known photograph of this important establishment, either interior or exterior. Hence the value of the frieze projects that were part of the store’s decoration, donated by Pey’s niece-granddaughter, Magdala Pey. She herself referred to the catalog of the monographic exhibition dedicated to the ensemblier, in 1989; however, since the archive was not yet organized, they could not be linked to the sketches we discussed. On the other hand, the preserved workshop books provide a wealth of complementary information. They contain the date of the order, December 1899, and the price of 150 pesetas, accompanied by the quote, “S. Junyent, painting friezes Homar shop”; below it specifies “flower panels” for 50 ptas. The document clarifies that the assignment to Pey came through Sebastià Junyent, who also signs the friezes, making his authorship clear. Pey was thus responsible for its execution. The three preserved friezes, which obviously had to be positioned at the top of the interior wall, have the added value of being able to deduce store sizes of 7.93 m x 4.40 m. The biggest one, by theme and size, we have to assume it would be arranged on the front wall. It represents a group of soldiers on foot and on horseback who are going to conquer a castle. It could be identified with an onslaught of almogàver mercenaries, since flying in the background 120 121 is the Catalan navy war flag, azure bars over a silver field; one of the knights bears the cross of St. George on the coat of arms. It is signed in the lower right corner, “Sebastià Junyent”, specifying its dimensions 7.93 m x 92 cm, and that it is meant for the shop of Gaspar Homar. In the lower left corner is an outline of the wall where they were to be placed, with a decorative element in the corner that we interpret as the “flower panels” in the accounting book. The other two are 4.40 m long and the same height, and are also signed and dated. One describes a group of characters praying in front of a cross carried by an angel; on the far right are figures standing up from which only the legs can be seen at the waist, which suggests that they may have been integrated into the wall. The third one makes pendant with the one just described, shows nymphs emerging from a forest, looking at an angel carrying a white lily in its hands. On the reverse sides, are several sketches of the same friezes. The decoration of the shop must have gone quickly enough, as Magdala Pey transcribed a postcard, dated June 12, 1900, in which Junyent says to Pey, “Write me about the e¤ect that the friezes we painted for Homar have.” Bibl.: s a l a 1985; Modernismen i Katalonien 1989; P e Y 1996; F r e i x a ; h e r n á n d e z 1999. MF 122 The grand protagonists of Modernisme Modernisme became a reality in the decorative and applied arts, understood in its dual sense, as an ornamental object or applied to architecture. In the same way as in other countries, like Great Britain, old craft techniques were recovered. But in Catalunya this process was not achieved by rejecting the manufactured objects in order to make visible local values imbued with a cosmopolitan spirit. For this reason, the subsidiary construction industries as well as all the ones specializing in ornamental products worked hard to renovate their designs, often with the participation of draftsmen and architects of prestige. The art industries experienced spectacular development. One can speak of mixed manufacturing forms with industrial products completed by hand or artisanal products distributed by a modern commercial system. As a result, there is also a valuation of standardized products without detriment to the appreciation of the singular item. 123 3 The furniture arts Furniture is the main protagonist of the art industries, contributing to a unitary vision for all the arts. On the other hand, its functional design brings it closer to the principles of Art Nouveau. Highlights include the likes of Gaudí, marquetry, characteristic of Homar, and pyrography, distinctive of Busquets, but also used by Ribas, all longstanding traditional techniques in Catalunya. Marquetry gave color to the furniture, lending di¤erent shades to the wood, while pyrography consisted of drawing decorative motifs with a reddish finish, almost electric, to later color them with watercolor and varnish. In addition, metals, marbles and glass were used to enrich it. At the same time, parquet floors endowed warmth to the interior. 125 Marquetry, modernist technique par excellence: the Gaspar Homar workshop Bed Gaspar Homar i Mesquida (1870-1955) Josep Pey i Farriol (1875-1956), marquetry design Joan Carreras i Farré (1860-1907), carving Joan Sagarra i Viola (1856-1920), marquetry Marquetry work is one of the most characteristic productions of Catalan Modernisme. It was mostly applied to furniture, but also found elsewhere in representation chambers: crowning molding, on co¤ered ceilings, or even on the most luxurious parquet floors. Marquetry was a traditional technique that was very popular in Catalan baroque, and it consisted of designing a mosaic from wood of di¤erent textures and shades. It was elaborated with an ancestral technique, using hand tools such as the blade, shears and knife. Pilar Soler, a researcher who studied one of the last workshops, the Segarra workshop on Palla Street, explained that this artisan kept a collection of 119 samples of wood, many of them exotic, usually imported. Gaspar Homar’s workshop was one of the most productive using this technique, as was recognized at the time. This is acknowledged by Pujol i Brull in an article in The Catalan Illustration in 1903, entitled “Marquetry. Decorative Panels,” which said: “It has awakened amongst us sleeping hobbies, thus raising the good name of Catalunya.” But the works of Teresa-M. Sala have shown that other workshops, such as Busquets, also excelled. Barcelona, 1900-1905 136.5 x 100.5 x 199 cm Ash wood carved with inlay decoration. Carving in relief in lemonwood, sycamore and walnut root. Inlaid metal and mother of pearl. Wings in precious woods and violetwood, Amboyna wood, cherry and ash, root Bedroom sets, which consist of a single or double bed, a bedside table, a wardrobe and some chairs, were very popular. Cupboard doors, but especially headboards, served in Gaspar Homar’s workshop to display the richest and most creative compositions from embossed wood or marquetry. The theme was usually the patron saint of the owner, the Sacred Family, or, as in this case, the guardian angel. The Design Museum preserves this set of single bed, chair and table. The head represents an angel praying with the open wings that attach to the curved shape of the head. The angel wears a floral-patterned stole and a mother-of-pearl cross. The face is very faint. It is the same model of another bed kept in the Museum of Catalan Modernisme of Barcelona of double size and that we also find in a cradle of a private collection. It has been mentioned that Homar workshops, like many others, reused their models in a working system that was far removed from the one-man work advocated by, for example, the British Arts & Crafts. The feet of the bed and the small table have a simpler but no less beautiful ornamentation. The set plays with the contrast produced by the root wood and has some poppies as its ornamental element. Bedside table Gaspar Homar i Mesquida (1870-1955) Josep Pey i Farriol (1875-1956), marquetry design Joan Carreras i Farré (1860-1907), carving Joan Sagarra i Viola (1856-1920), marquetry Barcelona, 1900-1905 121 x 42 x 41 cm Ash and pink marble in the structure. Marquetry decoration on sycamore wood. Brass handles Bibl.: P u j o l i b r u l l 1903; Gaspar Homar 1996; F r e i x a ; F e r n á n d e z 1999; Museu del Modernisme Català 2013; s a l a -s o l e r 2015. MF Bequest Batista i Roca (Baltà’s Widow), 1990 MADB 135.347 Bequest Batista i Roca (Baltà’s widow), 1990 MADB 135.346 126 127 Furniture projects from the Lleó Morera House, design by Josep Pey Lleó Morera House’ main floor salon with furniture with marquetry, designed by Josep Pey Fundació Institut Amatller d’Art Hispànic. Arxiu Mas Marquetry designs for the furniture of the Lleó Morera House Josep Pey i Farriol (1875-1956) Barcelona, 1905 59.5 x 82 cm 62 x 80 cm Graphite and gouache on paper Donation Magdala Pey Casanovas, 2020 MDB. Josep Pey Collection The furniture of the Lleó Morera House, emblematic work of Lluís Domènech i Montaner, is one of the most sumptuous sets of Catalan Modernisme. The National Museum of Art of Catalunya has an important part of it, acquired in 1967, and a very significant group of preparatory drawings. The pieces we discuss are three life-size models, based upon which some of the inlays in the main hall were made, and come from a donation from Magdala Pey. In one case, the MNAC also retains a smaller model. A project depicts woman with a garland amidst landscapes that was part of one the skirting boards on the lounge bench. The other design is composed of a group of two women and a man dressed in medieval fashion, and is the scheme for the central panel of the three-body closet in the same room. Both the model and the skirting boards were first exhibited in 1969. As was common in Homar’s workshop, the same schemes were used in other pieces. One of the female figures is reinterpreted in a mosaic piece that belonged to Enriqueta Ramon, and the other is reproduced in a casket at the Museum of Catalan Modernisme, but probably other versions are still preserved. The motif of the group is found in a decorative panel that was presented at the Hispano-French Exhibition in Zaragoza in 1908. Pey’s participation in the designs of the Homar workshop projects for the Lleó Morera House was already highlighted in the monographic exhibition dedicated to this important ensemblier and is referenced in Pey’s books in 1905. Bibl.: El Modernismo en España 1969; Gaspar Homar 1996; Museu del Modernisme Català 2012. MF 128 129 The integration of the arts: cabinet arts gratia artis by Joan Busquets Pyrography, specialty of the Busquets workshops Cabinet Joan Busquets i Jané (1874-1949) Eusebi Busquets i Conill (1872-1962), carving Antoni Fons, metal applications, forging Aureli Tolosa i Alsina, painter Gaietà Vilaplana i Sarrado, gilder Serralleria Mañach, safe Cunill, leather interior The aesthetic movement adopted as its motto ars gratia artis, a Latin expression known as “art for art’s sake.” Thus, the motto “Arte pro arte” is the guiding principle of the inlaid cabinet that the Busquets Shop made specifically to participate in the Fourth Exhibition of Fine Arts and Art Industries of 1898. It is an excellent example of the integration of the arts, where it seeks accord between form and decoration, with a marked symbolic character, which relates the spirit of the Renaixença (Renaissance) to a series of references to the city of Barcelona. The name of the artist is capitalized on a plaque attached to the box, JUAN BUSQUETS INV., following the rules of invention, that is, that he creates or produces something new that did not exist before. The furniture designer is the one who conceives of the decorative plan in the project to be developed by the artisans who will take part. Thus, the carving was done by Eusebi Busquets, the metal applications were drawn in full size by Busquets and produced by Antoni Fons, and Aureli Tolosa painted scenes from the seasons of the year on a golden background by Gaietà Vilaplana. Undoubtedly, it is a beautiful example of the recovery of the arts and the trades promoting the creation of a unique artistic object, which won the first class medal and was acquired by the City Council. The di¤erent inlaid cabinets that the Busquets would produce over time, though the referent is a traditional piece of furniture such as the bargueño cabinet, will always be characterized by their originality. The production of small series of models that Joan Busquets and Jané designed around the 1900s is a solid example of orders where customers demanded a modern look. Art Nouveau o¤ered the opportunity to develop new shapes and new ornaments inspired by nature. Thus, the serpentine and organic lines of the structures were combined with plant decorations that proliferate Barcelona, 1898 149 x 135 x 71 cm Carved walnut, sycamore and cedar. Wrought iron, rounded brass and engraved steel with metal applications, tempera paints on parchment on the outside of the furniture piece and oil paints on wood on the inside Originally from the Fine Arts and Art Industries Exhibition, Barcelona 1898 MADB 8.694 130 131 in particular ways of interpreting the flora, with the lily as one of the fashionable flowers and that we can find it in the form of a sgraªto (etched), painted, engraved, sculpted, etc. Among the decorations made by Joan Busquets i Jané are those made with the art of pyrography. The use of this millennial technique of drawing on wood, done with a red-hot needle, became popular during the Victorian period in Europe and the United States. The Busquets bedroom, of which the bedside table with the pyrographed blue lily on a sycamore panel forms a part, is a good example of how important this technique was to the artist. Thus, the signature appears pyrographed as a way to distinguish (each engraving is di¤erent even if the selected decorative motif is the same) and to distinguish itself (from manufactured furniture). On the other hand, the modernity of the dresser model designed by Busquets lies in its characteristic organic structure, reminiscent of Gaudí, combined with models that appear in magazines received in the workshop as Art et Décoration or L’Art Décoratif. Art Nouveau boudoirs, such as those at Plumet & Selmersheim, are of a similar concept. Notwithstanding, the use of a light-colored wood like ash di¤erentiates it, while still resembling the shape, with a triptych of mirrors that rests on a board with four legs crossed by crossbars. However, the front feet that end in winding folds are a typical feature of the Busquets style. Bibl.: s a l a 2006; s a l a 2014. Dressing table Bedside table TMS Joan Busquets i Jané (1874-1949) Antoni Fons, brass Bruch, glass Joan Busquets i Jané (1874-1949) Antoni Fons, brass Barcelona, 1902 122 x 49 x 45 cm Ash wood carved, molded and pyrographed. Brass handles and pink marble top Barcelona, 1902 154.5 x 119.5 x 52 cm Ash with carving and moldings, pine, bevelled mirror, brass applications and Valencian pink marble top Purchase, 2009 MADB 138.668 Purchase, 2009 MADB 138.660 132 133 Side table José Ribas Anguera (1876-1909) J. Ribas, producer Barcelona, 1904 80 x 60 x 58 cm Bronze structure, marble and mahogany tops Private Collection Pepe Ribas J. Ribas, side table, catalogue no. 963, 1904 Interior of the J. Ribas shop at Plaça de Catalunya, 7, 1904 Art Nouveau elegance and simplicity: a table from the J. Ribas workshops This small auxiliary table is the work of José Ribas’s cabinetmaking workshops, one of the main ones in the late nineteenth century in Barcelona, though until recently it was unknown. Fortunately, in recent years, José Ribas Sanpons, the great-grandson of the founder, has released the documentary archive of the family-owned workshop, which allowed us to learn about his long life until 1983 and his prominence in the field of the Barcelona furniture industry. In 1850 José Ribas Fort (1830-1897) opened a workshop on Hort de Sant Beltran Street in Barcelona. In 1862, the Pons i Ribas partnership was formed, composed of Jaime Pons Torrens and Ribas himself, which lasted until 1891. Afterwards, Ribas founded José Ribas and Sons, with his sons José and Ricardo Ribas Anguera, until 1897 where José Ribas Anguera (1866-1909) took the helm of the business until his death. Then his wife, Pilar Seva (1876-1950), took the reins under the commercial name Vda. [widow] of José Ribas, until 1934 when her son, José Ribas Seva (1903-1983), took over until 1983. During this period, which coincided with the peak of Modernisme, the store was located at Plaça de Catalunya 7, and the factory was located at Consell de Cent 327. Photographs inside the shop allow us to see there this small table by José Ribas Anguera. With a very stylized design, it is a three-foot bronze structure with a synthetic and elegant Art Nouveau decoration, holding up two triangular ceilings. The upper, of marble and mahogany profile, and the bottom all of mahogany. This model corresponds to No. 963 from the company’s catalog and it is known that it was sold until the 1920s. The Ribas shop stood out for its metal work and applications in furniture, made visible on this table. This design falls within the Art Nouveau style of the École de Nancy, despite the formal sobriety characteristic of this type of auxiliary furniture from the Ribas House. Bibl.: P i e r a 2019. PV Muebles Ribas Archive 134 135 Gaudí and wood: from handmade carving to the serial production parquet Door lintel Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852-1926) Casas i Bardés Workshop, producer Barcelona, 1906 84 x 134.5 x 5 cm Carved ash wood Originally from Casa Batlló, Barcelona Loan Gaudí Chair CGEX 0003 This pair of objects by Gaudí represents the two ends of Gaudí’s way of working: one, the upper panel of a door in the Casa Batlló, is based on the traditional carving of wood, which requires the manual intervention of craftsman and always produces a unique result; the other, the parquet of the Casa Milà, does so in the serialized production (to some extent) of a machine. In the first case, the craftsmen have carved with their tools spirals that, being the main motif of the whole house, seen from the smallest details to the great whirlwind of the ceiling of the main room, are interpreted specifically each time. Gaudí had to give the instructions, but the quality of the execution depended on the material –wood, as is the case, but also metal, ceramics, plaster, etc.