Introduction

The rediscovery

The time elapsed since Gaudí’s death in 1926 offers us the perspective necessary to rediscover his work and conduct a more objective analysis of his legacy, both in the academic as well as in the communicational spheres. Moreover, this analysis is now favoured by the change in aesthetic and historiographical attitude that has taken place in our society, because thanks to reflections handed down by post-modernity, the univocal tendencies and dogmatic readings of the past have been repudiated. Consequently, the orthodoxy of exclusionary avant-gardes no longer rules; rather the contrary, art, in any of its manifestations, is now seen in a far more open and reasoned, less aprioristic manner. I would even dare say that we can now speak candidly of adornment, decoration and beauty. Thus, in some sectors the work of Gaudí has passed from being considered decadent to being understood as radically modern and free.

A decisive factor in these circumstances has been the growing enthusiasm for all things related to Modernisme in its different versions: Art Nouveau, Jugendstil, Stile Liberty, Secession and so on. An enthusiasm which, by 1999, had led fourteen European cities to join forces seeking the support of the European Union to study and disseminate the values of this ism. With this in mind, they created the Réseau Art Nouveau Network, an initiative that was just the beginning of this recovery of Modernisme which has been implemented by numerous studios and through such significant exhibitions as Art Nouveau 1890-1914 (London, 2000), 1900 (Paris, 2000), Paris-Barcelona (Paris and Barcelona, 2001-2002), Barcelona & Modernity. Picasso, Gaudí, Miró, Dalí (Cleveland and New York, 2006-2007), Barcelona 1900 (Amsterdam, 2007-2008) and De Gaudí a Picasso (Valencia, 2010). These displays have contributed to highlighting the fact that Art Nouveau and Catalan Modernisme were two contemporary phenomena of equal importance that were inextricably interrelated, and that Gaudí was a central and exceptional figure on the Catalan scene. We have reasons to believe however that he never wanted to follow fashion, but chose instead to live the life of a recluse in Barcelona, fleeing from public attention and paying little heed to what was happening in the Europe of the early 20th century.

Finally, I attribute the success of this rediscovery of Gaudí to the celebration of International Gaudí Year in 2002, an event which would signify his definitive recognition. Not only because the initiative was widely disseminated by Barcelona City Council through a comprehensive website that also included documented information on the architect and his work, wonderfully illustrated with a remarkable selection of photographs that interpreted Gaudí better than ever before (www.gaudi2002.bcn.es); but also because the ultimate goal of the commemoration was to acquaint the wider public with aspects of Gaudí’s buildings that went beyond his façades and their postcard and poster images. In other words, it set out to make these buildings permeable, so that visitors could understand them, and this can only be achieved from the personal experience brought about by the forms, colours, textures and symbols that Gaudí conceived of.

Recognition and rejection

Appreciation of Gaudí’s work is beyond doubt today, but we should remember that this has not always been the case. True, the architect received support from some of his contemporaries, such important and highly respected men of culture as Jacint Verdaguer, Joan Maragall, Enric Prat de la Riba, Josep Pla, Josep Pijoan and Francesc Pujols, as well, of course, as a sector of the Catalan bourgeoisie, which allowed itself to be overawed by his innovative and in those days bizarre proposals. By and large, however, his contemporaries, Modernistes and Noucentistes alike, publicly pronounced their astonishment at his designs, which they rejected out of incomprehension or disconformity with his ideological and aesthetic positions. These comments and references may be found in the newspapers, journals and magazines of the day, and often ridiculed his work, in particular La Pedrera, Güell Park and Sagrada Família, though none of this succeeded in persuading Gaudí to abandon either his ideas or his creation.

Gaudí’s oeuvre is one that reflects energy and intensity, thus it should come as no surprise that over the years the opinions it has generated have also been extreme, from reproach to advocacy. He has a large and well known group of detractors, which is why we consider it appropriate to mention those who, against all odds and paving the way for his following today, defended Gaudí’s architecture from a rational standpoint. Prominent among them was the architect Josep Lluís Sert who, in 1954, announced that “in the continuous evolution of modern architecture, the latest Gaudinian experiences will take on greater value and will be fully appreciated. Then, the greatness of his role as a pioneer will be acknowledged”. We should also recall the art critic and poet Joan Teixidor, who stated in 1952 on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of the “enormous and controversial creator of strikingly original forms (…) the complexity of which is often mistaken for enigma and extravagance”, that the “passage of time can do no more than conspire in his favour”; and the prestigious engineer José Antonio Fernández Ordóñez, the most vehement exponent, who in 1965 proclaimed that “no leading figure of our art has been treated with such irresponsibility and ignorance as Gaudí”.

