My favorite artists are architects. I like art that you can walk through. I like art that provides an imprint on the landscape. I prefer to spend a day walking through a city than a day inside a museum. My absolute favorite architect is Antoni Gaudi. The Catalan dynamo unabashadly crafted intricate buildings and plazas dripping with reflections of nature, God, and humanity. Each of his works contains a beautiful interplay of stone, tile, iron, and color. His creations did not have straight lines nor did they configure to the rapidly mechanizing world of the early twentieth century. A patron concerned with the lack of straight lines in her Gaudi-built home once asked him where in the house she would be able to place her dog kennel. Gaudi recommended she purchase a snake.
The best art mesmerizes us. Gaudi's work makes me smile.
While I can't offer a getaway to Barcelona, I can recommend some excellent Gaudi resources available at the Austin Public Library.
Antoni Gaudi, 1852-1926: from Nature to Architecture
The Designs and Drawings of Antoni Gaudi
Catalonia: a Cultural History
provides context for the era and culture in which Gaudi lived, along with an interesting chapter about Gaudi and an exploration of modern Catalonia
Modernismo: Architecture and Design in Catalonia
a big beautiful book about Gaudi and his contemporaries
John Ruskin's On Art and Life
a little book advocating for the architectural approach that Gaudi lived by
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2 comments:
great post!
I'd also recommend Barcelona by Robert Hughes, which devotes an entire section to Gaudi.
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