– and above all on the craftsman, to whom handcrafting granted, necessarily, a margin of freedom. In this case, then, there is no “design” in the strict sense, but an indication of a form, always di¤erent, and manufactured execution, with all its elasticities. In the second, however, Gaudí designed a repetitive motif and thought of the ways and materials with which to solve it –that is, he designed it– to make way for a later production and installation which does not require any skilled craftsman capable of interpreting the architect’s original wishes, as in the previous case, but rather assemblers without special qualities, purely mechanical. We can see another important di¤erence between handmade and serial production: while the first one is resolved in organic, inspired forms, as in the rest of the house, in marine motifs –hundreds, everywhere, in all materials and all di¤erent– the second is based only on two types of wood –poplar and oak– and on only two elementary geometric shapes –the hexagon and the triangle– controlled by a repetitive formula that creates a pattern capable of solving, with the least e¤ort, large surface areas, thus responding to a requirement that Gaudí had imposed upon himself since his days as a student, clearly stated already in his notes on ornamentation in 1878: to achieve the greatest ornamental e¤ects with the least means and using the industrial resources of the time. On the hexagonal hydraulic tile he designed for Casa Batlló, which he could only later place in the secondary environments of Casa Milà, the centers of the spirals that formed the represented marine creatures –strange octopuses, jellyfish and stars – inspired by Haeckel’s famous albums– are distributed at the alternate vertices of the hexagon, so that the corresponding part of 136 137 Wall and floor coverings Flooring Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852-1926) Casas i Bardés Workshop, producer Barcelona, c. 1910 43 x 50 x 2 cm Oak and poplar wood flooring Originally from Casa Milà, Barcelona Loan Gaudí Chair CGEX 0072 each of the figures occupied a third of the surface, and thus was inscribed in the rhombus formed by two of the six equilateral triangles into which it is divided. To design the parquet of the Casa Milà, Gaudí also started from the hexagon and its division into six equilateral triangles, which in turn divided radially, so that he obtained twelve right triangles that alternate with the light tones of the poplar and the darkest of the oak. Thus, though the design of this parquet is based on the strictest geometry, which belies its origin in mass production, the mesh disappears from view and the only lasting impression is that of the first casual glance of the most varied visual and tactile sensations, caused by the subtle vibration of the warm shades of wood. The facades of buildings and interiors are covered with colorful floral designs as if it were a skin. For floors, a popular covering was hydraulic tiles, a new technique resulting from the molding and pressing of hydraulic cement pieces with a final pigmented layer, made by numerous workshops in Catalunya. Walls, on the other hand, were covered with ceramic tiles, a material that also o¤ered great hygienic advantages. Ceramic tile mosaic was also used –for which Homar’s workshop was renowned, incorporating porcelain pieces from Serra– and its derivative, the trencadís, made with irregular pieces. Innovative derivative techniques were crystalline tiles, finished with a fine layer of glass that allowed ornamentation to be seen on a layer of cement, as well as those of cardboard with chromolithograph relief. Bibl.: Gaudí. Art i Disseny 2002. JJL 138 139 Hydraulic flooring, crystallic tiles and imitation chromolithographed tiles Flooring. Album num. 7 M.C. Butsems i Fradera, producer Hydraulic mosaic, cardboard tiles, and so-called “crystallic” tiles are three applied arts in architecture that, with unequal successes, show industry’s great contribution to the expansion of the ornamental richness of Catalan Modernisme. They share the fact of having introduced technical and material innovation to produce serialized products in large quantities, with the main purpose of being an economic alternative to the other arts arising from the recovery of traditional trades. But while its manufacture was industrial, it still retained artisanal procedures, and this was common in both large companies and the large number of smaller, less industrial workshops. The requirements of functional perfection and hygiene were imposed, but they emphasized the pursuit of beauty to make artistic quality a priority when positioning themselves in an increasingly rich and diverse market in decorative arts. Cardboard tiles and glazed tiles are two of the most unknown techniques used by inventors to achieve an attractive product with sensory values similar to those of architectural tiles. The first were created by publisher and printer Hermenegild Miralles and consisted of several layers of pressed paper, the upper chromolithographed and with an embossed and varnished finish on the face. He presented them at the 1892 Art Industries Exhibition. “Crystallic” tiles were a unique production of the Oliva Hermanos building contractors, who experimented with a product based on joining a painted glass surface and a cement mortar tablet. Despite the large number of decorative motifs displayed on the pieces, the technical problems did not favor their extension, as opposed to stone cardboard tiles that lasted only a short while longer. The hydraulic mosaic, on the other hand, was the quintessential flooring of Catalan construction. People learned to take advantage of the capabilities of refined cement and the range of industrial procedures that led to the creation of important industrial establishments, such as Butsems i Fradera, one of the pioneers, and Escofet. The tiles were obtained by compression inside an iron mold of di¤erent layers of cement, the last of which had the motifs and colors that distinguished the face. Simulating a carpet, the hydraulic mosaic played a prominent role in the design of home interiors. Commercial catalogs made a wide range of formal options available to the consumer that met all historical styles and, in particular, 140 Barcelona, c. 1910 2 x 40 x 40 cm Hydraulic cement Museum of Barcelona HistoryMUHBA MHCB 36.142 Flooring. Album num. 7 Josep Pascó i Mensa (1855-1910) Escofet, Fortuny y Cia., S. en C., producer Barcelona, 1904 2 x 40 x 40 cm Hydraulic cement Museum of Barcelona HistoryMUHBA MHCB 36.141 Tile Fábrica Nacional de Azulejos de Imitación Hermenegildo Miralles, producer Barcelona, 1892 26.5 x 26.5 cm Chromolithography on embossed paper National Exhibition of Artistic Industries and International Reproductions, Barcelona 1892 Donation Hermenegildo Miralles, 1892 MCB 142.127 141 Pascó, collaborator since the founding of the Escofet House in 1886 with formal solutions, such as the combination of the flower and the water lily leaf, which granted a renewed formal identity to the hydraulic mosaic. But without a doubt, it was Antoni Gaudí with his slightly embossed hexagon mosaic of marine themes produced by Escofet around 1906, a masterful reinterpretation of a continuous, single-tiled, monochrome tile, which has the ostensible merit of being considered a masterpiece in the origins of Catalan design. Placed in La Pedrera, Gaudí’s tile is an icon of Barcelona’s public space today. Bibl.: Q u i n e Y 2005; a i x a l à et al. 2008; n a v a s F e r r e r 2018. Tiles on the façade of the Escofet headquarters (Ronda Universitat, 20, Barcelona) TN Josep Pascó i Mensa (1855-1910) Escofet, Fortuny y Cía., S. en C., producer Pavement stencils The Lizard and the Flower Pavimentos artísticos Escofet y Cia. Album No 6 Barcelona, 1890 20 x 20 x 3, 10 x 20 x 2.8 and 10 x 10 x 2.8 cm Hydraulic mortar Lluís Domènech i Montaner (1850-1923) Escofet, Tejera y Cía., S. en C., producer Donation Escofet 1886 SA, 2020 MDB 12.544, 12.546-7 and 12.549 Barcelona, 1900 2.2 x 14.8 x 14.8 cm each Brass Tile molds on the façade of the Escofet headquarters (Ronda Universitat, 20, Barcelona) Donation Escofet 1886 SA, 2020 MDB 12.543 Escofet, Fortuny y Cía., S. en C., producer Barcelona, , 1890 22.5 x 22.5 x 6.3 and 24.4 x 24.5 x 4.5 cm Steel the repertoire of plant naturalism of modernisme. A fruitful relationship was created between hydraulic mosaic manufacturers and artists and architects at the turn of the century to turn the artistic part into a true business strategy that laid the foundations for an evolution toward industrial design in the modern sense. This is illustrated by the mosaics of the artist Mateu Culell and also of Josep 142 Donation Escofet 1886 SA, 2020 MDB 12.545 and 12.554 143 Panot Tile Crystallic tiles Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852-1926) Escofet 1886 SA, producer Oliva Hermanos, producer Barcelona, c. 1905 20 x 20 cm and 10 x 10 x 1.5 cm Hydraulic cement and glass Barcelona, c. 1906. Edition 1996 2.3 x 25 x 28.7 cm Hydraulic Mortar Donation Bastardes Mestre Family, 2019, and Rossend Casanova i Mandri, 2019 MDB 10.268, 11.78311.786 Donation Escofet 1886 SA, 2020 MDB 12.555 Molding frame Escofet y Cía., S. en C., producer Flooring design Mateu Culell i Aznar (1879-1943) Barcelona, c. 1906 14.5 x 47.6 x 35 cm Cast iron Barcelona, c. 1910 28.4 x 44.1 cm Lead pencil and gouache on cut and glued paper Donation Escofet 1886 SA, 2020 MDB 12.557 Donation Margarita Culell, 1960 MADB 69.662 144 145 Ceramics applied to architecture: the balusters from the Palau de la Música Wall light Lluís Domènech i Montaner (1850-1923) Juncosa y Terrida, producer The balustrades with shafts of glass creating railings became a singular element of the Palau de la Música Catalana. We find di¤erent types on the stairs and balconies of the interior and exterior of the building. Three materials were used to create a single baluster: pressed and tempered amber-colored glass –quickly cooled for greater strength– the pressed and glazed ceramics of the base and crown molding, and finally the coiled iron in the interior that unifies the parts into one element. In some cases, the parts are interchanged and it becomes a new model. According to the accounting bills preserved in the Palace dating to 1907, we find a diversity of producers. Glassware was produced by companies that were engaged in the production of objects such as bottles or vessels, and not in the manufacture of stained glass. The largest production of items was made by Juncosa & Terrida in Barcelona with an oªce on Borrell street and a factory in Sants, which delivered, among other things, “striped” and “worked” balusters. La Vidriera Barcelonesa de Juan Vilella (Juan Vilella’s Barcelona Glass Company), with oªces on Princesa Street and a factory in Poble Nou, produced balusters and bases, possibly belonging to the balconies facing the street. Finally, the factory of the Badalonan A. Ferrés & Co., located on Mendizábal Street in Barcelona, delivered some specific items to the staircase. Regarding the foundations and the ceramic crowns in the form of capitals, it was the ceramicist Josep Orriols (?-1936), with a workshop in Gràcia and a shop on Hospital Street, who released ceramic-in-relief items, among which were a large number of capitals with a variety of sizes that came in white and ecru. To finish the composition, the locksmith Domingo Pascual with a workshop on Aribau Street in Barcelona, made the coiled iron, “ferrules” from the inside of the piece to “puncture” the capital, as indicated by some invoices. The item, quite possibly, was assembled in situ. These handrails are an example of the beauty and functionality of the integration of the arts into architecture. Barcelona, c. 1907 38 cm x 25 cm diametre Blown and marked glass Originally from the Palau de la Música Catalana, Barcelona Purchase, 2017 MDB 1.328 Baluster Lluís Domènech i Montaner (1850-1923) Juncosa y Terrida, Vidriería Barcelonesa de Juan Vilella and A. Farrés y Cia., glass balusters Josep Orriols i Pons, ceramic elements Domingo Pascual, iron Barcelona, c. 1907 39 cm x 16 cm diameter Pressed and tempered glass, glazed ceramic and iron Originally from the Palau de la Música Catalana, Barcelona Purchase, 2017 MDB 1.329 Bibl.: r i u 2006; F r e i x a 2015. MS 146 147 The ceramic mosaic rose from the Palau de la Música Architectural ornament from the Palau de la Música Lluís Domènech i Montaner (1850-1923) Mario Maragliano i Navone, producer Barcelona, c. 1907 51 x 51 x 5.5 cm Glazed ceramic, painted and cemented iron Purchase, 2017 MDB 1.327 The rose was the flower most represented in Modernisme, and today the Palau de la Música Catalana still shows a great number of examples. This piece is made of ceramic mosaic, and was intended to be part of the lighted garland on the first and second floor balconies of the concert hall, which is now missing. As in other cases, Lluís Domènech i Montaner undoes the usual function of the element –the mosaic as an architectural coating– to transform it into a functional and decorative object –a unifying garland of lamps– on the two balconies. The production of the roses was conceived as a mosaic panel framed with an iron handrail that outlined the shapes of the flower. The rose, made of ceramics, was solidified with mortar, after making the mosaic from the indirect technique, filling the iron’s gaps. As a result, it became a heavy object as it was an element designed to integrate into architecture. The tesserae –rather slapdash– make us think of the trencadís (mosaic of broken tiles), but beyond this initial idea we discover that each rose starts from a repetitive, non-random composition following the pattern of a design. The flower is created with rounded petals produced with pliers, while the tiles that form the gigantic leaves reproduce the nerves with the same formula of nature: to avoid cloning but at the same time to maintain the repetition. This fraction, hardly orderly, is one of the characteristics of the mosaics of our modernisme. The workman who performed these pieces was the Genovese Mario Maragliano Navone (1864-1944), the same who performed the extraordinary costumes of the muses of the hemicycle. The mosaicist relinquished technical perfection to replace it with the expression of movement granted with the piece carved with less perfection and the various ceramic lathe pieces. The accounting bill, according to documentation from the Palau de la Música, is from 1907 when Mario Maragliano ran the workshop on Diputació Street in Barcelona. Bibl.: s a l a 2008; F r e i x a 2015; s a l i n é 2015a; s a l i n é 2015b. Documentary sources: Centre de documentació de l’Orfeó Català (CEDOC). MS 148 149 The splendor of ceramic tiles The use of ceramic applied to architecture reaches its maximum splendor from the technical progress made by the vitrified coatings, which gave the ceramics qualities of hygiene and thermal insulation ideal for construction, while also making it an ideal base for highly bright color e¤ects. For these reasons, Modernisme integrates ceramics in such a way that it becomes the material with which a great variety of constructive and at the same time ornamental elements are made: finishes, crowns, flower ornaments, roof tiles, gargoyles and especially floor and wall tiles... matte, glossy, polychrome, embossed, for skirting boards, balconies, facades, etc. Initially, the decorative motifs are of a historicist nature and are inspired by the classical, Gothic and Spanish-Arabic worlds, which also means the revival of traditional techniques for new production: the dry string, the edge, the basin and, with great success, the golden reflection. Later, the influence of European Art Nouveau, which was at its height at the Paris Universal Exposition (1900), became apparent with nature as a new source of inspiration. Following this philosophy of integrating all constructive and decorative elements, the architects themselves devised the designs of the ceramic elements they would use in their buildings, although in parallel the factories introduced the figures of artistic directors and artists to create their own catalog of models for their collection samples. Some of these outstanding creators were Lluís Bru, Joan Baptista Alòs, Francesc Quer or the industrialist Mateu Culell, present with his projects for skirting board tiles in the collections of the Design Museum. Translating these designs into ceramic materials for construction was the task of several factories, including Pujol i Bausis, in Esplugues de Llobregat, which stands out for its technical quality, its constant search for new results, and the application of their materials in many modernist buildings. This manufacturer provides a large part of the collection of modernist architectural ceramics of the present exhibition. Other workshops, such as Sebastià Ribó’s Ceramic Product Factory, located in Sant Martí de Provençals in Barcelona, specialist in skirting board tiles and embossed ceramics, produced for leading architects such as Antoni Gaudí, for Casa Milà and Casa Batlló, or Josep Puig i Cadafalch, for Casa Amatller. But Catalan factories could not meet the demand for the construction of Barcelona’s new Eixample neighborhood expansion, so ceramic materials were also purchased at Valencian or Castellón 150 factories, as well as from other geographic points, such as Madrid or Seville. One of these supplier factories was The Madrid Ceramic by B. Santigós & Co., founded by the industrial engineer Baldomero Santigós, who settled in Madrid, but because of his Catalan origin he had a very close relationship with Barcelona and the architects of the time. Also, the José Mensaque, Brother & Co. Factory, which was one of the most important ceramics centers in Triana in the late nineteenth century, provided for the new Barcelona buildings, especially with the production of Seville tiles in the Mudejar tradition. Both manufacturers were awarded prizes at the 1892 National Exhibition of Artistic and International Reproductions for some of the works represented in our collections. We can say, then, that the recovery of ceramic material for architecture in this period also involves the recovery of techniques and styles from the past, which, renewed and passed through the sieve of the new modern and industrial society, o¤er many constructive and decorative possibilities in the architecture of the moment. Bibl.: s u b í a s 1989; c a s a n o v a 2002; s u b í a s 2002; P u j o l ; g u e i l b u r t 2015; Brick by brick 2016. IFM 151 Panels Tiles La Cerámica Madrileña de B. Santigós y Cia, producer Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852-1926) Sebastià Ribó, producer Madrid, 1877-1892 10 x 60 x 1 cm (panel) 30 x 30 x 1 cm Ceramic glazed, pressed, polychromed, worked with edging and basin relief techniques Barcelona, c. 1904 8 x 15 x 6 i 31 x 16 x 2.5 cm Glazed ceramic Originally from Casa Batlló, Barcelona Loan Gaudí Chair, 2018 CGEX 0050-52 Originally from the National Exhibition of Artistic Industries and International Reproductions, Barcelona 1892 MCB 815 and 824 152 153 Crownings Fábrica Hijo de Jaime Pujol y Bausis, producer Esplugues de Llobregat, c. 1900 6 x 14 x 14; 5 x 11 x 11 and 5.5 x 11.5 x 11.5 cm Terracota molded and glazed Donation Industrial Ceràmica Vallvé, S.A., 1984 MCB 142.812-3 and 4, 142.813 Skirting board designs Fleurons Mateu Culell i Aznar (1879-1943) Attributed to Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1867-1956) Fábrica Hijo de Jaime Pujol y Bausis, producer Barcelona, 1905-1920 32.4 x 12.6 cm, each Lead pencil and gouache on cut and glued paper Esplugues de Llobregat, c. 1900 5.5 x 15.5 x 9.3 cm 20.5 x 20.5 x 10.4 cm Terracotta molded and finished with green varnish; Terracotta molded and finished with honeyed varnish Donation Margarita Culell, 1960 MADB 69.636, 69.648, 69.654 and 71.033 Originally from Casa Amatller, Barcelona Donation Industrial Ceràmica Vallvé, S.A., 1984 MCB 142.825 and 142.824 154 155 Porcelain heads, hands and objects, a refined complement to