We also find this contrast of criteria at the international level. In 1938, the writer George Orwell insisted in his book Homage to Catalonia that Sagrada Família was “one of the most horrendous buildings in the world”, while the architect Walter Gropius held that the walls of this church, which he visited personally in 1907, were “a marvel of technical perfection”, according to the piece in the periodical El Propagador de la Devoción a San José published on 1 June 1932.

First recognition at the international level

One of the first to defend Gaudí’s work at both the national and international levels was the painter Salvador Dalí, and he did so passionately in the surrealist circles of Paris and in the journal Minotaure where, in 1933 and some seven years after Gaudí’s death, he published his now famous article “De la beauté terrifiante et comestible de l’architecture Modern Style” (On the Terrifying and Edible Beauty of Art Nouveau Architecture), illustrated with excellent photographs taken by Man Ray. In the text, Dalí expressed his admiration for the works of Antoni Gaudí and made explicit the close affinity he had discovered between organic, natural shapes, Gaudinian morphology and the surrealist doctrine.

Another advocate of Gaudinian architecture was Le Corbusier. Referring to the small, temporary schools building at Sagrada Família, which he discovered on a visit to Spain in 1928, the Swiss architect wrote: “What I saw in Barcelona was the work of a man of extraordinary force, faith and technical capacities (…) Gaudí is the professional builder of 1900, in stone, iron and bricks. His glory is acknowledged today in his own country. Gaudí was a great artist”. The impression this building made on Le Corbusier was so huge that he drew it in his notebook, a sketch which has been widely reproduced to describe this smaller-scale work by Gaudí. Moreover, the Catalan architect’s influence in Le Corbusier’s production could go still further, since there are even those who have established conceptual links between some of Gaudí’s works and the chapel of Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp, designed by the Swiss architect.

Despite being less direct or passionate, the contribution made by the first director of the MOMA in New York, Alfred H. Barr Jr., should be equally underlined. In 1936, when selecting works to be displayed in the Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism exhibition he was preparing for the museum, he decided to include modernista creations, as well as a number of Gaudinian objects.

But the person who has probably done most to eulogise the figure of Gaudí at the national and international levels is the previously mentioned Barcelona architect Josep Lluís Sert. Prior to becoming president of the International Congress of Modern Architecture (CIAM) from 1947 to 1956, and dean of the Harvard School of Architecture between 1953 and 1968, Sert undertook an outstanding task of dissemination of Gaudí’s oeuvre.

It was he who recommended Le Corbusier to visit the architect’s work in 1928, he who defended it in 1934 in the pages of the magazine AC (mouthpiece of the GATCPAC), and he who pushed for celebration of the Gaudí exhibition, curated by Henry-Russell Hitchcock, which the New York MOMA prepared in 1958 and which conducted a broad review of Gaudí’s work through 85 photographs and objects. Finally it was he who, along with James Johnson Sweeney, wrote the book Antoni Gaudí, in which he made a general study of the man both from the personal and biographical point of view as well as from the artistic and architectural perspective. With editions in English, German and Spanish, the publication was widely disseminated and proved decisive in the globalisation of Gaudí’s work.

