Modernism: Art Nouveau Architecture
Sketched and Explained
Number of sessions: 30
Length of each session: 1,5 hour
Total length of the module: 45 hours
INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE
Modernism is the most idiosyncratic, creative and original of all European Art Nouveau
movements. It also gives Barcelona its distinctive image and brings to mind the name of
Gaudí. But a general overview of this style will always be slightly misleading just because in
Modernism the art is in the detail, and details are what general overviews leave out. This
course offers the opportunity to discover the master works of Barcelona’s Art Nouveau
architecture and the marvels of design contained in them. The history and cultural context
of Modernism will be explained in the classroom, but this course will give special emphasis
to the outdoors practice. Students will do sketches in front of the buildings and in the
museum discovering and appreciating the often hidden qualities of the flowing Art Nouveau
lines. The approach will be much more personal and accurate than if given in the strictly
academic fashion.
REQUIREMENTS
Fluent in English.
Students are not required to have any previous artistic training.
CONTENTS
1.) The architecture of Gaudí
- Casa Batlló
- La Pedrera
- El Palau Güell
2.) Exploring Parc Güell
- Mosaics and trencadís
- Texture and light
- Symbols of nature and religion
3.) The architecture and designs of Josep Maria Jujol
- The esgrafiats
- La Casa del Ous
- La Casa Negre
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4.) Marvelous objects: the fantasy of modernist interior design
- Gaspar Homar
- The iron work
- The stain glass
5.) The Gothic revival of Josep Puig i Cadafalch
- Casa de les Punxes
- Casa Ametller
- Palau de la Música
6.) The Modernista factory
- Casa Ramona
- La Fàbrica Pujol i Bausis
- La Fàbrica Moncunill
GRADING
The final grade will be calculated as follows:
Class participation (40%) + in-class presentations and projects (40%) + Final paper (20%)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Bohigas, Oriol (1983), Reseña y catálogo de la arquitectura Modernista, Barcelona, Lumen.
- Bohigas, Oriol (1968), Arquitectura modernista, Barcelona, Lumen.
- Fabre, Jaume and Huertas, J.M. (1989) Barcelona, la construcció d’una Ciutat.
- Fernandez Armesto, Felipe (1991), Barcelona: A Thousand Years of the City’s Past.
- Gombrich, Ernst (1994), The sense of Order: a Study in the Psychology of Pictorial
Representation, Phaidon Press, London.
- Hitchcock, Henry-Russell, (1978), Architecture: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Penguin
Books, New York 1977.
- Hughes, Robert (1993), Barcelona, Vintage Books, New York.
- Mendoza, Eduardo (1988) City of Marvels.
- Permanyer, Lluís (1990) Historia del Eixample.
- Ràfols, J. F. (1974) La arquitectura de J. M. Jujol.
- Schmutzler, Robert (1978), Art Nouveau, Harry N Abrams, New York.
- Solà-Morales, I. y otros 1988 Josep Maria Jujol arquitecte 1879-1979. Barcelona Col·legi
d'Arquitectes de Catalunya.
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