mosaics Decorations to apply on mosaic Embossed representations of carnations and objects on porcelain were designed to be inserted into mosaics for furniture or as interior panels such as those located in the Lleó Morera House and the Navàs House by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner (18491923). Elaborated in the workshop of Gaspar Homar i Mezquida (1870-1955), we see how these objects are an example of complicities silenced by the ignorance of their collaborators when producing artistic objects. These mosaics stand out for the richness of materials, such as Venetian glass, English pottery, mother-of-pearl or the invention of the porcelains themselves. These were conceived as a small series, as the pieces exhibited here show, but despite repetition, they become visually di¤erent. The finished item has small design and color changes to the final tiles and the porcelains are also di¤erent. We find some are baked –matte in appearance– and others with transparent or colored glaze. The extraordinary designs of the sets that were sometimes reproduced in inlay and others in mosaic were performed by Josep Pey i Farriol (1875-1956). The production of embossed porcelains required the collaboration of the sculptor Joan Carreras i Farré (1860?), who molded the pieces into clay to create the molds and plaster arrays for the production of small series, a little known but very important step for arts during Modernisme. The porcelain transformation was performed by the ceramist Antoni Serra i Fiter (1869-1932), who promoted the artistic quality of porcelain made from white clay and kaolin clay. All the pieces are surprising for the finesse and sensuality of the result, a success that replaced the parts originally made with tesserae of these mosaics for embossed porcelain, to the extent that they were imitated by other workshops, without ever reaching the quality and the beauty of those made by this important group of collaborators. Josep Pey i Farriol (1875-1956) Joan Carreras i Farré (1860-1907), sculptor Fàbrica de Porcellanes i Gres d’Art. Barcelona, producer Bibl.: Modernismen i Katalonien 1989; P e Y ; j u á r e z 1992; P e Y 1996; F r e i x a ; h e r n á n d e z 1999; F u e n t e ; s a l i n é 2019. Donation Magdala Pey Casanovas, 2020 MDB 12.496, 12.499, 12.513, 12.514 and 12.521 Notebook belonging to Josep Pey showing a commission for the mosaic designs in the dining room and for the marquetry and angels in the parlour at Lleó Morera House, 1905 Donated by Magdala Pey Casanovas, 2020 MDB Josep Pey Collection MS 156 Barcelona, 1905 Various sizes Molded and glazed porcelain 157 Metalwork Wrought iron is an old Catalan artisan technique, thriving even during Modernisme. Santiago Rusiñol, too, promoted the collection of it with the pieces that he gathered together at the Cau Ferrat in Sitges. With industrialization, new resources were incorporated through the automation of basic processes, such as trimming, drilling, stamping and, above all, welding. At the same time, companies such as Ballarín S.A. –partners of Josep Puig i Cadafalch– introduced modern marketing systems. However, despite wrought iron being the technique most identified with Modernisme, metallurgy also uses other materials such as cast iron, brass or artistic foundry in bronze, which were used to both manufacture objects as well as to adorn pieces of furniture. 159 The mechanistic chandeliers and coup de fouet by Francesc Vidal Chandelier Francesc Vidal i Jevellí (1848-1914) Vidal y Cía. Talleres y Almacenes, producer Barcelona, 1884 (production from 1903) 74 x 34 cm Silver-plated iron Private Collection These chandeliers from the residence of Eusebi Bertrand Serra, on Passeig de la Bonanova 37, respond to a design created by Francesc Vidal’s workshops at the end of the nineteenth century, which, due to their originality and modernity, gained considerable popularity. The design combines mechanistic forms that characterized Vidal’s products in the 1880s with wavy coup de fouet (whiplash) lines, which at the turn of the century became one of the hallmarks of modernist aesthetics. The first time this design is documented is through a photograph of the main hall of Palau Simon (c. 1896), although it also decorated the houses of Francesc Vidal, Eusebi Bertrand and, later, the residence of Dr. Puigverd. Likewise, other specimens that have recently appeared in auction houses illustrate the success of a design that Vidal has been cultivating and producing for over a decade. In the case of the Bertrand family chandeliers, they can be dated to around 1903, thanks to the existence in the hands of the descendants of the owners of a photograph taken in the workshop of 284 Rosselló Street and sealed by F. Vidal in October. However, on the reverse side of this photograph, Vidal identified the candlestick design with the model number 767, which may correspond to a possible catalog number associated with the F. Vidal & Co. workshops (1884-1889). This survival through time is not strange if we consider that, through the various stages of the Vidal workshops, a number of designs became very popular. A similar case is that of the pseudo-spherical ceiling lamp with lead colored glass that Vidal presented at the Foment del Treball Nacional exhibition (1884), which he used for two decades for interiors such as the Palau Simon, the gothic gallery of the Barcelona City Council, the Cau Ferrat of Sitges and the Raspall House of La Garriga. Bibl.: El Modernisme 1990; F r e i x a 2015. RB 160 161 The title of locksmith by Ricard Cabot i Fita, design by Josep Vilaseca Title of master locksmith of Ricard Cabot i Fita Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas (1848-1910) Barcelona, c. 1891 72 x 82 x 3 cm Wrought iron, printed paper and manuscript Museu Frederic Marès. Barcelona MFMS 12.977 The board of the College of Master Blacksmiths, Bladesmiths and Needlesmiths of Barcelona, held on February 3, 1889, agreed to create a commission composed of Josep Sánchez Pla, Josep Campmajó and Francesc Flamerich in order to commission the architect Josep Vilaseca to establish the entity’s certifications and diplomas. The commission lasted almost two years, until January 1891, and in the middle the use of the Catalan language in the text was approved –a proposal defended by Vilaseca– and the incorporation, at the request of the board, of the shield of the school. Vilaseca’s choice for the design of the diplomas is not anecdotal, and must be included in the architect’s public recognition –at that time several of his projects were implemented in the Eixample of Barcelona and one of the most iconic works of his career was just completed, the triumphal arch of the Universal Exhibition of 1888– and also in close connection with the blacksmiths, since in his works the role of artistic forging and other decorative arts is significant. In this sense it is not superfluous to point out the fact that his father was also a locksmith. The result was the design of a neo-gothic grid, with motifs alluding to the institution’s own work, presided in the center by a cloth or tapestry with a gothic-styled text, with a drop cap “T,” which encompasses a blacksmith working at the anvil. The medieval elements and the presence of coats of arms on the Aragon and St. George poles place the work in the spirit of the Renaixença (Renaissance) and the first Modernisme, and relate it to the wrought-iron grilles on the front doors of the F. Vidal Workshops, his work from the early 1880s. It is in this context that this work must be placed, with the fullscale metal execution of the grille designed by Vilaseca, capitalizing on a part of one of these printed diplomas –a skillful divertimento made perhaps by the graduate, Ricard Cabot i Fita, master blacksmith since 1867, or perhaps in tribute to him, carried out by an apprentice or successor. Bibl.: b a s s e g o d a 1910; b l e t t e r 1977; a m e n ó s 2003; v é l e z 2011. Documentary sources: Historical Archive of the City of Barcelona, AHCB, Guilds, Series 10-58, pages 1, 8, 19, 20, 22, 23, 40, 42, 44 and 49. EO 162 163 Fleuron Eduard M. Balcells i Buigas (1879-1965) Esteve Andorrà i Farràs (1862-1926), blacksmith Remigi Rocasalbas, blacksmith Barcelona, 1909 54.6 x 26 x 25 cm Fleuron of the sign of Stall 435-436 from the Market of Sant Antoni Museum of Barcelona History-MUHBA MHCB 35.050 Sign of Stall 435-436 from the Market of Sant Antoni, Barcelona, 1909 The decoration of a marketplace stall The spectacular modernist sign, of which this flower ornament is an integral part, is a good example of what some considered Modernisme’s “excesses.” It is –the sign, all of it– a lush sumptuous piece conceived as an advertisement for a butcher shop, a stall at the Sant Antoni Market (numbers 435-436). It would be very interesting to be able to delve deeper into the framework of ideology and aesthetics behind such a label, because it is clear that it does not obey a mere business strategy (win out over the competition), but with its ornamental overload it expresses a whole system of elective values and aªnities. If we really want to understand the keys to the roots and persistence of modernist aesthetics in Catalunya, the apotheosis of the ornament that it entails, and with them, the rise of the decorative arts and the artistic industries that make it possible (even generating a consistent enough demand that it could evolve from artisanal production to an industrial methodology production, of which design is a fundamental part of the process), it is necessary to understand small-scale decisions like those of Mrs. Antònia Giralt Bages and her husband Ignasi Georges Gallés, butchers by profession, who used a design by the architect Eduard Maria Balcells i Buïgas for their stall at the Sant Antoni Market. The project by the architect Balcells included the entire stall, but only the sign has been preserved, recovered by the archaeology service following the commencement of the rehabilitation work on the Sant Antoni Market, which was immediately entered into MUHBA in 2010 and restored in 2011. The sign in question combines a wrought iron structure with a Roman mosaic frieze where, with very stylized letters inscribed in circles, it says “butcher shop.” The author of the mosaic is unknown. The center is emphasized by a 164 medallion with stained glass (by Buxeres i Cordorniu) and a forging work reminiscent of an insect’s head, perhaps a fly. It is clear that the whole set (translucent or glossy surfaces) is intended to work in combination with artificial lighting. The sign is crowned with ten flowers of unequal heights, clearly inspired by the floral ornamentation of the gothic grille. They are the only historicist reference there. The documentation related to this stall, conserved in the COAC archive, contains budgets for blacksmiths and iron forging by two di¤erent professionals, Remigi Rocasalbas and Esteve Andorrà. In 1910 this stall received an extraordinary prize in the annual contest of commercial establishments of the Barcelona City Council with a jury recommendation for “the desirability of stimulating the implantation and propagation in Public Markets with this class of facilities, in which art and hygiene compete, significantly benefiting culture and public health.” Bibl.: Asociación de arquitectos de Cataluña 1911; c i r i c i P e l l i c e r 1951; Anuari d’arqueologia i patrimoni de Barcelona 2010; MUHBA 2012; r o m e r o m a r t í n e z 2016. JB 165 Spitoon Stained glass art France? (glass); Catalunya (bronze), 1900-1910 19 x 23.5 x 22.5 cm Air blown glass, stretched and pinched Stained glass experienced extraordinary development as a result of its application to home interior, beyond temples where, it goes without saying, the trade was never lost. The technique of stained glass is essentially an artisanal process, but it takes advantage of new systems for glass manufacturing and the serial fabrication of pieces molded from an array, or the incorporation of imported glass. Stand outs were A. Rigalt y Cía, then Rigalt, Granell y Cía. New techniques included trichromy or the superposition of three plates of primary colors, executed by the Amigó workshop in Gaudí’s projects. Another great innovation was cloisonné, which Frederic Vidal Puig learned in London in 1899. Tiny spherical pieces of colored glass arranged in alveoli (small cavities) delimited by fine metal walls and all sealed between two glass plates, were applied on doors, furniture, etc. Bequest Mercedes Solà-Pou, 1967 MADB 71.766 Door handle Barcelona, c. 1900 37.5 x 7 x 6.5 cm Gilded brass Originally from Casa Bertrand on Passeig de la Bonanova, 37, Barcelona Loan National Museum of Art of Catalunya, Barcelona MNAC 131.640 166 167 Leaded stained glass, trichromy and cloisonné Stained glass design for the house at Iradier Street, 34, Barcelona Pre-modernist stained glasses not only reclaim the old formulas of stained-glass construction, but also their symbolism and their light. The observation of old stained glass and new research in the field of stained glass led to the creation of new technical concepts, such as printed glass, Ti¤any glass or trichromy, and also to new aesthetic concepts with a tendency toward abstraction and simplification of forms, the gradual abandonment of painting on glass and the progressive use of lead as an element that delimits the design. Leaded stained glasses in the nineteenth century are still built using the same craft procedures as in previous centuries: first from a design or sketch –designed by the same stained-glass window artist or painter or architect– the motif is transferred to a life-size cardboard, and then the glass cutters that shape the pieces come into play. If the piece of glass has to be painted, it involves specialized painters –the most prestigious and highest paid in the workshop– and after painting it is baked in the oven. It is then passed to the lead fitters, gap fillers and assemblers. Industrialization a¤ected the manufacture of flat glass and involved pieces that did not favor the irregular appearance inherent in old glass. The appearance of the printed glass o¤ered the possibility of a wide range of textures and shades and higher light quality. Also fashionable were the serial pieces of glass molded from a matrix that could have di¤erent shapes (circular, flower, diamond, etc.) and colors. With the demise of painting on glass, to try to get closer to their vision of the medieval stained glass, the stained glass window artists used di¤erent colors, textures and shades, and so the so-called stained-glass mosaic emerges. In this way, the technique of the socalled American glass or Ti¤any –named after its inventor Louis Comfort Ti¤any– inspired by the irises of oriental ceramics must be highlighted. It was obtained from the mixture of various oxides in the glass paste, creating a very translucent, highly valued “milky” glass, which was used in combination with the printed glass. Trichromy, a technique that seeks to obtain chiaroscuro with the play of the various glasses without using paint, is an innovation in the structure of the stained glass that consists of the overlap, usually of three plates reduced in acid, each of primary color: yellow, blue or red. Very similar to this is the so-called Luce Floreo invented in the late nineteenth century by the Munich painter Otto Dillmann 168 Rigalt, Granell y Cia. Barcelona, c. 1912 24 x 35.2 cm Pen, watercolor and gouache on paper Donation Teresa Granell i Carbonell, 2015 MDB. Rigalt i Granell Collection Stained glass design Rigalt, Granell y Cia. Barcelona, 1903-1923 29.7 x 33 cm Pen and watercolor on paper Donation Teresa Granell i Carbonell, 2015 MDB. Rigalt i Granell Collection 169 Stained glass design Rigalt, Granell y Cia. Barcelona, 1886-1911 32.7 x 25 cm Pen and watercolor on paper Donation Teresa Granell i Carbonell, 2015 MDB. Rigalt i Granell Collection and used by the Richard Sander stained glass workshop in Barmen, Germany. The artist Louis Comfort Ti¤any practiced it in 1895 in the stained glass windows of New York’s St. Michael’s Cathedral. In Catalunya it became known thanks to a report from the magazine Arquitectura y Construcción from 1900. It would also be used by the architect Antoni Gaudí in the stained glass windows of the cathedral of Mallorca made by the Amigó i Pelegrí workshop in Barcelona (1904-1905), using this technique with some variations, with the idea of giving more light to the interior of the religious building, thus breaking with the medieval light concept. Finally, Cloisonné Glass was an innovative technique of French origin and developed in England, based on the process of cloisonné enamel, from where it gets its name. It consists of adhering copper filaments to a flat surface (glass, metal, wood) that form the lines of the design. These copper alveoli were filled with spherical or crushed glass of various sizes and shades that are glued to the surface. In Barcelona, a city where more examples are preserved, it was introduced in 1899 by Frederic Vidal, son of the furniture maker Francesc Vidal i Jevellí, who for a year learned the technique in London from the Cloisonné Glass company, run by Theophil Pfister and Emil Barthels and who was a precursor of it. Stained glass design Josep Triadó i Mayol (1870-1929) Rigalt, Granell y Cia., producer Barcelona, 1907 34 x 25 cm Pen and watercolor on paper Donation Teresa Granell i Carbonell, 2015 MDB. Rigalt i Granell Collection Stained glass design Rigalt, Granell y Cia. Barcelona, 1903-1923 24.6 x 35 cm Pen and watercolor on paper Donation Teresa Granell i Carbonell, 2015 MDB. Rigalt i Granell Collection Stained glass design for the home of Lluís Ferrer Vidal Bibl.: v i l a g r a u ; r o d o n 1982; g a r c í a m a r t í n 1985; g i l 2013; g i l ; b o n e t 2015; v i l a ; d e l c l ò s 2018; b o n e t 2019. Rigalt, Granell y Cia. NG Barcelona, c. 1901 26.5 x 43 cm Watercolor and pencil on paper Donation Teresa Granell i Carbonell, 2015 MDB. Rigalt i Granell Collection 170 171 Stained glass of the Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852-1926) Joaquím Amigó i Josep Pelegrí, glassmakers Barcelona, 1903-1905 Fragments of various sizes. Plaque glass acid-etched and leaded Loan Gaudí Chair CGEX0058 Lintel Frederic Vidal i Puig (1882-1950) F. Vidal. Mueblaje, Decoración y objetos de arte, producer Barcelona, c. 1900 51.5 x 129 cm Wood frame molded and varnished. Stained glass cloisonné Originally from the Casa Bertrand on Passeig de la Bonanova, 37, Barcelona Loan National Museum of Art of Catalunya, Barcelona MNAC 131.669 Stained glass design Stella matutina Mateu Culell i Aznar (1879-1943) Barcelona, 1905-1920 31.5 x 23 cm Lead pencil and gouache on paper Stained glass Catalunya, 1900-1910 44 x 47.5 cm, 22 x 22.5 and 18 x 21,5 cm Leaded stained glass Donation Margarita Culell, 1960 MADB 71.075 MDB 1.538-0 172 173 The art object Modernisme raises decorative objects to the category of art objects. The art itself is a