Recovery on the home front

In Spain, it would be the end of the post-war period before the first symptom appeared of public reacceptance of the figure of Gaudí, and it was found in the Friends of Gaudí Association (Amics de Gaudí), created in 1952 by Cèsar Martinell, who was also its president. The aim of this association, which brought together the forces of architectural renewal rooted in rationalism and organicism, was to celebrate the centenary of Gaudí’s birth and from there to promote wider diffusion and appreciation of his work. The most conspicuous event they prepared was a commemorative exhibition which was presented in the Saló del Tinell in Barcelona in 1956 and which served as inspiration for the display held soon after at the MOMA in New York. The initiative was very well received in cultural circles, so much so that Friends of Gaudí was spurred to open offices in other countries around the world. In 1956, the Centre of Gaudinist Studies (Centro de Estudios Gaudinistas) was founded as a section of the association with the support of the Association of Architects of Catalonia and the Balearics. The Centre’s declared aim was to promote “documented knowledge of the work” of Gaudí, establish the relationship between his architecture and “that of the day” and foster an atmosphere conducive to “the most appropriate continuation of Sagrada Família”. So they set about organising guided tours, lectures, competitions and publications that revolved around the living forces of architecture and the history of art.

After falling inactive in 1973 due to Martinell’s death, the Centre of Gaudinist Studies initiated a new stage of activity in 1994, driven on this occasion by Toshiaki Tange and Luis Gueilburt. Every year from 1994 to 2002, the Centre organised a series of extremely well attended International Conferences of Gaudinist Studies.

Among other activities linked to the conservation of Gaudi’s furniture and buildings, documentation and archive, in 1961 Friends of Gaudí acquired the pilot building in Güell Park, in which Gaudí had once lived. In 1963, the building was converted into a House Museum which now forms part of the heritage of La Sagrada Família and in which objects and furnishings designed by Gaudí are still displayed, along with some of the architect’s personal effects.

Also decisive in this recovery process has been the work undertaken by the Gaudí Chair (Càtedra Gaudí), attached to the Barcelona School of Architecture at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) and which, since 1956, has been engaged in collecting documents, publications and objects related to the life and work of Antoni Gaudí, as well as promoting research and publications. The Chair’s first director was Josep Francesc Ràfols, a biographer and disciple of Gaudí’s, and when he retired academic direction of the Chair was assumed by the prestigious art historian and architect Josep Maria Sostres Maluquer. He was succeeded in 1968 by Joan Bassegoda i Nonell, who held the Chair until late 2008, when Professor Jaume Sanmartí was appointed its director.

The Gaudí Chair was the primary driving force behind moves which, in 1969, succeeded in having seventeen works by Gaudí declared National Historic-Artistic Monuments (a distinction at that time only open to buildings more than a hundred years old) and which, in 1984, resulted in Palau Güell, the Güell Park and La Pedrera being declared World Heritage Sites by Unesco, the highest international accolade that could be bestowed upon a building or place. As a consequence of the stimulus represented by International Gaudí Year and actions carried out by the Generalitat de Catalunya Culture Department and the Spanish Ministry of Culture, in 2005 this distinction would be extended to include the following works: Casa Vicens, the church at Colònia Güell, Casa Batlló, and the Nativity Façade and crypt of Sagrada Família.

Acceptance by international historiography

Despite the importance and influence of these champions of Gaudí at the international level, they were not enough for the architect to be given the recognition he deserved in the field of the historiography of art and architecture. This would require several more years, as Gaudí would not cease to be considered an outsider until international style began to be questioned and enter into decline and until modern architecture initiated its adventure into other fields of expression linked to organicity and natural models.

The case of Sigfried Giedion is a good example. In his 1941 reference work Space, Time and Architecture, Gaudí is not even mentioned. Of course his reading of what is modern also ignores such relevant figures as Hoffmann, Olbrich, Mendelsohn and Mackintosh.

This contrasts with Nikolaus Pevsner who, in the first edition of his seminal work Pioneers of Modern Design (1936), did not actually forget Gaudí, but only referred to him in the notes. Fortunately, in the prologue to the first Spanish edition of his book Pevsner himself expressed regret for this omission, saying: “If I had to write my book again, it is here that I would make the most important modifications. I now think it absolutely necessary for Antoni Gaudí, who is only mentioned in the explanatory notes, to feature in the text as Art Nouveau’s most significant architect, as he effectively is. I’d go further, I think he was the only genius that movement really produced”.

