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Modernisme (Catalan pronunciation:[muðərˈnizmə],Catalan for "modernism"), also known asCatalan modernism andCatalan art nouveau, is the historiographic denomination given to an art and literature movement associated with the search of a new entitlement ofCatalan culture, one of the most predominant cultures withinSpain. Nowadays, it is considered a movement based on the cultural revindication of aCatalan identity. Its main form of expression wasModernista architecture, but it also encompassed many other arts, such as painting and sculpture, and especially the design and the decorative arts (cabinetmaking, carpentry, forged iron, ceramic tiles, ceramics, glass-making, silver and goldsmith work, etc.), 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 inEurope around theturn of the 20th century, inCatalonia the trend acquired its own unique personality. Modernisme's distinct name comes from its special relationship, primarily withCatalonia andBarcelona, 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 otherfin de siècle art movements going by the names ofArt Nouveau inFrance andBelgium,Jugendstil inGermany,Vienna Secession inAustria-Hungary,Liberty style inItaly, and Modern orGlasgow Style inScotland.
Modernisme was active from roughly 1888 (theFirst Barcelona World Fair) to 1911 (the death ofJoan Maragall, the most importantModernista poet). TheModernisme movement was centred in the city ofBarcelona, though it reached far beyond, and is best known for its architectural expression, especially in the work ofAntoni Gaudí,Lluís Domènech i Montaner andJosep Puig i Cadafalch, but was also significant in sculpture, poetry, theatre and painting. Notable painters includeSantiago Rusiñol,Ramon Casas,[1]Isidre Nonell,Hermen Anglada Camarasa,Joaquim Mir,Eliseu Meifrèn,Lluïsa Vidal, andMiquel Utrillo. Notable sculptors areJosep Llimona, Eusebi Arnau, andMiquel Blay.
Catalan nationalism was an important influence uponModernista artists, who were receptive to the ideas ofValentí Almirall andEnric Prat de la Riba and wanted Catalan culture to be regarded as equal to that of other European countries. Such ideas can be seen in some of Rusiñol's plays against the Spanish army (most notablyL'Hèroe), in some authors close toanarchism (Jaume Brossa andGabriel Alomar, for example) or in the articles offederalist anti-monarchic writers such asMiquel dels Sants Oliver. They also opposed the traditionalism and religiousness of theRenaixença Catalan Romantics, whom they ridiculed in plays such asSantiago Rusiñol'sEls Jocs Florals de Canprosa (roughly, "The Poetry Contest of Proseland"), a satire of the revivedJocs Florals and the political milieu which promoted them.
Modernistes largely rejected bourgeois values, which they thought to be the opposite of art. Consequently, they adopted two stances: they either set themselves apart from society in abohemian or culturalist attitude (Decadent and Parnassian poets, Symbolist playwrights, etc.) or they attempted to use art to change society (Modernista architects and designers, playwrights inspired byHenrik Ibsen, some ofMaragall's poetry, etc.)
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The earliest example ofModernistaarchitecture is theCastle of the Three Dragons designed byLluís Domènech i Montaner in theParc de la Ciutadella for the1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition. It is a search for a particular style for Catalonia drawing on Medieval and Arab styles. Like the currents known in other countries asArt Nouveau,Jugendstil,Liberty style, Modern Style andVienna Secession,Modernisme was closely related to the EnglishArts and Crafts movement and theGothic Revival. As well as combining a rich variety of historically-derived elements, it is characterized by the predominance of the curve over the straight line, by rich decoration and detail, by the frequent use of vegetal and other organic motifs, the taste for asymmetry, a refined aestheticism and dynamic shapes.[2] While Barcelona was the centre ofModernista construction, the Catalan industrial bourgeoisie built industrial buildings and summer residences (cases d'estiueig) in many Catalan towns, notablyTerrassa andReus. The textile factory which is now home to the Catalan national technical museummNACTEC is an outstanding example.
Antoni Gaudí is the best-known architect of this movement. Other influential architects were Lluís Domènech i Montaner andJosep Puig i Cadafalch, and laterJosep Maria Jujol,Rafael Guastavino andEnrique Nieto.[3]
There were more than 100 architects who made buildings of theModernista style, three of whom are particularly well known for their outstanding buildings:Antoni Gaudí,Lluís Domènech i Montaner andJosep Puig i Cadafalch.