commercial promotion of the workshops, because it ennobles the industry and is legitimizing of the bourgeois status. The images that have come from modernist interiors show them full of ceramic, bronze or glass objects. Present all around are ceramic art, artistic foundries or salon bronzes, jewelry and art jewels, of very high quality material and technique, and the work of craftsmen who retained and excelled in the old processes and brought new experimentation derived from industry. It is the beginning of a path that will lead us to recognize the splendor of decorative arts in Catalunya from Modernisme to Art Deco. 175 Vase of the Magnolias Vase of the Orange Trees Art ceramics, salon bronzes, goldsmithery and jewelry making Antoni Serra i Fiter (1869-1932) Fàbrica de Porcellanes i Gres d’Art. Barcelona, producer Among the objects decorating bourgeois interiors were ceramics. The most renowned workshop, although only operational from 1904 to 1908, was the Artistic Porcelain and Stoneware Factory founded by Antoni Serra i Fiter. Among the vases presented at the Barcelona International Art Exhibition of 1907, there are two large-format, high-temperature porcelains, with polychrome decoration and gold application, and a refined finish. The City Council bought one of the large ones along with some others. The large one of the magnolias was presented in 1907 in Paris and London, where he won a gold medal and a prize, respectively. Serra was also involved in the production of refined glazed porcelain bibelots, which commissioned designers or artists such as Ismael Smith, Pablo Gargallo or Josep Pey. Other ceramic productions came from Faianç Català, a Sabadell-based workshop founded in 1896 by Marià Burgués, already present at the Universal Exhibition of 1888. With an extensive catalog of serial ceramic objects –garden planters, vases, spitting jars, flowerpots– in 1897 he opened shop in Barcelona. Beer mugs from the popular tavern Els Quatre Gats were made at the Faianç under the guidance of Francesc Quer. One of the most prominent decorative specialties were the salon bronzes, the most popular production of the modernist art foundry, with a particular focus on small sculptures or bibelots, often small formats of monumental works by devoted artists. Foundries were not abundant in Barcelona. In 1886, the great workshops of F. Vidal & Co. added a foundry section to create the Columbus statue and some of the other figures on the monument, which was a challenge. Vidal’s business relationship with Frederic Masriera was dissolved in 1889. Masriera in 1891 created an artistic foundry that in 1896 became Masriera i Campins and lasted until 1906. He was the introducer in Catalunya of the technique of lost wax casting, of Greek origin, which allowed very faithful results. Until then, sand casting was used which required melting works based on many pieces that later had to be joined and polished to obtain the final work. This decisive contribution earned him significant commissions throughout Spain and South America and many awards at art industry exhibitions from 1892 to 1898, because if the French foundries were leaders in salon bronzes, Masriera would be equated to them altogether. Barcelona, 1906 and 1907 47.2 x 24 cm diameter 47.8 x 24 cm diameter Porcelain glazed, polychromated and gilded Originally from the Fine Arts and Art Industries Exhibition, Barcelona 1907 Purchase, 1982 and 1907 MCB 112.996 and 1.576 Vase Antoni Serra i Fiter (1869-1932) Fàbrica de Porcellanes i Gres d’Art. Barcelona, producer Barcelona, 1906 18.7 x 8 cm diameter Glazed porcelain Originally from the Fine Arts and Art Industries Exhibition, Barcelona 1907 MCB 1.577 176 177 In 1900, he achieved great success at the Paris Universal Exhibition –the Grand Prix of Honor– with a catalog in which salon bronzes by renowned Spanish and foreign sculptors, as so described, were one of the specialties. Margheritina appears, in a reduced format of a work by the sculptor Miquel Blay. In 1903 he opened an Art Nouveau-style shop, designed by his son, Victor Masriera, at 51 Ferran Street, to sell his creations. At the same time, goldsmithery and jewelry making reached high artistic quality. In Catalunya, the guild of goldsmiths dating to the fourteenth century was abolished in 1852, when noble metal trades were integrated into the new culture of industrial work. Many participated in the 1888 Universal Exhibition –the Masriera BrothVase of the Muses Vases Josep Pey i Farriol (1875-1956) Antoni Serra i Fiter (1869-1932), ceramicist Fàbrica de Porcellanes i Gres d’Art. Barcelona, producer Xavier Nogués (1873-1941) Antoni Serra i Fiter (1869-1932), ceramicist Fàbrica de Porcellanes i Gres d’Art. Barcelona, producer Barcelona, 1907 18.5 x 8 cm diameter Porcelain glazed and polychromated Barcelona, 1906 16.7 x 8.5 cm diameter 20 x 11.5 cm diameter Porcelain glazed and polychromated Originally from the Fine Arts and Art Industries Exhibition, Barcelona 1907 MCB 1.578 Purchase, 1967 MCB 71.918-71.919 178 179 ers, Carreras, Cabot, Belau, Bordas, etc.– but ever since 1886 the leader was the workshop of the Frederic Masriera Brothers. They were always supported by renowned artists such as Riquer, Arnau or Renart. The finest Art Nouveau jewelry by Lluís Masriera, with transparent enamels, windows or plique-à-jour, a very old technique recovered in the nineteenth century in Paris, could be purchased at its store on Ferran 35 street since 1901, then the main city shopping center. In addition, they excelled in the work of goldsmithery, and chiseled silver was the protagonist of both the table services and the women’s dressers. The workshop, fully technified and organized into various sections, allowed for small-series, quality fabrication from molds and dies using roller stamping of the corresponding designs, a system that was combined with very sophisticated manual finishing, like chiseling, embossing and polishing, in the hands of virtuous craftsmen such as Narcís Perafita. There are more than a hundred small albums of modernist designs that are the best testimony to Masriera’s joy of art. Mirror Beauty Lambert Escaler i Milà (1874-1957) Fundición Artística Masriera y Campins, smelter Bibl.: P u i g r o v i r a 1978; v é l e z 1999; v é l e z 2004; l ó P e z -r i b a l t a 2004; Extraordinary! 2014. PV Barcelona, 1903-1906 49 x 57 x 7 cm Cast bronze and mirror Private Collection Pitcher of the Quatre Gats Bust Margheritina Fayans Català, producer Miquel Blay (1866-1936) R. Staccioli-Fundidor, smelter Sabadell, 1897 14 x 9 x 11cm Ceramic enamelled and decorated in blue Barcelona, c. 1910 (first edition F. Masriera y Campins, 1892) 20.5 x 19 x 13 cm Bronze cast Purchase, 2012 MCB 155.017 Pepa Serra de Budallés Collection 180 181 Cup and plate Pendant Masriera y Carreras Lluís Masriera i Rosés (1872-1958) Barcelona, c. 1915 12.9 cm diameter (plate), 5.1 x 5.6 cm diameter (cup) i 5.3 x 5.5 cm (opaline container) Silver and opaline c. 1910 Album of Masriera Hermanos designs, no. 90 Bagués Masriera Collection Donation Pilar Vélez, 2020 MDB 12.089 Die and pendant model Masriera Hermanos, Barcelona Barcelona, c. 1910 4.3 cm x 9 cm diameter (die), 7.6 x 6 cm (pendant model) Steel Bagués Masriera Collection Dies for the cup decoration (no. 4) Jewel design Masriera y Carreras Mateu Culell i Aznar (1879-1943) Barcelona, c. 1915 2.9 x 7.6 x 2.8 cm 2.6 x 8 x 2.8 cm 2.7 x 5.4 x 2.6 cm 2.6 x 5.6 x 2.9 cm 2.5 x 5.2 x 2.9 cm Steel Barcelona, 1905-1920 23 x 31.5 cm Lead pencil and gouache on paper Donation Margarita Culell, 1960 MADB 71.034 Bagués Masriera Collection 182 183 Album of modernist projects by Ramon Sunyer Album of designs Ramon Sunyer i Clarà (1889-1963) Barcelona, ca. 1905 Pen and ink drawings on tracing paper Donation Rafael Sunyer Vives, 2017 AMDB-3-531 Illustrating the importance of Art Nouveau taste in Barcelona’s jewelry is a design album from around 1905 by Ramon Sunyer, very young, but who had to be one of the main Catalan goldsmiths in the first half of the twentieh century. Born in 1889 to a family of Barcelona goldsmiths, started by his grandfather Vicenç Sunyer Torelló, he trained in a family workshop since 1902 –working for various jewelers in the city such as Masriera, Carreras, Macià or Bordas, and since 1908 at the Art School of Francesc d’A. Gali. As a young man, once initiated into the international modernist style, he repeatedly participated in contests organized by the Barcelona City Council for various festivals in the category of jeweler’s apprentices, where he received some awards, such as the one in May 1904. Shortly after, the Artistic Association of Jewelry and Silverware, a modern version of the old guild, organized annual contests from 1907 to 1910, in which he also won several awards given by a jury formed by Lluís Masriera, Joan Carreras, Esteve Batlle, Francesc Carreras, Valentí Martínez and Agustí Valentí, prominent Barcelona goldsmiths. The album contains numerous pen drawings on vegetable paper glued to the sometimes colored sheets with high precision and finesse, showing on the one hand the high artistic level of Sunyer, and on the other, the influence of French Art Nouveau in Barcelona, through the personality of Lluís Masriera. Brooches, pendants, rings, hair combs, that is, the usual repertoire of female jewelry with floral and insect motifs, such as the characteristic Art Nouveau dragonfly, were very common in Masriera’s designs. A few years later, Sunyer would become interested in traditional Catalan jewelry and, together with Jaume Mercadé, would become the benchmark of Noucentisme and Art Deco. Bibl.: v é l e z 2017; v é l e z 2019. PV 184 185 Fabrics and embroideries If furniture is the main protagonist of modernista interiors, then silk or velvet upholstery, generally of Catalan manufacture and often embroidered or with applications which gave them color and comfort, played a decisive role. But the daily wear and tear and new tastes forced people to swap out their upholstery, and so many of the original ones have not been preserved. Domestic dress was full of handmade lace –“legitimate”, they said– with the pillow or needle as woman’s work, until the arrival of widespread machine sewing in which Catalunya also excelled. Pillow needlepoint inspired a network of sewers, who worked at their homes, and distributors, who delivered the orders. Exhibitions, such as the one held in Arenys de Munt in 1906, were good showcases. Poster for the Blond and Lace Exhibition in Arenys de Munt, 1906, designed by Enric Sagnier Museu d’Arenys de Mar 186 187 The Standard of the Orfeo Barcelonès Standard Orfeó Barcelonès Bonaventura Llauradó, design Mariano Mas, Jaume Brugarolas, chopping and drawing Singers of the Orfeó Barcelonès, embroidery Julià Vinyoles, R. Oliva de Dolcet, Francisco Arenas, Narciso Vendrell, trimmings Pere Serra/ La Providència i altres, velvets and silks Costa y Ponces, flagpole Barcelona, 1904 153 x 70 cm Embroidered fabric with trimming Museu d’Història de Barcelona-MUHBA Donation of The Orfeó Barcelonès. MHCB 42.005 It can be said that around 1900 there was no choral society in Catalunya that did not want to have its standard or flag. The most famous is, without a doubt, the flag of the Orfeó Català (“on our songs we raise a flag ...”) and many others, such as this ensign from the Barcelona Orfeó, received by the Museum of Barcelona History from the singers of the same entity in 2014. In the collections of MUHBA are also found the banner of the Quartet Association La Filantrópica (MHCB 13438) or the metal support of another flag (MHCB 33414). You can find abundant documentation in the archive of the Orfeó Català about the flags of Catalan choirs. The Barcelona Orfeó, founded in 1853 by the brothers Joan and Pere Tolosa, is the oldest in Catalunya. It su¤ered a crisis in the late nineteenth century and gained new momentum, recasting in 1900 from the choral society El Betis. It is for this reason that it is endowed with the corresponding flag (the date it was registered is that of its refounding), presented for the first time in the Zaragoza choral society competition in 1904 and then in Barcelona, in a concert that took place at the Barcelona Ateneu on February 1, 1905. The piece that opened the concert was, precisely, the anthem La Nostra Ensenya (Our Flag), music by the choral society conductor, Pere Serra, and lyrics by Conrad Roure (“... with you we want to take o¤ towards the serene sky of Art, by the good name of Barcelona and by its illustrious shield “). In 1910 another Cant de la Senyera (Song of the Flag) appeared with music by Robert Goberna and lyrics by J. Franquesa i Gomis. The material realization of the ensign is based on a design by Bonaventura Llauradó. The embroidery was done by choral society members Júlia and Joana Aldaz, Margarida and Empar Pujadas, Carme Llimona, Adela Gombau, Delfina Porta, Neus Darné and Lluïsa de Sunyer. The trimmings are mainly by Julià Vinyoles and R. Oliva de Dolcet and the flagpole, from Costa i Ponces. The ensemble arrived at the MUHBA accompanied by nine ties, including the one from one of the important choral society festivals of Catalunya of 1917. Bibl.: La Aurora 1902; La Tribuna 1905; MUHBA 2014. JB 188 189 Professional and domestic embroidery, craftsmen and mechanics Sheet Catalunya, 1904 372 x 250 cm Linen ta¤eta, embroidery raised and woven. Flying Duchess of Bruges frill Embroidered and lace trousseaus became fashionable among the upper classes in the modernist era, in which medieval and Renaissance subjects and techniques were reinterpreted for clothing, embroidery and lace. White-on-white embroidery reappears, known since the Renaissance, and lace also regains its prestige in Catalunya. Surpassing the previous repetitive designs, those of modernist lace were often made by artists who designed unique pieces. Lace and embroidery were made both at home and in the family workshops and small businesses. Highlights include linen blinds, tablecloths, towels and bedding. The decoration was characteristic of Modernisme: plant motifs with wavy lines, feminine figures and embroidered letters. These linen blinds could have been designed by the same donor Adelaida Ferré Ruiz de Narváez (Barcelona, 1881-1955), who was a lacemaker, teacher, collector and historian. The two sets of bedding are made up of sheets and pillowcases. They are exquisitely decorated with white-on-white embroidery and lace. One of them emphasizes the name of “Nieves” and the flowers represented are bellflowers, forget-me-nots, violets, thistles and poppies. Under the lace is a pink silk fabric that enhances it. The techniques are varied and exquisite, such as the Bargello stitch with tones of white that achieve a needle painting and relief e¤ect. The other bedding set features the “EB” initials and miscellaneous flowers. It probably belonged to the 1904 wedding trousseau of Eusebi Bertrand Serra and Maria Mercè Mata Julià. This set was completed with a lace piece and a lacework fan, two extraordinary pieces exhibited at the Fifth International Exhibition of Fine Arts and Art Industries, in 1907, from which they entered into the municipal collections. Embroiderers and needlepointers followed publications such as El Consultor de los Bordados (The Embroidery Consultant), which provided extensive design samples for lace and embroidery. The decoration of the museum’s works was based on complex designs that required both a designer’s training and specialized technical execution skills that went beyond that of domestic work. Donation María Mercedes Gomis Bertrand, 2019 MDB 12.082 Fan cloth Jenny Minne-Dansaer (1844-1909) Belgium, 1907 23 x 37 cm Guipur point linen with Eckert stitch Originally from the Fine Arts and Art Industries Exhibition, Barcelona 1907 MTIB 3.084 Needlepoint Henriette Bosché Belgium, 1907 9 x 83 cm Guipur point linen with bobbins, flying Duchess of Bruges technique Originally from the Fine Arts and Art Industries Exhibition, Barcelona 1907 MTIB 3.081 Bibl.: El Consultor de los Bordados 1905; V Exposición Internacional 1907; El Modernisme 1990; Arts Decoratives a Barcelona 1994; l l o d r à 2007. SV 190 191 Pillowcase Magazine El Consultor de los Bordados, num. 20 Barcelona, 1900 58.5 x 68.5 cm Linen and silk ta¤eta; white cotton embroidery in English, shade, raised, and fantasy stitches; woven; Renaissance point or mechanical weaving tape applied by needle and crochet Bardem, Ribas y Ferrer, publisher Barcelona, June 15, 1906 43.5 x 32 cm MDB Donation Hilda Bergués, 1973 MTIB 109.084 Design for upfolsthered armchair Magazine El Consultor de los Bordados, notebook num. 541 Gaspar Homar i Mesquida (1870-1955) Barcelona, c. 1905 17.5 x 22.5 cm Pen and watercolor on paper Bardem, Ribas y Ferrer, publisher Barcelona, March 1, 1928 45 x 70 cm Donation Xavier Sust, 2018 MDB MDB 192 193 Bookbinding techniques The graphic arts achieved great advances in Catalunya since the mid-nineteenth century. Bookbinding benefited from industrial innovation and at the same time regained old techniques such as leather embossing, a specialty in which Josep Roca i Alemany, a professor at the Institute of Women’s Culture, excelled. These advances entailed a great deal of di¤usion in the domestic sphere, although they also had a presence in the exhibitions and survived during the nineteenth century. Toward 1880 the first industrial binding was still based on the manual preparation of bronze matrices that were stamped in mechanical presses. The publishers replaced the covers of lamb leather with ones of cloth on cardboard in relief with golden adornments. By 1890, photoengraving was introduced, which accelerated industrial production and eventually led to the disappearance of bronze engravers. 