However, the man who dared break most decidedly with the Anglo-Saxon canons, rationalist systems and Wrightian vision of modernity was the Italian architect and historian Bruno Zevi who, in his Storia dell’Architettura Moderna (History of Modern Architecture) (1950), situated Gaudí alongside Horta, Van de Velde, Mackintosh, Wagner, Olbrich and Hoffmann, in other words, those he considered to be paving an anti-academic path which facilitated his progress in a more organicist direction. In this wager, Gaudí was the link Zevi needed to bind Modernisme and modernista creators to the organic architecture that was beginning to emerge in the Europe of those days. So to this end he devoted a book to the architect entitled Un genio catalano: Antonio Gaudí (A Catalan Genius: Antonio Gaudí) (1950), a volume that changed the orientation of critique of the building design of those decades and transformed Gaudí into a key figure of 20th century architecture.

In Italy, the way forged by Zevi in the study and defence of Gaudí found numerous followers. One of the first was Roberto Pane, the prestigious Professor of History at the University of Naples. In 1964, Pane published a monograph bringing together all the research he had done up to that point, which he subsequently complemented with several articles. Also worthy of mention is the contribution made by Professor Leonardo Benevolo who, in his Storia dell’Architettura Moderna (History of Modern Architecture) (1973), defended the heterodox contribution of art nouveau in opposition to the prevailing Italian neo-Liberty. He situated Gaudí as one of the pioneers of modernity, literally saying: “We need go no further than compare the dates the works appeared […] with the chronology of the first avant-garde European buildings and movements, for the Catalan architect’s foresightedness to be brought to the fore”. The comments of Manfredo Tafuri and Francesco Dal Co are also of interest when, in their Architettura Contemporanea (Contemporary Architecture) (1977), they interpret art nouveau as the self-liquidation of classicism and assert that Gaudí is no longer an “isolated genius”, nor the creator of an eccentric architecture, but rather an architect who shared the spirit of arts and crafts and of Violletian Neo-Gothicism.

This recapitulation cannot fail to include the work undertaken by Dr. George R. Collins, Professor of Art History at the University of Columbia. While Sert’s role in the dissemination of Gaudí in the United States is extremely important, no less so is that of Collins, who is the author of various studies on Gaudí outstanding among which are a monograph (1960), an impressive bibliography on the Catalan architect and Modernisme (1973) and the catalogue of Gaudí’s drawings (1983) he prepared together with Professor Joan Bassegoda i Nonell. Professor Collins’ involvement in the defence of Gaudí even led him to chair the Friends of Gaudí Association in the United States and to bequeath his archive to the Art Institute of Chicago, convinced that the institution would take care of its conservation, as has in fact been the case.

Together with these works, mention should be made of the major piece of research conducted by the Japanese architect and writer Tokutoshi Torii. With the aid of the Instituto de España, in 1983 he published El mundo enigmático de Gaudí (The Enigmatic World of Gaudí), two volumes devoted to the complete Gaudí, the first as an exegesis of his life and work, and the second with profuse, exceptional graphic documentation.

Also of great interest are the contributions made by the Dutch engineer Jan Molema who, in 1985, dedicated his doctoral thesis to Gaudí, the document, Antonio Gaudí. Un camino hacia la originalidad (Antonio Gaudí. A Path Towards Originality) being published in Spanish in 1992. In 1975, Molema had founded the Gaudí-groep Delft, from which he launched various works on the architect and published, in 2004, the clear and comprehensive book Gaudí. Constructie van verleiding (Gaudí. The Construction of Dreams), of which the Spanish version (Gaudí. La construcción de los sueños) would appear in 2009.

However, I cannot end this review of works centred on Gaudí and distributed internationally without referring to Gaudí, Rationalist Met Perfecte Materia Albeheersing [Gaudí. Rationalist with Perfect Control over Material] (1979), which in fact brought together the Gaudí-groep Delft studies and was the stimulus that found continuation in the book Gaudí. Das Model (Gaudí. The Model) (1989), published by Jos Tomlow on the initiative of Harald Szeemann. The book was a compilation of the exhaustive documentation produced under the supervision of Professor Frei Otto, director of the Institute of Lightweight Structures in Stuttgart, during the process of execution of a full-scale replica of Gaudí’s hanging model now on display in the Sagrada Família Museum.