Some of the works of Catalan Modernism have been listed byUNESCO asWorld Cultural Heritage:
In literature,Modernisme stood out the most in narrative. Thenouvelles and novels of decadent writers such asPrudenci Bertrana (whose highly controversialJosafat involved a demented priest who ends up killing a prostitute),Caterina Albert (also known as Víctor Catala), author of bloody, expressionistic tales of rural violence, opposed to the idealisation of nature propugned by Catalan Romantics, orRaimon Casellas have been highly influential upon later Catalan narrative, essentially recovering a genre that had been lost due to political causes since the end of the Middle Ages. Those writers often, though not always, show influences from Russian literature of the 19th century and alsoGothic novels. Still, works not influenced by those sources, such asJoaquim Ruyra's slice-of-life tales of the North-Eastern Catalan coast are perhaps even more influential than that of the aforementioned authors, and Rusiñol's well-knownL'auca del senyor Esteve (roughly "The Tale of Mr. Esteve"; anauca is a type of illustratedbroadside, similar to a one-sheet comic book) is an ironic critique of Catalan bourgeoisie more related to ironic, pre-Realist Catalancostumisme.
In poetry,Modernisme closely follows Symbolist and Parnassian poetry, with poets frequently crossing the line between both tendencies or alternating between them. Another important strain ofModernista poetry isJoan Maragall's "Paraula viva" (Living word) school, which advocated Nietzschean vitalism and spontaneous and imperfect writing over cold and thought-over poetry. Although poetry was very popular with theModernistes and there were many poets involved in the movement, Maragall is the onlyModernista poet who is still widely read today.
Modernista theatre was also important, as it smashed the insubstantial regional plays that were popular in 19th-century Catalonia. There were two main schools ofModernista theatre: social theatre, which intended to change society and denounce injustice—the worker stories ofIgnasi Iglésias, for exampleEls Vells ("The old ones"); the Ibsen-inspired works ofJoan Puig i Ferreter, most notablyAigües Encantades ("Enchanted Waters"); Rusiñol's antimilitaristic playL'Hèroe—and symbolist theatre, which emphasised the distance between artists and the bourgeoisie—for example, Rusiñol'sCigales i Formigues ("Cicadas and Ants") orEl Jardí Abandonat ("The Abandoned Garden").
Modernista ideas impelledL'Avenç collaboratorPompeu Fabra to devise a neworthography for Catalan. However, only with the later rise ofNoucentisme did his projects come to fruition and end the orthographic chaos which reigned at the time.
By 1910,Modernisme had been accepted by the bourgeoisie and had pretty much turned into a fad. It was around this time thatNoucentista artists started to ridicule the rebel ideas ofModernisme and propelled a more bourgeois art and a more right-of-centre version of Catalan Nationalism, which eventually rose to power with the victory of theLliga Regionalista in 1912. UntilMiguel Primo de Rivera's dictatorship suppressed all substantial public use of Catalan, Noucentisme was immensely popular in Catalonia. However,Modernisme did have a revival of sorts during theSecond Spanish Republic, withavant-garde writers such asFuturistJoan-Salvat Papasseit earning comparisons to Joan Maragall, and the spirit ofSurrealists such asJosep Vicent Foix orSalvador Dalí being clearly similar to the rebellion of theModernistes, what with Dalí proclaiming that Catalan RomanticistÀngel Guimerà wasa putrefact pervert. However, the ties between Catalan art from the 1930s andModernisme are not that clear, as said artists were not consciously attempting to continue any tradition.
Modernista architecture survived longer. The Spanish city ofMelilla in Northern Africa experienced an economic boom at the turn of the 20th century, and its new bourgeoisie showed its riches by massively orderingModernista buildings. The workshops established there by Catalan architectEnrique Nieto continued producing decorations in this style even when it was out offashion in Barcelona, which results in Melilla having, oddly enough, the second-largest concentration ofModernista works after Barcelona.
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