Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas

Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas

Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas (* 1848 in Barcelona ; † 1910 in Barcelona) was a Catalan architect , draftsman and watercolorist. He is one of the most important pioneers and representatives of early modernism in Barcelona.

Biographical data

Josep Vilaseca was initially a builder. He studied architecture in Madrid. During his studies he made numerous trips to European countries. He received his title of architect in 1873. He then traveled through Germany with Lluís Domènech i Montaner . From 1874 until his death he was a professor at the Barcelona School of Architecture ( Escola d'Arquitectura ). He was also President of the Association of Architects of Catalonia ( Associació d'Arquitectes de Catalunya ).

Vilaseca was a very sophisticated, elegant architect. His architectural work does not come close to the quality of his more famous contemporaries in terms of its spatial conception, but it does in the detail processing. Its importance as an important pioneer of Catalan modernism should not be underestimated.

Aided by his excellent and detailed drawings, he was able to create intelligent architecture that was also coherent in detail. His stylistic development led him from a more down-to-earth historicism, inspired by the ideas of the Renaixença , through various "more exotic" varieties of historicism ( neo -Egyptian, neomudéjar , neo-Gothic , Japanese influences ) and finally to modernism .

Vilaseca was close friends with Lluís Domènech i Montaner. During the 1870s they worked together on a few projects. In 1879–1884 he created the “fàbrica taller” (factory workshop) for Francesc Vidal i Jevellí, an artist's studio in a classic, historical style, full of locally influenced details. The studio for the Masriera brothers (1882) even imitates a Greek temple of the Corinthian order.

In the tomb of the Battló family (1885) and Casa Pla (1885–1886), clear Egyptian influences can be seen, following a fad at the time, triggered initially by Napoleon's campaign in Egypt and recently revived in Barcelona by Ferdinand de Lesseps' Suez Canal project who had spent several years as a diplomat in Barcelona. The umbrella shop Bruno Cuadros in the house of the same name, on the other hand, shows clear Japanese influences (matching the umbrellas).

In 1888 Vilaseca built the triumphal arch for the World's Fair. This shows a stronger turn to the Mudejar style. The use of the "poor" material brick not only gives the various buildings for the world exhibition a certain uniformity (Lluís Domènech's restaurant Castell dels Tres Dragons , Pere Falqués 'agricultural pavilion, Gaietà Buïgas ' seafaring pavilion, Josep Fontserès greenhouse and some other buildings made of exposed brick masonry). For the young generation of Catalan architects, the brick and the Mudéjar style also meant a self-confident presentation of an architectural language that was perceived as genuinely “Spanish”. It was precisely because of this that the 1888 World's Fair became the starting point for Catalan modernism.

While from now on Vilaseca's friend Lluís Domenech i Montaner and Antoni Gaudí drove the development of modernism through ever more freely shaped, "flowing" buildings, Vilaseca's architecture "solidified" in an exquisitely detailed but very strict architectural language oriented towards the Middle Ages, clearly visible on the four houses for the Battló family, built between 1891 and 1895. It was only with the two Cases Cabot built in 1901–1904 that Vilaseca arrived in the architectural language of Modernism.

Works

Main works in Barcelona :

• Casa Vilaseca (1874, no longer available)
• Tomb for Josep Anselm Clavé , Poblenou cemetery (1874–1876, with Lluís Domènech i Montaner)
• Apse of the church la Mare de Déu de la Bonanova (1876, with Lluís Domènech i Montaner, destroyed in the civil war, then rebuilt)
• Artist's studio for Francesc Vidal i Jevellí , Carrer de la Diputació 326 / Carrer de Bailèn 60 (1881, converted by Enric Sagnier in 1892 and integrated into the Sagrat Cor monastery school )
• Studio in the form of an ancient temple for the Masriera brothers, Carrer de Bailèn 72 (1882)
• Monument to Bonaventure Carles Aribau , in Parc de la Ciutadella . (1884, sculptor: Manel Fuxà i Leal )
• Casa Narcís Pla, Carrer de Pelai 11 (1885)
• Crypt of the Batlló family in the Montjuïc cemetery (1885, sculptor: Manel Fuxà i Leal)
• Monument to Josep Anselm Clavé , Passeig de Sant Joan (1888, sculptor: Manel Fuxà i Leal)
• Arc de Triomf (Triumphal Arch) for the World's Fair (1888)
• Casa Bruno Cuadros ("Casa dels paraigües" - "House of Umbrellas"), Les Rambles 82 (1888, conversion of an older house)
• Casa Pia Batlló, Rambla de Catalunya 17 / Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes (1891)
• Cases Àngel Batlló, Carrer de Mallorca 253-257 (1891)
• Cases Enric Batlló, Carrer de Mallorca 259 / Passeig de Gràcia 75 (1895)
• Cases Àngel Batlló, Carrer de Mallorca 315 (1895)
• Cases Cabot, Carrer de Roger de Llúria 8-10, 12-14 (1901-1904)
• Casa Dolors Calm, Rambla de Catalunya 54 (1903, conversion of an older house)
• Casa Comas d'Argemir, Avinguda de la República Argentina 92 ​​(1904)

Picture gallery

• 

  Triumphal Arch, World Exhibition 1888

• 

  Casa Bruno Cuadros (House of Umbrellas)

• 

  Casa Bruno Cuadros, former umbrella shop

• 

  Casa Pia Batlló

• 

  Casa Comas d'Argemir

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  Casa Comas d'Argemir, window detail

• 

  Tomb for Josep Anselm Clavé

• 

  Monument to Josep Anselm Clavé

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Art Nouveau European Route
2. ↑ Entry in the online version of the Gran enciclopèdia catalana (Catalan), accessed on February 25, 2019
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} David Mackay. Modern Architecture in Barcelona (1985), (PDF; 741 kB), p. 15 (English) ( Memento of the original from April 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Web links

Commons : Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas in the Enciclopèdia Catalana (Catalan)
• Josep Vilaseca on El Poder de la Palabra (EPdLP) (with numerous photos) (Spanish)
• Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas on Art Nouveau European Route (English, Catalan, Spanish, French)