195 Engraving at the service of industrial binding Diploma International Exhibition Held in the City of Chicago Josep Roca i Alemany was one of the best metal engravers for bookbinding. Roca, engraver, but often also a designer, worked for a number of publishers, who abandoned the traditional chamois covers for embossed or gilded cardboard: Salvat, Montaner y Simón, Espasa, Salvatella, and Sopena, among other renowned names, who were assisted by leading designers such as Josep Pascó, J.M. Tamburini, Lluís Domènech i Montaner or Josep Triadó. Ornamental themes often responded to the decorativism of Modernisme. The use of hand-carved bronze plates as dies for industrial binding was central to the modernization of a hitherto handcrafted profession. Once the design was on paper, it was transformed into a transparent jelly, which was the basis for transferring it to the metal with a dry tip. With the help of punches, chisels or escarpments and with the help of a screw press, which fixed the piece while recording, the main engraving was obtained. The bottom was made of so-called weft punches, which gave it a finish. These dies were stamped using hand presses, later electric. His concern for perfecting the technique and learning from the best led him to travel abroad and to take part in international exhibitions, where in addition to being able to see the world’s leading works he received mentions of his works in Paris (1889), epicenter of the binding world, Barcelona (1892) and Chicago (1893). At the same time, his son Carles Roca Casanovas developed an industrial procedure that mimicked the technique of hand embossing on leather recovered by his father. The best example, a late one, is the covers for the unique edition of Don Quixote in cork, from 1955, printed by J.M. Viader of Sant Feliu de Guíxols. Will Hicok Low (1853-1932) Charles Schlecht (18431905), engraver Bureau of Engraving and Printing. U.S. Treasury Department, printer Chicago, 1893 67.5 x 53 cm Engraving on paper Purchase, 1983 MAGB 1-1983-1261 Book back dies Josep Roca i Alemany (1865-1937) Barcelona, c. 1922 24 x 3.9 x 0.7 cm; 24 x 5.2 x 0.8 cm Bronze Donation Josep Roca i Buqueras, 1988 MDB 9.825-0 i 7.172 Bibl.: v é l e z 1989. Book back IC Josep Roca i Alemany (1865-1937) Screw Press from Roca i Alemany Workshop Barcelona, c. 1922 25.5 x 18.7 cm; 25.9 x 20 cm Cardboard and leather stamped in gold Barcelona, 1885-1890 11.5 x 28,8 x 13.8 cm Iron Donation Josep Roca i Buqueras, 1988 MDB 10.056 and 10.059 Purchase, 1983 MDB 8.982 196 197 Magazine cover Álbum Salón Magazine cover La Ilustración Artística Josep Roca i Alemany (1865-1937), engraver Miquel Seguí i Riera, publisher Josep Pascó i Mensa (1855-1910) Josep Roca i Alemany (1865-1937), engraver Barcelona, 1898 38.7 x 27.1 cm Fabric on cardboard stamped with bronze and gold matrix Barcelona, 1891 38.4 x 27.5 cm Fabric on cardboard printed with bronze and gold matrix Purchase, 1983 MDB 9.526 Purchase, 1983 MDB 9.524 Cover Doloras / Campoamor Cover México Josep Maria Tamburini Dalmau (1856-1932) Josep Roca i Alemany (1865-1937), engraver Montaner y Simón, publisher Lluís Domènech i Montaner (1850-1923) Josep Roca i Alemany (1865-1937), engraver Barcelona, c. 1900 42.1 x 30.2 cm Fabric on cardboard printed with bronze and gold matrix Barcelona, 1903 37 x 27 cm Paper on cardboard printed with bronze matrix Purchase, 1983 MDB 9.603 Purchase, 1983 MDB 9.525 Cover Atlas Geográfico de España y Portugal Cover A través de la América del Sur / Exploraciones de los hermanos Reyes Josep Roca i Alemany (1865-1937), engraver A. Martín, publisher Joaquim Coll Salieti Josep Roca i Alemany (1865-1937), engraver Ramón de S. N. Araluce, publisher Barcelona, 1903 37.9 x 25.2 cm Fabric on cardboard printed with bronze and gold matrix 38.4 x 27.8 cm Fabric on cardboard stamped with bronze and gold matrix Purchase, 1983 MDB 9.421 Purchase, 1983 MDB 9.527 198 199 The recovery of the embossed leather technique Sample The embossed leather technique was one of the best contributions to artistic binding since the 1880s. An ancient technique, of Arabic origin, was made on both lambskin –guadamassils– and on goat skin –cordovans– used especially for furniture. The recovery of this technique applied to the book began in Germany, especially in Berlin, and then in Paris. Josep Roca i Alemany, a grantee from the Diputació de Barcelona (Barcelona Provincial Council), went to Berlin and Paris to perfect his knowledge. On his return to Barcelona, he was considered the great representative of the specialty and his creations were admired in 1904 in an exhibition of art bindings promoted by the Catalan Institute of the Book Arts. Roca wrote Decoración del cuero por incisión (Leather decoration by cutting). They are a series of recommendations on how to treat and work the skin through incision. His great contribution was the completion of the works by stuªng wax to give consistency to the relief. At the same time, he was a professor at the Institute of Culture and the Popular Library of Women, which led to a divulgence focused on the amateur and domestic female world, rather than a professionalization of the technique. However, the catalogs at the art industry exhibitions pick up embossed leather work beyond bookbinding –photo frames, stationery, etc.– usually by female hands. These catalogs, such as the one in 1892, also contain names of workshops for repurposed and painted leather, such as those of Miquel Fargas and Vilaseca, who won two gold medals at the 1888 Universal Exhibition, or Josep Dalmau i Rafel. The Design Museum preserves a series of objects from the 1920s (donation by Rucabado Verdaguer Sisters 2013) that had been part of the oªce of Francesca Bonnemaison, founder of the aforementioned institute in 1909, the first center in Europe dedicated exclusively to cultural training and work of women. Josep Roca i Alemany (1865-1937) Barcelona, c. 1904 14.5 x 10.8 cm Embossed leather Donation Josep Roca i Buqueras, 1988 MDB 8.172 Diploma 3a Exposición de Bellas Artes e Industrias Artísticas Josep Roca i Alemany (1865-1937) Henrich y Cía., printer 63.6 x 42 cm Photomechanical reproduction on paper Purchase, 1983 MAGB 1-1983-1260 Bibl.: v é l e z 1989; v é l e z 2015. PV 200 201 Covers Don Quixote de la Mancha Carles Roca Casanovas, engraver Publishing Press Josep M. Viader Bookmark Barcelona, 1955 26.4 x 43 cm Industrially embossed leather on cardboard (imitating hand embossing) Students of Josep Roca i Alemany (1865-1937) Purchase, 1983 MDB 9.611 Barcelona, 1920-1925 28 x 5 x 2 cm Embossed leather and trimmings Counter-molding of the covers Carles Roca Casanovas, engraver Donation Germanes Rucabado Verdaguer, 2013 GAGB 1.108/13-04 Barcelona, 1955 26.8 x 19.5 x 0.4 and 27.1 x 19 x 0.4 cm Cardboard and paper Donation Josep Roca i Buqueras, 1988 MDB 9.824-1 and 2 Corners 1900-1905 9.8 x 6 x 0.3 and 8.6 x 5.2 x 0.2 cm Silver-plated brass Matrices of the covers and the back Donation Pilar Vélez, 2020 MDB 12.087-12.088 Carles Roca Casanovas, engraver Barcelona, 1955 27.2 x 19.6 x 0.5 i 26.8 x 5.8 x 0.5 cm Bronze Donation Josep Roca i Buqueras, 1988 MDB 9.824-3, 4 and 5 202 203 Gaudí as designer… or not Gaudí’s personality as a designer cannot be separated from his work as an architect. In fact, his first productions are objects, such as the work desk that he describes in his writings as a youth or the display case for the Comella glove company at the Universal Exhibition of Paris in 1878. He sought industrializable solutions (furniture, handles, etc.), anticipating serious production processes that would arrive in workshops, but without ever forgetting innovations in design and artisanal printing. Faithful to the teachings of Viollet-le-Duc, he argued that the ornament was that which gave “character” or “style” to architecture, that is to say, that which endowed its symbolic content. In this way, he went beyond historical styles, pushing to the extreme the idea that form follows function, creating designs of “organic” objects that contoured the shapes of the human body and have been seen as the precursor of ergonomics. 205 Gaudí imagines and the artisan makes real Grille of the Damià Mateu House, c. 1920 Càtedra Gaudí. ETSAB-UPC These objects, belonging to di¤erent works, varied in terms of material, function and meaning, but also in regard to Gaudí’s participation in the invention and execution, have, despite many di¤erences, a common intrinsic characteristic: that they do not belong to the world we know as “design.” Design involves a first speculative moment, in which it is conceived what is wanted to do, a second a planning one, in which it is further conceived what is wanted to be done and is defined in detail in a series of documents –the plans–, and a third moment of execution, in which that which the plans contain is embodied as faithfully as possible to the design. It is clear that neither the doors of the Casa Batlló, nor the medallions of the Park Güell, nor the iron mesh of the Damià Mateu House, respond to this process. In the case of the doors, made of ash wood, on the panels from which organic shapes have been carved in bas-relief, all di¤erent, the process had to be the following: Gaudí, in a strict sense, had to design the pillars of the doors and decide that the panels be sculpted, in order to then indicate the shape of these reliefs, leaving to the carver, the hands and tools that had to materialize, a margin of execution that does not seem small, if we take into account the results. How else could we imagine this extraordinary conjunction between the veins of the wood and the sculpted shapes to be achieved, which panel after panel seem to emerge naturally, turning the same veins into a transparent writing arising from the most delicate of the stiacciatti? With respect to the Park Güell medallions, the background situation is no di¤erent, but the procedure is. If the trencadís technique is to use fragments of ceramics, tiles, glass, etc., to cover surfaces with a cheap material, easy to execute, flexible and with great ornamental possibilities –we will not go into the meaning of this technique now, essentially based on redemption, by means of detritus, through art –the examples we see here could not be more eloquent: even though 206 crushed, we still see whole tiles, in the way they have been presented, broken and reposted, making the wounds visible– and we will not talk about the japonisme that is revealed here. Gaudí did not design the tiles, rather he found them, nor the wounds that arose from precision randomness –paradoxically– from the blow of a maneuver: he simply chose a series of pieces, he arranged them properly, he broke them and then recomposed them to the place where they were intended, in this case the inflated surface of the medallions seen here. Finally, in the coat of mail of the Damià Mateu House, we find the same modus operandi: Gaudí imagines a movable grille in the form of an iron curtain, inspired by fishermen’s nets and the coat of mail, formed by industrially produced rings that unite with each other –each one with four others, in the usual pattern of the coat of mail, precisely– by means of wrought iron knots that, once executed manually by the blacksmith, are all the same but all di¤erent. So, from the highly delicate reliefs that lovingly follow the veins to the brutality of the hammer that touches the tile or the iron, Gaudí creates, without “design.” Moreover, in the latter two cases, the elements he works with are not “invented” by him, but “recollected”: the “wild thought” of a particular avant-garde is latent – for better or worse. Bibl.: l a h u e r t a 1992; Gaudí. Art i Disseny 2002; l a h u e r t a 2016. JJL 207 Grille Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852-1926) Francesc Berenguer i Mestres (1866-1914) Badia Brothers, producer Barcelona, 1906 210 x 95 cm Wrought iron Originally from Damià Mateu House, “La Miranda”, Llinars del Vallès Loan Gaudí Chair GCEX 0062 Door Two swing doors Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852-1926) Casas i Bardés Workshop, producer Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852-1926) Casas i Bardés Workshop, producer Barcelona, 1906 207 x 69 x 5 cm Carved ash wood Barcelona, 1906 209 x 33.5 x 4.5 cm (each door) Carved ash wood Originally from Casa Batlló, Barcelona Loan Gaudí Chair CGEX 0001 Originally from Casa Batlló, Barcelona Loan Gaudí Chair CGEX 0004 208 209 The bourgeois home, symbol of a societal ideal Medallion Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852-1926) Fill de Jaume Pujol i Bausis, producer The modernist bourgeois home is a symbol of the ideal of the new industrial society, full of contradictions. This new class acquires other habits present in the organization of everyday life. The dwellings di¤erentiate between representation space, a reflection of social prestige, and that of family life, where the prevailing criterion is comfort, a characteristic of modernity. Light and air, as the urban planner Cerdà had defended, but also comfort and luxury. Decorative objects imported from Europe or locally produced, a¤ordable to a larger audience, are examples of Art Nouveau decorativism or fin de siècle. Art objects filled with flowers and symbolistic nymphs were advertised and sold in specialized stores. Also, “Viennese furniture” or curved wood, imported or local, was very popular and integrated into the most intimate areas of the home. But Modernisme went from being a regenerationist movement to being a “modern” style, reaching wider layers of society. Anonymous objects of everyday use filled the display cases of homes while Modernisme was already rejected by the noucentists. Barcelona, c. 1904 58 x 59 x 23 cm Mixed lime, sand and cement mortar with trencadís tiles Originally from Park Güell, Barcelona Loan Gaudí Chair CGEX 0026 Medallion Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852-1926) Fill de Jaume Pujol i Bausis, producer Barcelona, c. 1903-1904 54 x 56 x 8.5 cm Mixed lime, sand and cement mortar with trencadís tiles Originally from Park Güell, Barcelona Loan Gaudí Chair CGEX 0025 210 211 4 The center of the bourgeois home: the dining room of architect Jeroni Granell At the center of family and social life, the dining room was, during the last third of the nineteenth century, a preeminent space in the home. With each new design cabinetmakers proposed dining rooms with tables and chairs that were accompanied by carving tables, dressers, display cases, and often pedestals, curtain rod covers, ancillary furniture, wardrobes, or fireplaces designed in the same style, then historicist. In Barcelona, the progressive construction of the Eixample neighborhood had created a need for new models, and the architects and decorators were attentive to everything that their counterparts did here and abroad, especially those in Europe. Thus, when traveling abroad, they sought to find out everything that was produced and to supplement that information with repertoires, magazines and company catalogs for inspiration or, directly, for copying the models. An example of an historicist set of the late nineteenth century is this dining room designed by Jeroni Granell i Manresa (1867-1931) for his home. He had obtained his architect degree in 1891 from the Barcelona School of Architecture, and the following year he married Elvira Bartomeu i Baró (1868-1945), from Reus, with whom he had four children. This fact indicates more than probable dating: between the end of 1891 and the beginning of 1892, after obtaining the degree and just before the wedding. The dining room furniture is made of pinewood and includes a square table (extendable on two sides) and six chairs. The panel is supported by four legs in the form of columns attached to the base by a very architectural structure. The chairs have an original junction of the forelegs on a medallion with an acanthus leaf (symbolizing architecture), while ivy leaves on the waist and back support (symbolizing fidelity) among some spherical motifs that are also on the sideboard. It has two shelves on the sides, a central drawer and a two-door locker underneath. Both the marble and the post part of the shelves feature white, blue, and red polychrome tiles depicting a daisy (symbolizing love’s beginning). On the sideboard was a free display case with three shelves and nine beveled glass doors, supported by individual brass structures. This furniture piece has high transparency –despite the use of wood– and is literally hung on the wall. Finally, the set was completed by a standing clock with ogival evocations and a crested crown (like that of the display case), and two armchairs where the hind legs are locked with the front ones with diagonal crosspieces that are some212 what reminiscent of Barcelona’s “Roman armchairs.” The seats and backs were originally upholstered in Cordovan leather. As is often the case with old-fashioned and used furniture, they have been restored and, in the case of upholstery, changed at least twice. That said, there is one substantial landmark related to this dining room: the architectural repertoires of the late nineteenth century. In fact, the most prosperous period in the media about construction took place in Europe between 1880 and 1910, just when the architect Granell was designing such furniture, so he turned to the repertoires that at that time served those who, like him, sought through the printed page the modernity that came from the old continent. Specifically, this chair model is literally copied from the oªcer’s seat reproduced in Materiaux et documents d’Architecture et Sculpture by Auguste Raguenet and edited by Ducher & Co. in Paris in 1887 (also published in the United States by G. Broes van Dort Co.). It is a project by the French architect Edmond Duthoit (1837-1889), one of the most faithful disciples of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, who called him “my young field assistant.” Duthoit, architect of the Amiens government, designed the Saint-Martin de Bryas church (1880-1883) in Pas de Calais, and also was in charge of all its furniture, including the chair, which he published on a sheet in the voluminous book of Raguenet. But the presence of Viollet-le-Duc is not merely this. The display case’s pinnacles or the columns that attach and support the legs of the chairs or those that decorate the clock are very similar to those often used by the French architect, as are the legs of the table, which have a lot of to do with the legs from his own oªce. Moreover, Duthoit collaborated in the decoration of the Roquetaillade Castle where Violletle-Duc made a profound transformation and, in the Pink Chamber, a closet with shelves reminiscent of Granell’s display case –a singularity that exemplifies and confirms the well-known importance of repertoires among architects and designers in the decorative arts in the 1900s. Bibl.: g i l 2013; P i e r a 2015. RC 213 Furniture and curtains from the home of Jeroni Granell i Manresa Sideboard Jeroni Granell i Manresa (1867-1931) 124 x 63 x 144 cm Melis pinewood, painted tiles, white marble, brass trim and iron screws Barcelona, 1892 MDB 10.242 Bequest Victòria Cantavella, 2019. Museu del Disseny de Barcelona Dining Table 76 x 120 x 120 cm (closed) Melis pinewood and iron screws MDB 10.231 Tall Box Clock 260 x 62 x 36 cm Melis pinewood and clockwork machinery Auguste Raguenet, Materiaux et documents d’Architecture et Sculpture, París, 1887 MDB 10.244 Chair Curtain 81 x 44.5 x 50 cm Melis pinewood and upholstery reproducing the leather original Barcelona, c.1905 176 x 120 cm Ribbed cotton and moire silk. Appliqués from the same material with chain and braid stitch embroidery. Passementerie made from cotton, wool, silk and metallic threads MDB 10.232 and 10.232 Private Collection 214 215 Imported furniture and decorative objects The images from the time show modernist interiors overflowing with furniture and decorative objects. Creations from across Europe, largely French, came to Catalunya through local representatives, who sold them in some specialty stores. One of the most renowned businesses was Émile Gallé, in Nancy, one of the leaders in Art Nouveau, who cultivated ceramics, cabinetry and especially glass. Carried by his aesthetic ideal mirrored in nature, Gallé experimented with new materials, such as translucent enamels, which allowed for colorings and finishes that evoked amber, marble, jade, or agate, or with the double glazing of interior decoration applied in the moment. Success was immediate, and soon Gallé-type imitations abounded, and he was even pleased. Moved by his social commitment, his goal was to make art accessible to all. Together with the glassmaker Antonin Daum, they were the creators of the Nancy School and both gained great acclaim at the 1900 Universal Exhibition, the high point of Art Nouveau. Next to glass, the world of the bibelot made of terracotta or various kinds of pastes became very widespread. Across Europe, but especially in France and Belgium, it became a subject of great popularity, also reaching Catalunya, where some names like Lambert Escaler excelled (see p. 181, 225 and 288). For furniture, the so-called “Vienna furniture,” or that of curved wood, was highly appreciated, which provided great technical and commercial innovation, and put them on the path of industrial design. The procedure was based on exposing long wood pieces to steam, which were bent afterward and placed in molds as they dried. This process not only facilitated production and assembly, but also reduced transportation cost and the final price. The best-known ones, who had already participated in the 1888 Universal Exhibition, were those from the Austrian firms Gebrüder Thonet, the leading firm in the sector, and Jacob & Josef Kohn, who had a network of establishments in numerous European cities. F. Castelltort, 56 Pelai Street, is one example from Barcelona, maker of the Thonet canapé no. 22. Although other shops soon appeared in the Spanish market, such as the Valencian companies Luis Suay, Ventura Feliu, Joaquín Lleó and Salvador Albacar, all of whom made similar pieces. Lightweight furniture, with wavy lines that blended in with Art Nouveau’s sinuous taste, was ideal for public establishments –cafes, 216 Vases Émile Gallé (1846-1904) Nancy, 1904-1914 76 cm x 24 cm diameter 14.5 x 36 cm diameter Mold-blown glass, bent and acid-etched Bequest María Abrate, 1986 MADB 123.082 and 123.132 217 restaurants– but was also introduced to bourgeois interiors. Extensive catalogs of all types of furniture –seats, shelves, planters, hangers, etc.