MAY 2018 MODERNISME: ART NOUVEAU AND ARCHITECTURE Course contact hours: 45 Number of sessions: 21 + field trip Recommended credits: 6 ECTS 3 US credits Professor: David Sanmiguel Objectives Modernisme is the most idiosyncratic, creative and original of all European and American Art Nouveau movements. It also gives Barcelona its distinctive image and brings immediately to mind the name of Gaudi. Art Nouveau was a ground-breaking artistic movement of tremendous consequence in the art of the West. An understanding of its roots, aspirations and cultural atmosphere is essential to understanding Catalan Modernisme and the artistic, social and personal values it stands for. Many of those values were shared with most European artists of the time, and they are at the root of 20 th and 21 st century Art. The objectives of the course can be summarized in three main goals: 1. To discover architecture as a social function and a projection of the values a community stands for. 2. To develop an eye and a taste for architectural/artistic values, always trying to discover the idea behind the shape. In other words; to learn to enjoy architecture intelligently. 3. To understand the architecture of the present as a different approach to the same fundamental ideas that inspired Modernisme/Art Nouveau. Requirements Fluent English Students are not required to have any previous artistic training Visits to buildings are a required component of the course, and students are expected to pay the corresponding entry fee (often at a reduced group rate). A total budget of around 40-50 should be considered. Learning outcomes 1. Develop a personal taste for the architectural forms of the past, specifically those that appeared at the end of the stone-and-brick architecture and the beginning of steel and concrete architecture. 2. Be able to recognize the Modernisme/Art Nouveau look in contrast to other architectural styles of the 19 th century (such as Neoclassicism, Historicism or Eclecticism) and the subsequent Modern Movement. 3. Acknowledge the Modernist/Art nouveau style as an effect of the social and artistic disruptions created in Western culture by the Industrial Revolution. 4. Understand the reasons that led Modernisme/Art Nouveau artists to react against the conservative artistic establishment of their time and experiment with adventurous designs involving new materials.
5. Recognize in Modernisme/Art Nouveau an unexpected outcome of the utopist thinking that gained momentum during the 19 th century and declined at the end of World War II. 6. Be able to discover the contradictions involved in the Modernisme/Art Nouveau movement as in any utopist movement taken to practice - between principles and social realities. 7. Recognize the Modernisme/Art Nouveau movement as one of the most dramatic changes to happen in Western architecture since the Renaissance and understand the difficult (sometimes traumatic) relationship that architects had with their artistic tradition. 8. Be able to understand the Aesthetic Movement and the idea of Art for Art s sake as main principles implied in Modernisme / Art Nouveau and basic assumptions for the development of art and architecture in the 20 th and 21 st centuries. 9. Understand why Barcelona became one of the most original centers of art Nouveau in the world. 10. Obtain an insightful appreciation of the architecture of Modernista Barcelona (Gaudí s in particular), and of the Art Nouveau movement in general.
Contents Mon 14 Tue 15 Wed 16 Thu 17 Tue 22 Wed 23 Thurs 24 Week 1 Welcome What is Art Nouveau? / What is Modernisme? The cultural context: a timeline of Western Architecture Field trip: Cassarramona / German Pavilion The cultural context: Architectural crossroads in 19th century Europe Field trip to Mercat del Born The Arts and Crafts Movement / Artists aesthetes and utopists Field trip to MNAC (Museu Nacional d Art de Catalunya) Week 2 The Industrial Revolution and the arts. The Eixample and the new architecture: a difficult marriage The architecture of Lluís Domènech i Montaner Field trip to Hospital de Sant Pau The architecture of Josep Puig i Cadafalch Field trip to Palau Quadres and Casa Terrades
Mon 28 Week 3 Gaudí's early projects Casa Vicenç and Palau Güell Field Trip 15 18 Field Trip: A stroll aroud the Eixample. Tue29 The great urban projects Wed 30 Thurs 31 Field trip to Casa Batlló Gaudí's late projects Field trip to Sagrada Familia Test Presentations
Teaching methodology The history and cultural context of Art Nouveau and Modernisme will be explained in the classroom in lecture format, but this course will give special emphasis to outdoors practice. On field trips students will be encouraged to participate in the discussions and to sketch some relevant aspects of important buildings under the guidance and support of the professor. Assessment criteria Quizzes: 60% Final paper: 20% Presentation: 10% Gaudí Trail: 10% Extra credit: Sketching Participation Quizzes (60%) : There will be no final test but 6 quizzes of 10 brief questions each (combining multiple choice questions with brief written answers), that will take no more than 15 minutes per quiz. Each quiz is equally weighted (10%). Some quizzes may have fewer questions demanding more elaborate answers. Final paper (20%): Students will write one essay (1.200-1.500 words), due for the end of the course contrasting ideas contained in the readings provided by the professor with their personal experience of the buildings. Clarity in the descriptions will be highly regarded. Presentation (10%): Every student will do a presentation of a subject chosen from a list given by the professor. Presentations (in Power Point format) will be between 10 and 20 minutes in length. Extra credit is available for: Sketching (up to 1 point): A sketchbook will be given to every student to record what they see. Sketching will be considered for extra credit and quality will not be considered but rather a certain quantity of sketching is expected to meet the standards of the course. Participation (up to 1 point): Attendance and participation will be credited as well.
Bibliography Selected chapters, as specified by the Professor : Clark, Kenneth (1959), The Gothic Revival. John Murray Publishers Ltd. Fernandez Armesto, Felipe (1991), Barcelona: A Thousand Years of the City s Past. Oxford Paperbacks. Hitchcock, Henry-Russell (1978), Architecture: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Yale University Press. Hughes, Robert (1993), Barcelona. Vintage. Morris, William (2009), Useful Work versus Useless Toil. Penguin. Pevsner, Nikolaus (1960), Pioneers of Modern Design. Penguin. Pevsner, Nikolaus (1972), An Outline of European Architecture. Thames & Hudson. Rosenberg, John.D (1998), The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings. University of Virginia Press. Thompson, E.P. (2011), William Morris. Romantic to Revolutionary. PM Press. Recommended reading: Duncan, Alistair (1994), Art Nouveau. Thames & Hudson. Fabre, Jaume and Huertas, J.M. (1989), Barcelona, la construcció d una ciutat. Plaza y Janés. Fahr-Becker, Gabriele, (1982), Art Nouveau: An Art of Transition-From Individualism to Mass Society. H.F. Ullmann. Schmutzler, Robert (1978), Art Nouveau. Harry N. Abrams. Gombrich, Ernst (1994), The sense of Order: a Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation. Phaidon Press. Mendoza, Eduardo (1988), City of Marvels. Thomson Learning. Permanyer, Lluis (1990), Historia del Eixample. Viena Edicions & Ajuntament de Barcelona.