Customer Reviews

Barcelona and Modernity: Picasso, Gaudi, Miro, Dali

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The catalogue for an exhibition held at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 2006 and at the Met in NY in 2007, this book is beautifully illustrated and very well written. It is a treasure trove of information on the history of Barcelona and enables the reader to discover some great and overlooked artists like the painters Ramon Casas (a sort of Spanish Manet) and Santiago Rusiñol, or the architect and designer Josep Puig i Cadafalch and many others, responsible for the intellectual growth of this city between 1868 (the September Revolution) and 1939 (the power seizure by Franco), which is the period the exhibition covers. Obviously, the most famous personalities are not forgotten (Picasso, Miro, Dali and Gaudi whose names appear on the front cover).

Now, the organization of the book is somewhat confusing. Divided into 9 chapters, from the Rebirth ("Renaixença")in the late 1860's to Modernism (seen through painting, sculpture, graphic arts, society, architecture and design)and "Noucentisme" (the classical renewal) up to the Avant-Gardes and the Civil War in the late 1930's, it follows a more or less chronological logic. However, the checklist of the artists, at the end of the book, is very confusing: it is very difficult to know the location of the paintings or works of art illustrated and you constantly have to refer to that list to have the dimensions of the works. Instead of a list by artists, I think a list by works displayed in the exhibition and illustrated in the book would have been more suitable.

On the whole, a scholarly publication, but a little difficult to follow.