– were quite accessible to a wider audience and were soon identified. Covering the interior walls was a key operation in decorating color-dominated interiors. They were usually applied to the walls following ceramic or wood skirting boards, rather than the much more expensive upholstery, leather or wall painting. New technological advances and dyes achieved through new chemical processes allowed for a great deal of di¤usion and ornamental diversity. In Catalunya, the Art Nouveau pieces came mainly from France, England, Belgium and Germany. The various collections of papers from the Design Museum, such as those from the old Guasch Foreign and Domestic Wallpaper store, in Barcelona (Ricard Guasch Solé 1998 donation), or the David Miret Gual 2013 Donation, are a good example. Painted Paper The Iris and Narcissus United Kingdom, c. 1905 56.5 x 94.5 cm Stencil stamped Bust Roses Ch. Déposé, producer France, 1902 50 x 26 x 19 cm Painted terracotta Donation Solà Pou Family, 1967 MADB 71.764 Bibl.: g a l l é 1908; c a n a l s ; c a s a n o v a 2010; c a s a n o v a 2014; c a P s i r 2017; v i v e s 2019. PV MDB 4.824-1 Canapé Number 22 Gebrüder Thonet, producer Vienna, c. 1885 13 x 154.5 x 66.5 cm Beech wood steamed and wicker grate Donation Espai Corbat, 2015 MADB 138.945 218 219 The success of small bibelot art In Catalan homes of the second half of the nineteenth century, it was common to find a crucifix hanging on the wall. It used to be metal, usually bronze, a material which thereafter became popular thanks to the perfection of technique and the increase of a clientele, the bourgeoisie, who began to acquire sculptures (often smaller scale models of antique works) in order to embellish their residences. At the turn of the century, the crucifix continued to be hung, but was surrounded by new modernist sculptures that were accompanied by other decoration-friendly objects, such as vases, plates, candelabra, frames, etc., which were hung or arranged on pedestals, tables or shelves. They were the so-called bibelots, decorative items small in size and large in consumption, which were bought in art stores, where commercial catalogs identified them by a title or number. This line of pieces that invaded homes ended up having an ambiguous relationship with its owners, halfway between aesthetic desire, historical value and artistic character. In fact, these bibelots presented a new reality, free and filled with an array of emotional signals that directly reached –not through the intellect– the sensitivity of the viewer, while with their shapes, in impossible and peculiar curves, they were attracted by their pure suggestive value. So it was not just a serial product without sentiment, but a true “bibelotization” of artistic creation that gave objects all the attributes of kitsch. The bibelots occupied a prominent place during Modernisme, and their popularity became felt due to the desire to di¤erentiate themselves from others, to possess the special or unique, and to configure beautifully decorated environments with the idea that everything was amenable to becoming art. We know the authors or makers of some of these pieces, but not others, bringing the artist Adrià Gual to ask, as far back as 1905, about those “small arts” that included the “outlandish bibelot” and authors whom “nobody knows.” In our country bibelot consumption came from France, where art critic and historian Léon Rosenthal already stated that it responded to “ la marque propre du génie français.” Positive appreciation of the object diminished in the early twentieth century with the progressive disa¤ection of nineteenth-century arts, and in the 1930s it was considered, with certain contempt, a “un bibelot d’étagère.” Workers in the smaller arts of Modernism lived the debate between art and industry, and emerged from it with examples that evolved from elitism to consumerism. Some companies set a mile- Lectern France (?), c. 1905 149 x 46.5 cm Carved walnut wood Originally from Casa de l’Ardiaca, Barcelona Cession Museum of Barcelona History, 1990 MADB 11.058 220 221 stone in our country, such as Esteva, Hoyos & Co., founded by Claudio Hoyos (1875-1905), Joan Esteva (1874-1957) and Francesc Figueras (1872-1948), and who collaborated with important artists of the time, such as Josep Llimona, Pablo Gargallo or Miquel Utrillo, while also producing works by transplanted artists, such as Rossend Nobas. Also noteworthy is the decorative art workshop Renart & Co., directed by the illustrator, painter and sculptor Dionís Renart (18781946), as well as the Fàbrica de Porcellanes i Gres d’Art (Porcelain and Stoneware Factory) directed by Antoni Serra (1869-1932) that produced small pieces by Pablo Gargallo and Ismael Smith. Finally, the workshop of the sculptor Lambert Escaler (1874-1957), which made a variety of decorative polychrome terracotta pieces, from vases to planters, mirrors, lamps, hearths and, above all, feminine figurines with which he gained popularity and great commercial success. The Nanny Ismael Smith (1886-1972) Antoni Serra i Fiter (1869-1932), ceramicist Fàbrica de Porcellanes i Gres d’Art, Barcelona, producer Barcelona, 1904-1906 21.5 x 9.5 x 14.5 cm Glazed porcelain Donation Jordi Serra, 2005 MADB 138.347 Bibl.: g u a l 1905; c i r i c i 1951; s a i s s e l i n 1990; b e j a r a n o v e i g a 2005; c h a m b a r l h a c et al. 2012; s a l a 2013; v o i l l o t 2015; s a l a ; j o v é 2019. www.masiamuseuserra.com/antoni-serra RC Shelving unit for art objects designed by Charles Plumet Victor Champier, Documents d’Atelier. Art Décoratif Moderne, Librairie de la Revue des Arts Décoratifs, París, 1898 Ashtray Pablo Gargallo (1881-1934) Antoni Serra i Fiter (1869-1932), ceramicist Fàbrica de Porcellanes i Gres d’Art, Barcelona, producer Barcelona, 1904-1907 8.5 x 12.5 x 11 cm Glazed porcelain Donation Jordi Serra, 2005 MADB 138.349 222 223 Bust Bust of the Florentine Page José Vivé Josep Llimona (1863-1934) Esteva y Cia., producer Barcelona (?), 1900 37 x 21 x 10 cm Stucco with patina Barcelona, c. 1889 24 x 22 x 11 cm Stucco with patina and alabaster base with metal screw Es Monestri Collection Es Monestri Collection Vases Wall lamp Catalunya (?), 1900-1910 27 x 14.5 x 14 cm, each Glass blown in mold and glazed Lambert Escaler i Milà (1874-1957) Barcelona, c. 1903 32 x 30.5 x 14 cm Painted terracotta Purchase, 1968 MADB 106.008106.009 Donation M. Concepció Gibert, 1966 MCB 71.681 224 225 Anonymous Modernism With the twentieth century underway, Modernisme became a “modern” and popular style, especially visible in the dissemination of decorative and utilitarian Art Nouveau objects, particularly in the production of a¤ordable furniture, such as the models proposed by the repertory El ebanista moderno (c. 1906). Bedside table Probably Barcelona, c. 1900 123 x 42.2 x 38 cm Carved and incised wood, gilded marble and brass Private Collection Interior projects El ebanista moderno Publisher: Seix editor, Barcelona, c. 1906 Cruet France?, c. 1900 27 x 24.5 x 12 cm Alpaca tin and acid-etched glass Private Collection Picture frame France, c. 1910 16.3 x 11.9 x 0.7 cm Bakelite, cardboard and paper Mireia Freixa Collection 226 227 The art of twentieth century and the discredit of Modernisme While Modernisme had been forged in the intellectual and artistic circles with a desire to modernize a culture and integrate into Europe, Noucentisme (twentieth century-ism) despite defaming Modernisme and nineteenth-century individualism, fulfilled with its institutionalizing aims some of the cultural proposals of the Modernists. Such is the case with the artistic industries, artistic trades or fine trades, as they were called, which established a connection between the two movements and continued to trace the path of design culture, making clear the social value of art. The objective was to work for the national identity, for a Catalan art with Mediterranean roots that embellished the city through the good practice of the fine trades. In today’s words, put design to work for identity. In spite of everything, Gaudí, and especially the large Sagrada Família construction company, coincided with the dominant ideology of noucentist catalanism, which Torras i Bages had defined in La tradició catalana in 1892, reissued, though, in 1906. 229 5 L’Escola Superior de Bells Oficis (1914) and the “job well done” If Modernisme had focused on a bourgeois elite, then Noucentisme –during the Mancomunitat (Commonwealth), but also during the times of the Republic– proposed the creation of a new country structure based on culture. The creation of the Escola Superior de Bells Oficis (Graduate School of Fine Trades) in 1914 is a fine example. “Make beautiful the useful” or integrate art into society to improve the life of the poor was the goal of Joaquim Folch i Torres, a key name in noucentist culture. Conscious of its social value, he carried out an innovative pedagogical project, comparable to other European ones supporting artistic trades, which was built upon the pedagog Francesc d’A. Galí and which sought to make such ideas a reality. Arts of the earth (ceramics, pitcher making), wood (carpentry, cabinetmaking and cutting), fabric (upholstery, fabric, lace, embroidery, stamping), leather (embossing) and gardening arts were the main specialties. Metal and architectural sculpture were added later. 231 Arts from the earth and from goldsmiths Vase Bacchus and Ceres In 1911, Eugeni d’Ors published the Almanach dels Noucentistes, which is considered the beginning of the new cultural movement. D’Ors defended the classical roots of Catalunya above all, skipping over the gaze toward the north that was so pleasing and necessary to the modernists. Modernisme had strived to be modern, as in synonymous with European; Noucentisme was a movement of the new century that wanted to transform Catalunya to strengthen its structures and to become a modern organization, assuming its own Mediterranean character. One of the objectives of the noucentist program was the recovery of artistic trades. The so-called earth arts, with ceramics in the forefront, played a great role in those years. When the first year of the Graduate School of Fine Crafts was opened in 1915, ceramics was the most sought after specialty. The first director was the French chemist Alexandre Bigot, but immediately came under the direction of Francesc Quer, a ceramicist who made pieces with Xavier Nogués, Josep Aragay, who would also be professor of ceramic decoration, Manuel Humbert and Josep Obiols. Josep Jordi Guardiola i Bonet (1869-1950) Lluís Diví, ceramicist Esplugues de Llobregat, 1923 90 x 22 cm diameter Glazed ceramics Permanent Loan Generalitat de Catalunya, 1997 MCB 154.765-0 Panel from the Can Culleretes restaurant Xavier Nogués i Casas (1873-1941) Francesc Quer i Selves (1858-1933), ceramicist Fábrica Hijo de Jaime Pujol y Bausis, producer Plate Josep Jordi Guardiola i Bonet (1869-1950) Lluís Diví, ceramicist Esplugues de Llobregat, 1923 65.6 x 91.8 cm Glazed ceramic Esplugues de Llobregat, 1928 5.5 x 46 cm diameter Glazed ceramic Donation Miquel Regàs, 1966 MCB 71.609 Bequest Josep Guardiola i Bonet, 1955 MCB 63.966 232 233 Aragay is one of the referents of Mediterranean noucentisme, as a champion for a “national Catalan art” with classical and Mediterranean roots, far from the post-Impressionist and Cubist trends. His model city, based on the integration of all the arts, was Renaissance Florence. Also standing out within this context is Josep Guardiola, the most baroque of the nineteenth-century ceramists. All of them exhibited often in the Sala Parés or in the Catalan Faianç, where they sold for example vases, plates and pieces of all kinds decorated by Xavier Nogués, whose work, in ceramics and also in glass, led to notable collecting in Barcelona. Vase Lost Paradise Xavier Nogués (1873-1941) Ricard Crespo (1891-1949), glazier and enameler Barcelona, c. 1928 19.5 x 15.3 cm diameter Glass blown in mold and fire-glazed Purchase, 1932 MADB 4.953 Plate Josep Aragay i Blanchart (1889-1973) Francesc Quer i Selves (1858-1933), ceramicist Fábrica Hijo de Jaime Pujol y Bausis, producer Esplugues de Llobregat, 1918 7.5 x 44 cm diameter Glazed ceramic and decorated in blue Cups and plates Fountain Party Series Originally from the Art Exhibition, Barcelona, 1918 MCB 1.587 Xavier Nogués (1873-1941) Ricard Crespo (1891-1949), glazier and enameler Plate Barcelona, 1929 13 x 8.6 cm diameter (cup); 1 x 9.8 cm diameter (plate) Glass blown in mold and fire-glazed Josep Aragay i Blanchart (1889-1973) Ugarte Factory, ceramicist Breda, 1921 6.5 x 44.2 cm diameter Glazed ceramic Bequest Santiago Espona, 1958 MADB 65.666 and 65.669; 65.664 and 65.668; 65.667 and 65.673 Donation Montserrat Ainaud de Lasarte, 1969 MCB 100.836 234 235 Xavier Nogués, a versatile artist, always worked with expert artists. The first ceramics from 1906 were made in the porcelain and stoneware factory by Antoni Serra, and from 1916 onward he decorated vases, plates and tiles. His most notable ceramic commissioning was the Can Culleretes restaurant panel from 1923. That same year he began to collaborate with Ricard Crespo and Conxa Domènec on glass decoration, especially on drinking glasses and dishes, of which they did several series over ten years –the Drunkards, the Fountain Parties, etc.–, reflecting his sharp wit and the popular tradition. He presented them at the International Exhibition of Furniture and Interior Decoration, in 1923, at the Paris Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in 1925, where he won a gold medal, and finally at the Barcelona International Exhibition of 1929. After the war, the great master of ceramics was Josep Llorens Artigas, trained with Francesc Quer at the Graduate School of Fine Crafts between 1915 and 1920. Using new materials such as stoneware and certain glazes, he achieved qualities that are comparable only to those of oriental ceramics, his reference. The Clar de Lluna (Moonlight) vase, from the collection of the Design Museum, made of enameled stoneware, from 1927, is considered one of the best results of his experimentation. Another artistic field that is very representative of the Noucentist style is jewelry and goldsmithery. The two big names were Ramon Sunyer and Jaume Mercadé, disciples of the innovative Art School of Francesc d’A. Gali. If Sunyer came from a family of Barcelona goldsmiths, Mercadé hailed from Valls, and he had no relation to the world of jewelry. Both started working under the influence of Modernisme, but soon became interested in old Catalan jewelry, especially the Baroque type, with the application of enamels. This is why his first pieces have a neo-popular taste, decorated with enamel, both the pendants and the silver, as is the case with the Plat dels Ocells (Bird Plate), which Sunyer presented at the General Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1918. Cup and plate Hunting and Fishing Xavier Nogués (1873-1941) Ricard Crespo (1891-1949), glazier and enameler Barcelona, 1924 13 x 8.7 cm diameter (cup); 2.5 x 14.5 cm diameter (plate) Glass blown in mold and fire-glazed Purchase, 1932 MADB 4.960 and 4.994; 4.952 and 4.995 Cups Little Drunkards Series Xavier Nogués (1873-1941) Ricard Crespo (1891-1949), glazier and enameler Barcelona, 1923-1928 4.5 x 3.5 cm diameter Glass blown in mold and fire-glazed Bequest Isabel Escalada (widow of Xavier Nogués), 1969 MADB 107.559-107.562 Bibl.: v é l e z 2014; c a s t a n Y e r 2015; v é l e z 2017. PV 236 237 Birds Plate Ramon Sunyer i Clarà (1889-1963) Barcelona, 1918 3.4 x 37.8 cm diameter Embossed silver Originally from the Art Exhibition, Barcelona, 1918 MADB 1.586 Vase Moonlight Josep Llorens Artigas (1892-1980) Gallifa, 1927 25.8 x 15.7 cm diameter Glazed stoneware Brooch Jaume Mercadé i Queralt (1887-1967) Originally from the Spring Exhibition, Barcelona, 1932 MCB 8.679 Barcelona, c. 1930 3.7 x 4.6 x 1.6 cm Silver, silver-gilt, blue enamel, pearls and aquamarine Purchase, 2017 MDB 1.430 Pendant Jaume Mercadé i Queralt (1887-1967) Barcelona, 1919 6.8 x 6.7 cm Silver-gilt, semi-precious stones, ivory and enamel Originally from the Art Exhibition, Barcelona, 1919 MADB 1.602 238 239 From Noucentism to the Civil War: tradition, Art Deco and avant-garde While critics of decorativism and ornamentation arose throughout Europe, in Catalunya Noucentism replaced the world imported from the North with the Mediterranean culture of Greek heritage. But new French influences soon introduced Art Deco modernity, the “false modern,” as those opposed to its virtuous and purely formal decorativism called it, living together with its other fine trade vernaculars. The first avant-gardes did not take long to challenge modern decorative art, noucentist or Art Deco, dismissing everything that was not standardized. Rationalism came from the hand of the GATCPAC (Group of Catalan Architects and Technicians for the Progress of Contemporary Architecture) and the concept of decoration was replaced by interior design. The culture of design advanced in a new context where tradition, modernity and avant-garde lived together, while Gaudí was defended by Dalí and the Surrealists. 