HITHERTO UNKNOWN WORK OF GAUDI IN EXHIBITION?

At the Gaudí Centre in Reus you can see this garden bench made from artificial stone by the artist Antoni Gaudí, it is one of the pieces that had never before been shown in public, as the bench was in the Larraud house of Park Güell in Barcelona, until the Güell family sold its properties.

So it was that Ramón Mas acquired it and installed it at his address in calle de las Ciències in the Horta neighbourhood of the Catalan capital, the Mas house was known as the “chalet of Gaudís bench “.

Then it passed to the hands of the current owner, who ceded the bench for it to be temporarily exhibited in the Gaudí Centre of Reus.

The bench built by the architect, is unusual in the career of the artist, and in addition its design is based on organic lines inspired by Nature, in a very original manner. The materials used for this work are artificial stone, the composition and colour of which is very similar to the continuous paving used by Gaudí to build a bath in the Palacio Güell.

Its style may belong perfectly to the modernism of the beginning of the XX century, and according to experts this work has remained anonymous due to always being in private hands, and therefore now is an excellent opportunity to see this incredible work of Gaudí.

Comments by Luis Gueilburt in relation to the article

In the press release the authors do not clarify where the documentation comes from which determines this to be a work by the architect, nor do they provide any proof that this bench of artificial stone was authentically designed or created by any of the workshops that worked for Gaudí, as an example of this the article fails to publish the name of the artisan who made it.

The style of the piece is absolutely along Art Nouveaux lines but it does not belong to any of the known periods of Antoni Gaudí.
My most humble opinion is that it is an interesting piece of Catalan modernism but that Antoni Gaudí had no part whatsoever in its creation, the fact that it was in the Casa Larrard of the Park Güell is no proof by itself that this was a Gaudí piece.

The Güell family bought period pieces with which they used to decorate their homes.
Sometimes collectors lend their pieces to a museum with the intention of garnering for said piece a value it did not hitherto have, through its appearance in a catalogue.

I am unaware of the reasons why a museum which has original Gaudí pieces would want to exhibit a piece whose authorship may be in doubt.