Evaluation of criticism in Spain

In life, Gaudí was a person little inclined to disseminate either his work or his theories. Thus the huge value of books left for us by his disciples: the previously mentioned Josep Francesc Ràfols, his biographer (1929); Joan Bergós, in Gaudí, l’home i l’obra (Gaudí, the Man and the Work) (1954); Isidre Puig-Boada, with the dedicated monographs El templo de la Sagrada Familia. Síntesis del arte de Gaudí (The Sagrada Família Church. Synthesis of Gaudí’s Art) (1952) and La iglesia de la colonia Güell (The Church at Colònia Güell) (1976), and Cèsar Martinell, with his books Gaudí i la Sagrada Família (1951), La Sagrada Familia (1952) and, above all, Gaudí: su vida, su teoría y su obra (Gaudí: His Life, His Theory and His Work) (1967). Beyond these authors however, whose writings may have been influenced in some way by their personal acquaintanceship with the architect, we should highlight others from the bibliography published in Spain and favourable to Gaudí and his contribution to the history of art and architecture. They include Professor Alexandre Cirici, with his publication of a pioneering book dedicated to Arte modernista catalán (Catalan Modernista Art) (1951) which features a significant chapter devoted to Gaudianism, and of a monograph devoted to the Sagrada Família (1952). And the critic and poet Juan Eduardo Cirlot, another keen student of Gaudí, who established a link between the architect and the Avant-garde in two books that remain in print to this day: El arte de Gaudí (The Art of Gaudí) (1950) and Introducción a la arquitectura de Gaudí (Introduction to the Architecture of Gaudí) (1966), a poetic, passionate interpretation of the architect that has lost none of its poignancy.

A more modern and current reading of Gaudí is that made by the architect and historian Oriol Bohigas in Arquitectura modernista (Modernista Architecture) (1968), a vision he completed later with various articles and the book entitled Reseña y catálogo de la arquitectura modernista (Overview and Catalogue of Modernista Architecture) (1973).

As from the 1970s, one cannot fail to mention the works of the architect Joan Bassegoda who for many years was professor at the Barcelona School of Architecture-UPC, director of the Gaudí Chair and president of the Friends of Gaudí Association. In particular among these publications is El gran Gaudí (The Great Gaudí) (1989), a work of reference that exhaustively documents Gaudí, his life, his work and his commitments and which, despite being something of a patchwork compilation of numerous articles, reports and memoires written throughout his life, nonetheless offers valuable data. In those years, Bassegoda’s vision was complemented by that of his fellow architect Carlos Flores, who from Madrid made an enthusiastic defence of Gaudí and Jujol as key figures of Modernisme (1982). And joining them in the interpretation of Gaudí’s architecture may be added a group of architects and art historians among whom Salvador Tarragó (1974), Ignacio Solà-Morales (1983) and Juan José Lahuerta (1992) stand out for the significance of their contributions. They are all authors who shy away from the traditional hagiographic line of the Noucentistes and offer details and reflections that help situate Gaudí in the modern world.

Neither should we forget the abundant bibliography generated from the moment the computer was first used to define and calculate Gaudinian structures. Publications that are perhaps too specialised for the general reader, but which represent a significant contribution because they highlight the fact that behind Gaudí the artist, sculptor, master of the plastic language and resources associated with the trades, exists the Gaudí of geometrical synthesis, he who refused to be carried away by sentiment, who never designed forms without reason. Among these publications it is essential to cite Antoni Gaudí. Expiatory Church of the Sagrada Família (1993) by Professor Mark Burry of RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia; La Sagrada Familia. De Gaudí al CAD (1996) whose authors are J. Gómez, J. Coll, J. C. Melero and M. Burry and whose line is continued in Sagrada Família S. XXI. Gaudí ara /ahora / now (2008); El último Gaudí (The Ultimate Gaudí) (2000) by Jordi Bonet; the catalogue for the exhibition Gaudí. Exploring form. Space. Structure and construction (2002); El templo de la Sagrada Familia (The Church of the Sagrada Família) by Jordi Faulí (2006), and Gaudí Unseen. Completing the Sagrada Familia (2007) by the previously cited Mark Burry.