241 From Girona Noucentisme and urushi deco lacquer toward rationalist design The postulates of Noucentisme spread throughout Catalunya, and soon the desire to forge a national art led to the appreciation of Catalan folk architecture and the useful arts that adorned its interiors. The praise of popular culture was one of the pillars of the movement, founded, on the other hand, in the movement of political Catalanism at the beginning of the twentieth century. The Girona center, with the architect Rafael Masó at the head of a group of artists, artisans and industrialists –Fidel Aguilar, Adolf Fargnoli, Nonito Cadenas, etc.– spurred a revival of Girona, until then a small and anodyne city, through the impetus given to fine trades and architecture. Mason had been to Germany in 1912 and was influenced again by Germanic secessionism, evident in his works. Like Masó, Josep M. Pericas, with whom he shared some projects, followed the latest trends in modern European architecture, especially the Viennese Secession. The new modern architecture, plus the interest in Romanesque art, promoted by Puig i Cadafalch, and the connection with the manor house, shaped a path that moved away from full Modernisme and began to build a new road toward modernity, without forgetting tradition. They looked outward, but mostly worked indoors. Coexisting with the nineteenth-century line, the taste for Art Deco developed, a name derived from the Paris Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts of 1925. It is the high point for the decorator, a professional able to adorn the interiors, at the same time endowing them with comfort and beauty. The Foment de les Arts Decoratives (Fostering of the Decorative Arts, FAD), founded in 1903, went through a period of splendor from 1921 to 1949 under the presidency of Santiago Marco, who made it possible for Catalan artists to have a place in the Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts Exhibition of Paris in 1925. Marco, a leading decorator, carried out a large number of interior and furniture projects, showing a great deal of skill in combining polished and glossy materials and finishes, which gave them a refined and luxurious light, in accordance with modernity and Deco’s cosmopolitanism, which shunned the copy of ancient styles in favor of originality. In this context, the urushi lacquer arrived from Japan to Paris by way of the master Sugawara, of whom was a disciple Jean Dunand, 242 the most notable lacquerer of Europe, in turn master of Lluís Bracons or of the architect and designer Eileen Gray, among others. Bracons introduced it to Barcelona as a teacher at the Graduate School of Fine Crafts, where his disciples were Enriqueta Benigani, his companion, Pere Brugués, Valentí Cabero and Rafael Sarsanedas, who later had to be a teacher at Massana School, where the socalled Catalan School of Urushi was forged. Its characteristic finish, whether black or red, with a mirror e¤ect, gave it an unsurpassed decorative quality, much appreciated by Barcelona’s bourgeois public. Like lacquers, silver also gained prominence in the decorative arts. Silver alone, or in combination with dark woods such as ebony or rosewood, either plain, with colored marble of various colors, or even with ceramics, gave the tables and spaces a special brightness. Mercadé SA was the leading company in Barcelona in this type of production. Another jewelry store, run by Rogeli Roca Plans, son of Jacint Roca Fuster, the founder, became a meeting place for rationalist artists and architects of the GATCPAC, such as Josep L. Sert. Towards 1934 he was the designer of the new headquarters of the jewelery shop at 18 Passeig de Gràcia, where avant-garde exhibitions took place. The black furniture in lacquered wood, from 1933-1934, designed by Josep L. Sert and manufactured by the workshops of the Widow Ribas, sober and elegant, is a fine testament to the link between rationalism and Art Deco. Bibl.: Fidel Aguilar 1991; t a r r ú s ; c o m a d i r a 1996; P i e r a 2009; Del món al museu 2014; b a s t a r d e s 2014; F a l g à s 2014; v é l e z 2014; c a s a n o v a 2018. Stained glass from the Ensesa Home, Girona Rafael Masó i Valentí (1880-1935) Rigalt, Granell y Cía., producer Barcelona, c. 1915 75 x 322.5 x 4 cm Leaded cathedral glass, wood frame Loan Museu d’Història de Girona MHG 8.798 PV 243 Dressing table mirror Foot lamp Jaume Mercadé i Queralt (1887-1967) Santiago Marco i Urrutia (1885-1949) Lluís Bracons i Sunyer (1892-1961), lacquerer Barcelona, 1925-1930 48.7 x 40 x 12.8 cm Silver-plated structure on marble base, opaline on light and beveled mirror Barcelona, 1922 190 x 46 x 46 cm Lacquered wood inlaid with eggshell and mother-of-pearl Purchase, 2008 MADB 138.645 Originally from the International Furniture Exhibition, Barcelona, 1923 Acquisition, 1932 MDB 25 Saint George Secretary Le Boudoir Améthyste Fidel Aguilar (1894-1917) Marcó Ceramics, ceramicist Santiago Marco i Urrutia (1885-1949) Quart, 1919 55 x 30.5 x 22 cm Wooden base, figure of argerata ceramic and metal spear and bow Barcelona, 1925 110 x 83 x 42 cm Dyed cedar veneered with dyed elm root. Molded darkened wood, wood marquetry, metals (brass, zinc) and mother-of-pearl. Brass pearl border. Silver handles Museu Frederic Marès. Barcelona MFMS-1.225 Purchase, 2009 MADB 138.675 244 245 Folding screen The Creation Armchair Francesc d’Assís Galí (1880-1965) Ramon Sarsanedas Oriol (1896-1987), lacquerer Josep Lluís Sert (1902-1983) J. Ribas, Barcelona, producer Barcelona, 1929 181 x 300 x 3.3 cm Japanese lacquer, urushi, on plywood and inlaid with gold, mother-of-pearl and eggshell Barcelona, 1933-1934 78 x 57 x 60 cm Lacquered wood. Upholstery not original Originally from the Roca Jewelry Store, Barcelona Donation J. Roca Jeweler, 1994 MADB 135.631 Purchase, 1970 MADB 135.344-0 246 247 Noucentist aªrmation of anonymous and popular design Noucentisme also revalued traditional crafts and revived techniques and materials. But its collective orientation, guided by the desire to improve people’s lives, led it to pursue the simplicity of anonymous and popular design. This explains the taste for simple furniture such as the traditional swirl chair, inspiring proposals for dignified interiors, at low cost. In 1923, at the International Furniture and Interior Decoration Exhibition, an international furniture and decoration competition for the modest home was convened, a good example of raising awareness about workers’ living conditions and housing around Europe. The Foment de les Arts Decoratives (Fostering of Decorative Arts) participated with the motto “For the beauty of the humble home.” 249 The praise of popular design Per la bellesa de la llar humil: recull d’orientacions Foment de les Arts Decoratives, publisher Barcelona, 1923 27.8 x 20.7 x 0.5 cm Donation FAD, 2019 MDB. FAD Library Designs of Concurs per a la bellesa de la llar humil Antoni Badrinas i Escudé (1882-1969) Barcelona, 1923 Various sizes Lead pencil and watercolor or colored pencils on paper Donation Badrinas Vancells Family, 2006 MADB 138.458-138.462 The participation of the Foment de les Arts Decoratives (Promotion of the Decorative Arts, FAD) in the international competition of furniture and decoration of the humble home, took shape in the selected projects of Eusebi Busquets, Joan Panyella, Josep Fàbregas, Lluís Bonet with Antoni Badrinas and Joan Salvà, who was the winner. They were all very austere: pine chairs with bulrush seats, ceramic tiles of canvas or of samples, walls decorated with rabbles of geometric or floral motifs, cheerful cretone-patterned curtains and earthenware plates, manifested a double desire for sobriety and rooting in tradition. The FAD recorded this participation in a booklet by the printing company Oliva, whose cover contained a small woodcut, by Antonio Ollé Pinell, which depicted a little girl inside a popular home, where one saw a bulrush chair and sensed the placidness of a simple, yet dignified life, as defended by the noucentists. The decorator Antoni Badrinas, from Terrassa, studied at the Dresden School of Arts and Crafts to learn the role of furniture maker (1908-1914). In 1920 he moved to Barcelona, where he opened a furniture shop and exhibition hall, and in 1921 also created a cabinetry shop. On his furniture, sober and characteristic of the good taste of his time, he often applied inlay. The painter Josep Obiols, one of the pacesetters of noucentisme plastic arts, was the author of many of the refined ornamental themes of these inlay and the carving elements of his furniture. The Design Museum of Barcelona preserves the Badrinas documentary collection related to its role as a furniture maker and decorator: photographs (acquired in 2007 by the museum) and close to 1,400 drawings, both furniture and interiors, which contain more information about the projects –clients, location, etc.–, donated by the Badrinas Vancells family in 2006. Bibl.: P l a 1989; Arts decoratives a Barcelona 1994; El creixement de les col·leccions 2012; F r e i x a 2003. PV 250 251 The simplicity of popular craftsmanship in modern design Pier cabinet Antoni Badrinas i Escudé (1882-1969) Josep Obiols i Palau (1894-1967), marquetry drawing With the conviction that maximum beauty was the result of maximum simplicity, as the critic Rafael Benet asserted, the traditional, popular and anonymous woven cattail chair, brought back by the noucentists, far from historicisms, placed value on popular art as a foundation of modernity. Rationalism and avant-garde of the 1930s, with a more open view, had to contribute to the introduction of the Mediterranean spirit in design, as demonstrated by the furniture and interior design of the GATCPAC. The armchair for the Pavilion of the Republic at the International Exhibition of 1937, in Paris, has become its most notable icon. Barcelona, 1915-1925 100 x 76 x 40 cm Wood with marquetry Purchase, 2009 MADB 138.671 Chair Silleros, SCCL, producer Catalunya, 1915-1936 92 x 44 x 42 cm Turned pine and rush Purchase, 1994 MADB 135.386 252 253 The GATCPAC “model”, a Mediterranean design Armchair Model GATCPAC GATCPAC, Group of Catalan Architects and Technicians for the Progress of Contemporary Architecture MIDVA (Furniture and Decoration of the Current Home), producer Barcelona, 1936 75 x 59.5 x 51.5 cm Oak wood and cord Donation Bonaventura Bassegoda Hugas, 2002 MADB 136.816 The modern interior and along with it the production of furniture underwent a substantial change in the mid-twentieth century, which was even described as the “revolution of the interior.” The GATCPAC (Group of Catalan Architects and Technicians for the Advancement of Contemporary Architecture), created in 1930, in harmony with the functionalist current that took place in the 1920s in Europe, did not keep up with the proposals that were introduced in both architecture and furniture that had to integrate the interiors. In addition, this was understood as the concept of “equipment for the home,” as Le Corbusier had formulated in 1926. At the GATCPAC headquarters, located on one of the main thoroughfares in the city of Barcelona, Passeig de Gràcia, on the corner of Rosselló street, the shop where the necessary materials and furniture were shown was installed on the ground floor in accordance with the new approaches. Initially, models from the firm Thonet, Stylclair, Wohnbedarf, Artek, and others were imported. From 1935 onwards, the idea of making its own furniture at a lower cost was debated within the GATCPAC. It coincided with the creation of the MIDVA firm (Mobiliari i Decoració de la Vivenda Actual, Furniture and Decoration of Today’s Home); hence in the pages of the magazine they edited, A.C. Documentos de Actividad Contemporánea, in number 22 of the second quarter of 1936, this armchair was reproduced. It was the readaptation of popular Balearic island furniture, called a cadiral and that was marketed as a “GATCPAC model.” In essence, its simplicity responded to the idea of essentiality, as it is an armchair designed for the purpose of resting by means of a slight inclination of the backrest and seat height. These qualities made it appropriate, as functionalism saw function as paramount, alongside the idea of comfort. In this piece there is the sum of craftsmen and cabinetmakers in harmony with the designed model. The armchair is made of varnished oak that enhances its growth rings –and its tactile quality is appreciated merely by seeing it– adding to it the Mediterranean character through the braided cord material with which the seat and backrest are made. Its structure, made of prismatic elements, has a curved shape on the back supported by a skewed cut –characteristic of Ibizan furniture– that fits with the arm shape of slight curvature. Commercialized by the architects of the MIDVA society, it gained wide popularity, first, because it was presented, in 1936, at the 254 255 MIDVA Stand at the First Exhibition of Decorating Artists, organized by the Foment de les Arts Decoratives (Fostering of the Decorative Arts), on the dome of the Coliseum and, later, in 1937, when it appeared in the courtyard of the Pavilion of the Spanish Republic of Paris. From 1991 onward, Mobles 114 issued a reedition, but varying, not the form, but the materials to adapt it to current production. It was made of cedar wood and with a backrest and seat of bulrush, which was previously woven to fit the new production. In addition, it should be kept in mind that the original production was made of wood, in opposition to metal furniture, which was the dominant one in the thirties of the twentieth century, responding to the criteria of simplicity, lightness and transparency, because the country did not have a technology suitable for bending the metal tube, while the avant-garde there produced a turn highlighting the Latinism view that Le Corbusier defended and to which the GATCPAC contributed a design identity clearly Mediterranean. Bibl.: Arts Decoratives a Barcelona 1994; c a P e l l a ; l a r r e a 1994; c a m P i 1994; v i d a l 2008; v i d a l i j a n s à 2014. MV 256 Artisanal techniques at the service of art: designer art The progressive appearance of design in the second quarter of the 20th century coincides with a fact that rocked the art world: the borders between the arts disappear and artists feel free to experiment with all of them. While the design world refuses added ornamentation and opts for serial industrial production, the fine trades become a new path of experimentation, beyond its utilitarian aspect. It is the explosive moment for name-brand arts, called “designer art”: art ceramics, art glass, art jewels... All these paths are cultivated by creators, often reviving and adapting craft techniques in unique works. This path arrives at the present, a time when design is redefining new paths and the borders between design, craft and art is melting away. The Museu del Disseny conserves remarkable collections, especially of the fire arts –ceramics, glass and enamel– and jewelry which correspond to new artistic expressions, a symbiosis between artisanal tradition and artistic creation by prominent names, from Picasso and Miró to present artists. 257 Selection from the Enamel, Jewellery and Ceramic collections Panel Pascual Fort (1927-1991) As an example, here is a selection from the aforementioned twentieth-century Enamel and Ceramic collections, and a selection from the Jewellery collection from the second half of the twentieth century. The complete collections can be browsed in the online collections on the Museum website. The same goes for the ‘Extraordinary! Collections of decorative and author-centred art (3rd–20th Century)’ catalogue (2014) and the catalogue for the old Textile and Clothing Museum, ‘El laboratori de la joieria 1940–1990’ (2007). Tarragona, 1967 71.5 x 71 cm Enamel on copper Donation Mercè Barberà Rusiñol, 2014 MADB 138.907 The Creation Miquel Soldevila i Valls (1886-1956) Barcelona, 1950-1955 76.4 x 49.4 x 6 cm (with frame) Enamel painted on copper Purchase, 1970 MADB 121.515 Princess Andreu Vilasís (1934) Barcelona, 1993 47 x 47 cm; 9 x 18.2 cm Opaque and transparent enamels, silver foil and metal oxides on copper Donation Andreu Vilasís, 2014 MADB 138.915 258 259 Music Necklace Montserrat Mainar i Benedicto (1928-2015) Manuel Capdevila i Massana (1910-2006) Barcelona, 1993 35.6 x 47.5 cm Enamel painted on copper Barcelona, 1955 24 x 16 x 1.4 cm Blackened silver plate and pebbles Donation Montserrat Mainar Benedicto, 2013 MADB 138.899 Donation Manuel Capdevila Massana, 1999 MADB 136.475 Monna Margarita Francesc VilasísCapalleja (1932) Necklace and bracelet Barcelona Barcelona, 2013 50 x 56 x 5 cm Painted and miniaturized enamel on copper Aureli Bisbe (1923-2005) Aureli Bisbe Workshops, producer Barcelona, 1987 0.3 cm x 17.5 cm diameter; 6 x 7 x 3 cm Silver Donation Francesc Vilasís-Capalleja, 2014 MADB 138.906 Donation Aureli Bisbe Latorre, 1999 MADB 136.563-0 Fireworks (Night of St. John II) Brooch Núria López-Ribalta (1957) Josep Civit i Giraut (1927-2008) Barcelona, 1997 33 x 33 cm Enamel painted on steel Barcelona, 1979 6.3 x 0.7 cm Granulated silver Donation Núria López-Ribalta, 2013 MADB 138.897 Donation Josep Civit Giraut, 1998 MADB 136.348 260 261 Brooch Brooch The Island Teresa Capella (1945) Ramon Puig Cuyàs (1953) Pforzheim, Germany, 1969 7 x 4.5 x 0.4 cm Silver and methacrylate Barcelona, 1991 8 x 11.9 x 1.5 cm Colored nickel silver Donation Teresa Capella Martí, 1998 MADB 136.310 Donation Ramon Puig Cuyàs, 1998 MADB 136.505 Brooch Hans-Erwin Leicht (1941-2008) Bracelet Matadepera, 1982 6.7 x 5.6 x 0.5 cm Mokume-gane, combination of metals embedded on a copper foil Marta Breis (1953) Barcelona, 1984 7 x 17 x 12 cm Steel threads, plastic sheets, silver, brass and wires Donation Hans-Erwin Leicht, 1998 MADB 136.308 Donation Marta Nogueras Breis, 1998 MADB 136.342 Brooches Prague Brooch National Geographic Joaquim Capdevila i Gaya (1944) Capdevila Workshop, producer Xavier Ines Monclús (1966) Barcelona, 1988 10.5 x 8.4 x 1 cm; 12.9 x 2.5 x 1.2 cm Copper with patina and silver painted with acrylic paint Barcelona, 1994 7 x 4.6 x 1 cm Gold, curved silver, copper, brass, painted wooden slats, classified ads and cold enamel Donation Capdevila Argenters i Joiers to the City of Barcelona, 1999 MADB 136.383-136.384 Donation Xavier Ines Monclús, 1998 MADB 136.332 262 263 Vase Vase Josep Llorens Artigas (1892-1980) Josep Serra Abella (1906-1989) Serra Manufacturing, producer