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| Arriving to the sanctuary in Montferri, Alt Camp |
Today, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma have visited the sanctuary of Mare de Déu de Montserrat in Montferri, a little municipality in Tarragona. They are very interested in visiting this sanctuary because of its architect, Josep Maria Jujol i Gibert is one of the most admired artists of the Catalan Modernism.
Jujol was a closer friend of Antoni Gaudí and both of them built some of the most incredible buildings you can visit around the world.
Modernisme, Catalan for Modernism, also known as Catalan Modernism, is the historiographic denomination given to an art and literature movement associated with the search of a new entitlement of Catalan culture. Nowadays it is considered a movement based on the cultural reivindication of a Catalan identity.
Its main form of expression was in architecture, but many other arts were involved and especially the design and the decorative arts (cabinetmaking, carpentry, forged iron, ceramic tiles, ceramics, glass-making, silver and goldsmith work), which were particularly important, especially in their role as support to architecture. Modernisme was also a literary movement (poetry, fiction, drama).
Although Modernisme was part of a general trend that emerged in Europe around the turn of the 20th century, in Catalonia the trend acquired its own unique personality.
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| Sanctuary of Mare de Déu de Montserrat, Montferri |
Modernisme's distinct name comes from its special relationship, primarily with Catalonia and Barcelona, which were intensifying their local characteristics for socio-ideological reasons after the revival of Catalan culture and in the context of spectacular urban and industrial development.
It is equivalent to a number of other fin de siècle art movements going by the names of Art Nouveau in France and Belgium, Jugendstil in Germany, Sezession in Austria-Hungary, Liberty style in Italy and Modern or Glasgow Style in Scotland.
Modernisme was active from roughly 1888 (the First Barcelona World Fair) to 1911 (the death of Joan Maragall, the most important Modernist poet). The Modernisme movement was centred in the city of Barcelona, though it reached far beyond, and is best known for its architectural expression, especially in the work of Antoni Gaudí, but was also significant in sculpture, poetry, theatre and painting.
Notable painters include Santiago Rusiñol, Ramon Casas, Isidre Nonell, Hermen Anglada Camarasa, Joaquim Mir, Eliseu Meifrèn, Lluïsa Vidal and Miquel Utrillo. Notable sculptors are Josep Llimona, Eusebi Arnau and Miquel Blai.
More information: Museum of Modernism Barcelona
Montferri is a municipality in the county of Alt Camp, province of Tarragona, Catalonia. It is home to the sanctuary of Mare de Déu de Montserrat (Our Lady of Monsterrat), a small Modernist church by Josep Maria Jujol.
More information: Catalunya
Josep Maria Jujol i Gibert (16 September 1879-1 May 1949) was a Catalan architect. Jujol's wide field of activity ranged from furniture designs and painting, to architecture.
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| Josep Maria Jujol i Gibert |
He worked with Antoni Gaudí on many of his most famous works. Among Jujol's projects are Casa Batlló, Casa Milà, Park Güell, and Our Lady of Montserrat, and among his design styles are Modernisme and Art Nouveau.
Josep Maria Jujol was born in Tarragona where he lived until age 9. He was the son of Andreu Jujol, a school director, and of Teresa Gibert i Vives. He was born on the top floor of the public school, Sant Joan, where his father worked.
He began to draw at an early age, and always had an admiration for nature. According to his biography, he would roam the hills of Tarragona and its Roman ruins. They lived at the school for nine years before his father was transferred in 1888 to Carrer Zurbano in Gràcia, which is now integrated into the City of Barcelona.
Jujol's father was transferred once again in 1893 to the City of Barcelona. There Jujol began to walk the medieval district, developed an admiration for gothic architecture and began to draft the buildings.
The family moved to the Gran Via in the Eixample District of Barcelona, where he experienced modern and modernist buildings.
More information: Sh Barcelona
In 1901, he was accepted in the Architectural program in Barcelona. While attending school, he first worked with Antoni Maria Gallissa i Soqué (Don Antoni), whom he admired as a person and an architect.
His first project was a commission for Don Antoni to decorate the street called Carrer Fenen for the Mercè Festival (Festes de la Mercè).
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| Old memories in Montferri during its construction |
Jujol had to
create the metal frames and stained glass windows. He continued to work
for Don Antoni until 1903. He then began to work in the studio of Josep Font i Gumà where he collaborated with him on the Trinity altar in the Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar.
In his spare time he completed plans for an amusement park that was to emulate the solar system. The plan was never revived.
In 1906 he received his certificate as an architect and was able to work on his own. One of his first projects was to decorate Don Antoni's entrance stairway with his trademark sgraffito.
Jujol became acquainted with Antoni Gaudí through their mutual friend, Dr. Santaló. Gaudí soon worked in partnership with Jujol. Their first project together was Casa Batlló.
It is speculated in Jujol's biography that he had a great influence on Gaudí's use of colour and shapes. However, this is not for certain.
In any case, Gaudí had great respect for Jujol's views and entrusted him as a collaborator on his projects for many years.
Jujol died at Barcelona in 1949.
More information: The Guardian
Modernism was born in part out of the need
to find fresh ways of expression,
to describe a new world that
was unlike anything that had gone before.
Margaret MacMillan
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