Gaudinian architecture and the world of the image

At this stage it would be banal to say Gaudí’s work is internationally known, as perhaps it would be to recall the transcendental role photography has played in its dissemination. Nevertheless, I would like to insist in the fact that Gaudí’s work has enhanced the scope of photographers, because despite the difficulty inherent in confronting his buildings they undoubtedly facilitate extensive plastic and constructive experimentation. I also think it necessary to praise the work undertaken by the architects, photographers, publishers and friends of Gaudí, Marino and Emilio Canosa Gutiérrez, professors at the schools of architecture in Barcelona and Madrid respectively. Shortly after the architect’s death, they made a complete photographic report of Gaudí’s buildings, which they published in 1929 illustrating the book written by Josep Francesc Ràfols. Their work is considered one of the most attentive, detailed readings of the architect’s oeuvre. In fact, those original photographs and their plates, today deposited in the Image Processing and Multimedia Technology Centre (CITM) of the UPC (Terrassa) are, in my opinion, the most reliable document for consultation when analysing Gaudí’s original work, because over and above the quality of the images we encounter a pristine Gaudí, one that has yet to suffer the alterations produced by reforms, restorations and mutilations.

If in documentary terms we inevitably speak of the Canosa brothers, the choice of those who have best interpreted Gaudí’s work artistically is more challenging. We would be obliged however to refer to the surrealist artist and photographer Man Ray, some of whose images of La Pedrera, as we have mentioned, illustrated an article by Salvador Dalí in the journal Minotaure. We should also mention Joaquim Gomis who, in the 1950s and 60s and following the dictates of subjective photography, profusely captured Gaudinian buildings, published several books in the Fotoscop series and presented numerous slide shows in European and American universities; and Francesc Catalá-Roca, whose works can be situated within the realms of the most disciplined photographic realism, reason for which they have illustrated monographic books by Martinell and Solà-Morales, as well as many of the guides (of Barcelona, Catalonia and Spain) Catalá-Roca himself produced throughout his lifetime.

Though of a different register but equally powerful are the pictures taken by the French photographer, writer and filmmaker Clovis Prévost, one of those who has best been able to capture the force of the Gaudinian universe, which he began photographing as a student at the Paris School of Architecture. Contemplating the intensity and effectism of his images one can understand that it was not by chance that Salvador Dalí invited him to illustrate the book he promoted with Robert Descharnes in 1969.

Their mysterious, amazing perspective makes the images of the Japanese photographer Eikoh Hosoe impossible to forget. After being introduced to Gaudí’s work in 1964, he spent the next thirteen years capturing it in a singular fashion which has subsequently been followed by such other Japanese artists as Kishin Shinoyama, Hiroshi Teshigahara and Yukio Futagawa, to name but a few.

Returning, however, to our more immediate setting, I cannot fail to mention Leopoldo Pomés, Humberto Rivas, Rafael Vargas, Ramon Manent and Marc Llimargas, as well as Pere Vivas and Ricard Pla, just some of the many Catalan contemporary photographers who have also felt attracted by Gaudí and have worked with his oeuvre. Their visions have been both different and complementary and feature in numerous books published in Spain and abroad. A recent addition to this list was Gabi Beneyto who, with his 3-D photographs, has succeeded in bestowing a hitherto unseen volume and depth on Gaudí’s work which, in essence, respond to the three-dimensional thinking behind the architect’s creations.

Beyond the bounds of photography, we should also speak of the broader world of the image and the countless films that have been produced, either devoted to the architect, such as Gaudí (Josep M. Forn), Gaudí (Josep M. Argemí), Antonio Gaudí, una visión inacabada (John Alaimo), Gaudí (Manuel Huerga) and Gaudí, el rumor de una línea (Manuel Cussó and Evger Bavcar), or employing his work as scenery, as in Professione: reporter (Michelangelo Antonioni), Últimas tardes con Teresa (Gonzalo Herralde), Todo sobre mi madre (Pedro Almodóvar), Gaudí Afternoon (Susan Seidelman) and, more recently, Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Woody Allen).

Though I have no doubt that to truly understand the work of Gaudí it is absolutely essential to explore its penetralia, it is evident that in the same way as photographers owe Gaudí a great deal he is also indebted to them, because without them and their work the Catalan artist would not today be recognised the world over as an exceptional figure of modern architecture.

Index