Paris, 1931 36.5 x 25 cm diameter Glazed stoneware Cornellà de Llobregat, 1933 19 x 19 cm diameter Enameled earthenware Purchase, 1934 MCB 22.862 Purchase, 1934 MCB 22.859 Vase Angelina Alòs (1917-1997) Barcelona, 1948 9 x 10.5 cm Glazed stoneware MCB 146.073 Vase Vase Antoni Cumella (1913-1985) Jordi Aguadé (1925) Barcelona, 1978 15.5 x 18 cm diameter Glazed stoneware Granollers, 1964 21 x 25 cm diameter Glazed stoneware Donation Jordi Aguadé Clos, 1981 MCB 112.917 Donation Antoni Cumella, 1991 MCB 112.991 264 265 Clouds Clay jug Mermaid Maria Bofill (1937) Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Poterie Madoura, producer Barcelona, 2007 34 x 13 cm Porcelain Vallauris, 1957 21.5 x 25.9 x 11.5 cm Terracotta with engalba, sgraªto and painted polychrome decoration Donation Maria Bofill, 2007 MCB 154.827 Donation Pablo Picasso, 1957 MCB 64.668 Sculpture ST Plate Mask Enric Mestre (1936) Joan Miró (1893-1983) Joan Gardy Artigas (1938), ceramicist Alboraia, L’Horta Nord (València), 1983 38.5 x 31 x 6 cm Clayfired stoneware with engalba Gallifa, 1977 51 x 49 cm Glazed clayfired stoneware Donation Enric Mestre, 1985 MCB 142.659 Donation Joan Miró and Joan Gardy Artigas, 1981 MCB 112.919 266 267 Sculpture Claudi Casanovas (1956) Riudaura, La Garrotxa (Girona), 1993 12 x 50 cm Clayfired stoneware Donation Claudi Casanovas, 1994 MCB 142.487 Sculpture Vertical black wave Madola (1944) Rosa Amorós (1945) Barcelona, 1981 31 x 30 x 15 cm Clayfired enamelled stoneware and oxycut iron foot Barcelona, 1978 48 x 37 x 15 cm Clayfired stoneware with black enamelled Purchase, 1978 MCB 112.841 Purchase, 1983 MCB 112.988 268 269 The recovery of Gaudí and Modernisme In the years after the Spanish Civil War, the image of Gaudí and the Sagrada Família survived as a possibility of keeping Catalanism alive in a manner tolerated by the Franco regime. In this environment, in 1952, the Friends of Gaudí Association was created, which organized an exhibition at Tinell Hall in 1956, the same date on which the Gaudí Chair of the Graduate School of Architecture was also founded. Later, in 1963 the Gaudí House-Museum was inaugurated at Park Güell. Gaudí’s international recognition came when MOMA dedicated an exhibition to him in 1957, after overcoming the reluctance of museum directors, who defended the modern spirit. The promoter was Columbia professor Georges R. Collins, founder of Friends of Gaudí USA, who had discovered him at the Tinell exhibition. At the same time, the architect Kenji Imai of Waseda University promoted the Japanese section. In 1967, the book The Sources of Modern Architecture and Design by Nikolaus Pevsner argued that the free and functional forms of Art Nouveau were in the origins of modern design. Such e¤orts generated the recovery of Art Nouveau and the great figures such as Guimard, Horta, Mackintosh and also Gaudí and Modernisme. 271 6 Art history and legacy aªrm Modernisme The patrimonial value of Modernisme was highlighted very early in art and architecture history. Josep-Francesc Ràfols, the first biographer of Gaudí (1928), was the one who defined it as a cultural movement in El arte modernista en Barcelona (1943) and Modernismo y modernistas (1949), followed by Alexandre Cirici’s art critique in El arte modernista catalán (1951). Shortly afterwards, Nikolaus Pevsner’s book –The Sources of Modern Architecture and Design– provoked new studies, led by Oriol Bohigas’s Arquitectura modernista (1968), with photographs by Leopold Pomés. Barcelona museums, then directed then by Joan Ainaud of Lasarte, began the collections of modernist heritage as a result of the celebration of two exhibitions, “Artes suntuarias del Modernismo catalán” (1964) and “El modernismo en España” (1969). Later, the organization of large shows such as “El Modernisme” (1990), during the Cultural Olympiad, or events such as the Gaudí Year (2002), have helped keep the interest in the movement alive. 273 An international trend: the psychedelic style and Pop style Graphic design was a leader in the recovery of the appetite for Art Nouveau and Modernisme, thanks to the attraction of popular images of the graphic past. Pop, Neoliberty, psychedelic art and the culture of the masses of the 1960s and 1970s discovered the curving forms and the calligraphic typography of Art Nouveau, which they saw as a clear opposition to the rationalism defended by the definers of the modernity. At the same time, the group known as Gauche Divine (Divine Left), hailing from the enlightened and cosmopolitan bourgeoisie, closely linked to the Catalan cultural industry, emerged in Barcelona. Through the iconic logo of the Bocaccio nightclub (1967-1985) on Muntaner Street and the advertising graphics of the movie Tuset Street, Art Nouveau was resounding, being spread by the Pop movement, and became fashionable again in Europe. 275 Sample of graphic design from the years 1960-1970, which evokes the sinuosity of Art Nouveau graphics Projects by Fernando Amat (Algueró, c. 1969), Toni Miserachs and Xavier Regàs (Bocaccio, 1966), Ramon Bigas (BRM, c. 1970 and Portal Nou), Josep M. Subirachs (Concèntric, 1973) and Josep Baqués (trays and pot, 1974) 276 277 “Design classics”: a second opportunity for Modernisme Art Nouveau design –and also the modernist– has been discovered, reconsidered and extolled by contemporary design. Since the sixties, the reissue of emblematic pieces by Mackintosh, Guimard and Hofmann has turned these elements into “design classics.” Must one be reminded that some objects like curved wooden furniture, Escofet pavements, Masriera jewels, as well as emblematic pieces by Peter Behrens never stopped being produced. In Barcelona, Bd Ediciones de Diseño collected the testimony of Bigas Luna in the seventies, which until 1973 had sold some re-issues of Gaudí in the store Gris, and in 1976 it re-issued Gaudí’s first works of furniture. Some typically decorative Art Nouveau objects by Lambert Escaler or Dionís Renart were also re-issued. In short, emblematic pieces by Gaudí, Jujol and others, joined the “great classics” of international design, a concept that is both a selling point and a cultural distinction, which elevates the value of design to that of a work of art. 279 Contemporary design bolsters Modernisme: reeditions produced in Barcelona The re-edition of some Art Nouveau and modernist objects, driven by contemporary design, has given a second “opportunity” to certain pieces that for some years now have been internationally considered “design classics.” The influence of Nikolaus Pevsner’s book The Sources of Modern Architecture and Design (1967), which for the first time argued that the free and functional forms of Art Nouveau were inseparable from the origin of modern design, was noted. The recovery that arose from Art Nouveau and its great names was the basis of a new way of valuing and approaching the movement. Cassina’s first reissues in Italy with the I Maestri (The Masters) Series –started in 1965 with Le Corbusier’s seats, taking over in the 1970s with reissues of Mackintosh, Rietveld and the Bauhaus– and of Knoll in the United States, opened the door to a new view of these creations. Following Pepa Bueno, it is clear that the promoter of the first reissues of international classics in Barcelona –and in Spain– was the architect Santiago Roqueta. Around 1970, together with Manuel del Llano, they worked on the figure of Rietveld and reproduced seventeen pieces, produced by Ramon Bigas –Módulo Muebles– which were exhibited at the Barcelona College of Architects in May 1970. In fact, Roqueta made the first reissue of the Red and Blue chair, before Cassina, and for a while its reissue matched that of Bd since its founding in 1972. In 1976 Bd reissued Gaudí’s first pieces, although Bigas Luna had been the first promoter of the project, which until 1973 had sold some in Gris, his shop, and which, in closing the store that year, he proposed the production and marketing to Bd. Xavier Carulla and Òscar Tusquets launched a new company, under the umbrella of Bd, to shape these first editions –chair, stool and mirror frame of the Calvet House (1902) and chair and bench of the Casa Batlló (1906). In parallel with Gaudí’s works, in the early days some of the most popular modernist decorative bibelots were also reissued, such as a female head in the form of a tabletop planter, or another applied in a mirror, by Lambert Escaler, or the spectacular nymph vase, by Dionís Renart, which were presented at the 1977 edition of Disueño, plus another of Escaler’s figures with mirror, “Gala,” presented at the third edition, the 1979. 280 The latest Gaudí edition of 2019 is the coat rack from the Calvet house, from 1900-1901, both present in the exhibition, original and reissued. In fact, Gaudí’s objects had the biggest impact, from the chairs to the door handles or this coat rack. Made by another company, reference should be made to another Gaudian design, probably the most seen, or at least the most widely known. We are referring to the Escofet flooring designed by Gaudí, based on a hexagonal tile or panot, which breaks with the format and composition of the time and which has relief. Proposed for the Casa Batlló, it was finally placed for the first time in La Pedrera. Produced until 1964, in 1996 Escofet reissued it, with the relief inverted, to give it more resistance, for outdoor use, and was applied as a pavement on Passeig de Gràcia. But not only Gaudí had the fortune to be carefully reissued. The firm Mobles 114 recently presented a table by the architect Jujol from the 1920s, a reissue of the one kept in the National Museum of Art of Catalonia –a storage piece from the Jujol family–, a unique copy that the architect had at his home. There is also a bottle designed in 1912 by Jujol for use by Barcelona’s Family House orphanage, which was never manufactured. It was reproduced by Bd in clear and blue glass, and in white glazed ceramic, based on the only photograph preserved in the Jujol Archive. The concept of reissue often provokes debates and di¤ering opinions regarding the reproduction system, rights, term, materials to be used, format, number of pieces, etc. At the same time, it allows us to reflect on the possibility of industrial or semi-industrial serialization of pieces that originally were basically handmade production. In other words, on how contemporary design has to be approached in view of the classics, based on rigor and knowledge, but in accord with contemporaneity, never falling for the easy and opportunistic results. Because quality editions undoubtedly give the original designs a second life, and speak at the same time of the maturity of contemporary design and, of course, of the mythification of classics that, paradoxically, are admired as unique works of art, thus losing the essence of the very own standardization of the design. Bibl.: n a r o t z k Y 2007; r o s s e l l ó i n i c o l a u 2009; b u e n o 2019. PV 281 Tiles Hydraulic Tiles Rafael Masó i Valentí (1880-1935) La Gabarra Faiances Emporitanes, producer Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852-1926) Hijo de E.F. Escofet SA, producer Escofet 1886 SA, producer La Bisbal d’Empordà, 1915-1916. 2005 Edition 20 x 20 cm, each Glazed and enameled ceramic Tiles Barcelona, c. 1906. Edition grey 1961 and Edition green 1997 2.3 x 28.5 x 25 cm Cement Originals at the Athenea building, Girona Purchase, 2005 MADB 138.369-138.371 and 138.373 Originals at the Casa Milà, Barcelona Donation Escofet 1886 SA, 2004 MADB 136.942-136.943 282 283 Bottle Family Home Coat rack from the Casa Calvet. BD Art Editions Collection Josep Maria Jujol i Gibert (1879-1949) BD Ediciones de Diseño, SA, 1998-2007, producer BD Barcelona Design, after 2007, producer Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852-1926) Casas i Bardés Workshop, Barcelona, 1900-1901, producer BD Barcelona Design, after 2019, producer Barcelona, 1912 (design). 2020 Edition 27 x 13 cm diameter Glass Barcelona, 1900-1901. 2020 Edition 23 x 22 x 24 cm Carved and turned oak wood, wrought iron Donation BD Barcelona Design, 2020 MDB 12.541 Donation BD Barcelona Design, 2020 MDB 12.542 Table Jujol 1920 O¤ice chair of Mr. Calvet Josep Maria Jujol i Gibert (1879-1949) Mobles 114, after 2019, producer Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852-1926) Casas i Bardés Workshop, 1900-1901, producer Unknown workshop, c. 1967, producer Barcelona, 1920-1927. 2019 Edition 90 x 68 x 64 cm Oak wood Barcelona, 1900-1901. c. 1967 Edition 101 x 67 x 57 cm Cut oak wood Donation Mobles 114, 2019 MDB 12.074 Loan Gaudí Chair. CGEX 0021 284 285 Door knobs from the Casa Milà. BD Art Editions Collection Peephole and door handle of the Casa Calvet. BD Art Editions Collection Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852-1926) BD Ediciones de Diseño, SA, 1978-2007, producer BD Barcelona Design, after 2007, producer Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852-1926) BD Ediciones de Diseño, SA, 1978-2007, producer BD Barcelona Design, after 2007, producer Barcelona, c. 1910. 2020 Edition 6 x 10 cm; 4 x 5 cm Brass casting Barcelona, 1902. 2020 Edition 17 x 17 cm; 11 x 23 cm Brass casting Donation BD Barcelona Design, 2020 MDB 12.532-4-5 Donation BD Barcelona Design, 2020 MDB 12.539 and 12.540 Chair Batlló Handles and Door knobs from Casa Batlló. BD Art Editions Collection Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852-1926) Casas i Bardés Workshop, Barcelona, c. 1904, producer BD Ediciones de Diseño, SA, 1976-2007, producer Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852-1926) BD Ediciones de Diseño, SA, 1978-2007, producer BD Barcelona Design, after 2007, producer Barcelona, c. 1904. 2005 Edition 75 x 52 x 49 cm Cut oak wood Barcelona, c. 1904. 2020 Edition 6 x 10 cm; 4 x 8 cm, Brass casting Purchase, 2005 MADB 136.986 Donation BD Barcelona Design, 2020 MDB 12.533, 12.536-7-8 286 287 Masriera Jewelry: an uninterrupted modernist design While modernist furniture was, at best, stu¤ed in a corner of the attic, replaced by others in accordance with new tastes, and forgotten for decades, the case for modernist Masriera jewelry was very di¤erent. On November 30, 1913, Lluís Masriera delivered a speech to the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts, entitled “The Fall of Modernisme,” which pronounced the end of Modernisme, because “it had gone out of style,” praising the Greek origin of our race, Mediterranean culture and classicism. Two years later, on December 7, 1915, when the Modernisme era was teetering, the Masriera brothers –Lluís, Josep and Ricard– together with Joaquim Carreras Nolla, member of another great lineage of Barcelona goldsmiths, formed the Masriera Brothers and Joaquín Carreras company, shortly afterwards Masriera y Carreras. This meant the beginning of a new stage in the shop, with many successes to come, but the goal, as the foundational writings made clear, was to exploit the modernist models of Lluís Masriera, which were still admired and requested by customers, despite the gradual change of taste. This explains why at this time the Catalogs of Models of all 1:1 scale designs was organized from 1901 to 1915, very useful repertoires in the workshop, and nowadays seminal and essential to be able to prove the authorship of the pieces. The objective was made possible due to the Masriera jewelry fabrication process, which enabled serial production with a system of plaster molds and dies or punches, positive and negative, of high precision that allow the reproduction of the pieces. That is, from the same theme numerous di¤erent pieces could be created. A good example of this is the model of the Renaissance female figure wearing a cap, known in the Masriera workshops as “the Dutch woman,” present in the workshop books for the first time in 1908, which became one of their icons. This particularity made them stand out in the panorama of great European Art Nouveau jewelry, often limited to the single piece, which they also cultivated. It was also a reflection of the art-industry symbiosis characteristic of the turn of the century. In this case, moreover, also added was the adaptation of the reduction lathe or pantograph that the Masrieras adopted in their technified workshops. Today the Masriera collection is part of the Bagués-Masriera firm. After a period of decline, the Bagués jewelers acquired and re- Woman’s Head and Mirror Lambert Escaler i Milà (1874-1957) BD Ediciones de Diseño, SA, 1974-2007, producer Barcelona, 1901-1903. 1974 Edition 25 x 43 x 16 cm Hand finished and polished polyester. Pink mirror Private Collection 288 289 covered it between 1969 and 1985, coinciding with what we can call “the second triumph of Modernisme.” Since then, the reproducibility of the system again favored serial production, while the manual enamel finishes, stone mounting, chiseling and polishing, framing edges, combined with the di¤erent colors of the materials, have contributed to the individualization of the pieces that came from the same mold. Moreover, Bagués-Masriera preserves the documentary archive. Brooch Bibl.: Els Masriera 1996; v é l e z 1999; v é l e z 2004; v é l e z 2017. Lluís Masriera i Rosés (1872-1958) PV Barcelona, c. 1908. Bagués Masriera Edition, 2020 5.6 cm x 4.4 cm diameter Chiseled gold, diamonds, pearls, enamel and plique-à-jour enamel Pendant Lluís Masriera i Rosés (1872-1958) Masriera Hermanos, producer Barcelona, c. 1908 5.6 cm x 4.4 cm diameter Chiseled gold, diamonds, pearls, enamel and plique-à-jour enamel Masriera Hermanos y Joaquín Carreras Catalog, vol.2, num. 1818 Bagués Masriera Collection Mold and countermold of the pendant-brooch Bagués Masriera Collection Masriera Hermanos Barcelona, c. 1908 4.55 x 7.77 cm (mold); 4.1 x 5.5 cm (countermold) Steel Bagués Masriera Collection 290 291 Reflection: the second triumph of Modernisme Into the third decade of the 21st century, Modernisme has become one of the main cultural and tourist attractions of Barcelona. The years when modernist objects were once considered as bad taste are forgotten in the attic and the talk about demolishing the Palau de la Música Catalana of Domènech i Montaner continued ... until 1997 when it was declared a part of world heritage by UNESCO! We are witnessing a process of “museumization” of the Art Nouveau European cities, and Barcelona is an emblematic case. While design produces high quality replicas and the arts are inspired by curving forms or artisan techniques such as trencadís, tourism has developed its merchandise halfway between quality garments and mass production kitsch. It should be possible to find a middle point that supports the pleasure of culture and tourism as well as the good of our cities and heritage. Hopefully the new circumstances post Covid-19 will help us to achieve this. 293 7 Bibliography a i x a l à et al. 2008 a i x a l à , c.; d. g a l í ; r. l a c u e s t a , “Azulejos cristálicos de la casa Oliva Hermanos, de Barcelona”. 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