Trencadís
Trencadís ( Catalan for “breaking”) is a mosaic made from fragments of ceramic tiles of different sizes, marble or broken glasswith mostly abstract motifs. It is a characteristic element of the architecture of Modernism ( Art Nouveau in Catalonia) as well as Art Nouveau in Valencia , but it is still used today.
Trencadís mosaics are particularly suitable for decorating curved facade surfaces or sculptural elements, as they are typical of Art Nouveau architecture, as their small-scale structure can easily be adapted to complex, curved shapes. It also enables a decorative, varied color and pattern design.
Use in Art Nouveau
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The origin of the Trencadís mosaics lies in the Moorish art. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, the technology was taken up and further developed by architects of modernism such as Antoni Gaudí or Lluís Domènech i Montaner .
One of the best-known examples of the use of Trencadís is the decoration of the large, serpentine bench in Parc Güell in Barcelona (laid out between 1900 and 1914). The design of the ornaments comes from Gaudí's colleague Josep Maria Jujol , who strongly influenced the aesthetics of this artistic technique in Catalan Art Nouveau. The material used was scrap from industrial tile and crockery factories as well as broken glass from jugs and bottles.
The art critic Robert Hughes writes about the importance of the Trencadís:
“If an artistic technique is ever used for the first time, then with the benches in Park Güell you are dealing with the first collage, with the first attempt to select from a variety of parts that do not belong together, the original meaning of which is still recognizable, to create an object with a completely new meaning, a very unusual technique that in a certain way anticipates Cubism. "
Further examples of the use of this technique are the facade of the Casa Batlló , the frieze in the concert hall of the Palau de la Música Catalana and the mosaics in the Estación del Norte in Valencia.
Contemporary use
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The development of the Trencadís in Art Nouveau also influenced subsequent architects and artists such as Joan Miró , who used the technique for some of his works, e . B. for the sculpture Dona i Ocell ("Woman and Bird", Barcelona, 1983), which was created in collaboration with the ceramicist Joan Gardy Artigas .
In contemporary Spanish architecture, Santiago Calatrava works with Trencadís surfaces in his buildings, such as the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía (Valencia, 2005) and the Auditorio de Tenerife (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 2003), whose facades are clad with white ceramic fragments . For these mosaics, however - in contrast to Gaudí's works - no fragments were reused, but new ones were specially made. The clay plates were broken before firing, so that the glaze sealed the pieces and no sharp edges were created.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jaume Salvà i Lara: Trencadís. Diccionari de les arts: arquitectura, escultura i pintura, accessed on August 1, 2017 .
- ↑ Robert Hughes: Barcelona: City of Wonders . Kindler, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-463-40183-5 , pp. 567 .
- ↑ Jose Llinàs, Jordi Sarra: Josep Maria Jujol . Taschen, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-8228-4406-9 , pp. 12 .
- ↑ Robert Hughes: Barcelona: City of Wonders . Kindler, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-463-40183-5 , pp. 592 .
- ↑ Trencadís. Baunetz Wissen, accessed on August 1, 2017 .
