Book Description
"Color in architecture must be intense, logical, and fertile," wrote Catalan architect and designer Antoni Gaudí in his diary in the late 1870s. Known for his sensuous, curving, almost surreal Art Nouveau buildings-many are among Barcelona's most popular tourist attractions-Gaudí (1852-1926) is today one of the best-known architects in the world. Antoni Gaudí is the most up-to-date look at this visionary architect and his greatest buildings. With all-new photography by Gaudí expert Rafael Vargas and the now-classic text of Ignasi de Solà-Morales, this volume provides a thorough yet highly accessible introduction to 16 of the architect's works, including houses, apartment buildings, churches and cathedrals, schools, and a little-known design for a hotel on what would become the World Trade Center site. Among the magnificent buildings toured here are the Casa Vicens, Palau Güell, Casa Batlló, Casa Milà, Chapel of Colònia Güell, and Expiatory Church of the Sagrada Família. For those already familiar with Gaudi's work, the spectacular new photographs will prove a revelation; for those just discovering Gaudi, this book is the next best thing to experiencing his buildings firsthand.
About the Author
Ignasi de Solà-Morales (1934-2001) was one of the world's most influential critics and historians of architecture. He was a professor at the Barcelona School of Architecture for more than 20 years, and his architectural practice guided the reconstruction of Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion in 1986. Rafael Vargas is a freelance portrait, architecture, and advertising photographer whose work has appeared in numerous international architecture and interior-design magazines, including Abitare, Domus, and Diseño Interior. He is widely acknowledged as the leading photographer of Gaudí's work. Vargas lives in Barcelona.
Antoni Gaudi FROM THE PUBLISHER
"There is little question that Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926) was one of the finest and most innovative architects of his age, and his sensuous, curving, almost surreal buildings are among Barcelona's most popular tourist attractions. But this was not always the case; in 1982, when Ignasi de Sola-Morales first wrote this in-depth study of the architect's work, Gaudi was still misunderstood and underappreciated. This new edition of Antoni Gaudi, which features spectacular photographs taken by Rafael Vargas especially for this publication, revives the essay that was largely responsible for bringing critical acclaim to this visionary architect." "Gaudi designed a large body of works, including apartment houses, private residences, park complexes, and religious and secular institutions, most of which were erected in or around Barcelona. His crowning work, which occupied him from 1884 until the day of his death, was the bizarrely beautiful Church of the Sagrada Familia. With only the Portal of the Nativity actually completed, this monumental fragment is one of the architectural wonders of our age - a sculptural edifice that encapsulates Gaudi's creative theories." Gaudi's organic structures - undulating tiled roofs, pinnacles and towers that rise like plants or tentacles, chimneys that take on phantasmagoric shapes and colors - are all illustrated here, accompanied by plans and drawings that provide a clear picture of Gaudi's structural innovations. Sola-Morales places the architect's work within the context of Catalan and wider European developments of the time, but he also describes the extremely personal mystical impetus that was at the core of Gaudi's invention.
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
With 350 excellent color illustrations, many of works not commonly seen, Modernismo is a large volume of essays by leading Catalan academic experts on the indigenous efflorescence of the arts that took place in Barcelona and Catalonia in the decades before and after 1900. Gaudi is of course well known, but the many contemporary architects, artists, and craftsmen who made up the incredibly rich fabric of artistic life in Catalonia may not be as familiar (a few were new to this reviewer). Although there is some overlap among the essays, they do provide a thoughtful mosaic, and the translations are usually accessible. Modernismo is the English-language version of Modernisme i modernistes (Barcelona, Lunewerg, 2001), which in fact was issued with a supplemental English translation of the texts. It covers much of what was first presented in English in Homage to Barcelona (London, Hayward Gallery, 1985) but with better and more current illustrations and a somewhat broader geographical reach beyond Barcelona and its immediate environs. Antoni Gaudi, by the late Sola-Morales (1934-2001), is an unchanged reissue of his 1984 book, Gaudi (Rizzoli), but with much-improved recent photography by Vargas (128 color photos) and an updated brief bibliography. It is still one of the most thoughtful overviews of the Catalan architect and is an optional purchase for libraries holding the earlier edition or for those with Rainer Zerbst's Gaudi (Taschen). Modernismo, on the other hand, is highly recommended for general collections and all art/architecture collections.-Jack Perry Brown, Art Inst. of Chicago Libs. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Art & Photography
Book Info
