A word from Gaudí...

“Art is made by people and intended for people. That’s why art has to be rational”

Issue 31, November 2004
14.604 items

SUMMARY

1. 1. HIGHLIGHTS
   • CHRISTMAS LOTTERY
2. NEW ITEMS ON THE WEB
3. GAUDINIAN NEWS
   • ABSOLUTE PREMIERE OF THE OPERA “GAUDÍ”
   • THE THEATRO METROPOL OF TARRAGONA WILL HOST JUJOL’S NEW ARCHIVE
   • CONGRESS TRADITION AND MODERNITY: CERAMICS IN MODERNISM
   • CLOSURE OF THE EXHIBITION “GAUDÍ Y MOMPOU, EL SONIDO DE LA LUZ” IN COLOMBIA
   • MODERNIST FIESTA IN THE COLONIA GÜELL
   • INAUGURATION OF GAUDINIAN MONUMENT IN JAPAN
4. GAUDINIAN AGENDA
   • EXHIBITION “GAUDÍ. THE SEARCH FOR FORM” IN NAPLES
   • CALL TO ALL THE MEMBERS OF THE GAUDÍ & BARCELONA CLUB
5. CAN YOU HELP US WITH YOUR FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION?
   • AREN’T YOU A PAYING MEMBER YET? WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
6. VISIT OUR ONLINE SHOP
7. BOOKS FOR YOUR LIBRARY
8. GAUDÍ TODAY
9. GAUDÍ TOURS – TRAVEL WITH US
10. GAUDÍ INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS
11. BARCELONA’S HEARTBEAT
12. LINKS OF INTEREST
13. CURIOSITIES
14. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

1. HIGHLIGHTS: CHRISTMAS LOTTERY

• Christmas Lottery nº 2 5 6 5 2

Do you know Antoni Gaudí’s date of birth? He was born a little more than 152 years ago, on June 25th1852 in the morning.

The Gaudí & Barcelona Club has played with this date and proposes you to participate in the Christmas Lottery with the number

Did you notice it is palindrome?

Share with us the illusion that we will win El Gordo! If we all desire it hard enough, we will certainly do so! WHAT AN AMAZING PRIZES!!

The Extraordinary Christmas Raffle will be celebrated next December 22nd 2004.
We provide you with participations of 5 euro + donation of 1 euro = 6 euro.

As a guarantee, the tenths are deposited at the bank “Caixa d'Estalvis de Catalunya”.

All the participations are numbered and emitted in the name of the buyer.
We will send your participations in your own name by e-mail or fax.

Acquire your participations in our shop

2. NEW ITEMS ON THE WEB

• THE SALA MERCÈ (1904-1913), PIONEER IN THE CINEMATOGRAPHY OF BARCELONA

  The "Sala Mercè" was inaugurated on November 4th 1904 in Barcelona. Lluís Graner, the promoter of the spectacle and projection hall, had assigned the project to Antoni Gaudí. The hall has had a short but intense life and has contributed to generate a cinematographic audience. The ambitious and innovative spectacles on its program were complemented with a view to the subterranean, which Gaudí had transformed into a cavern hiding surprises and amazing things.

  Read our text

3. GAUDINIAN NEWS

•  ABSOLUTE PREMIERE OF THE OPERA “GAUDÍ”

  On November 3rd, the Gran Teatro del Liceo of Barcelona has put into premiere the opera “Gaudí” by the contemporary composer Joan Guinjoan. The opera is produced by the Coliseum of Barcelona and written and sung in Catalan. Its absolute premiere takes place 12 years after its assignment and shows us the evolution of the architect’s process of creation which is characterized by his profound spirituality.

  The Association Gaudí & Barcelona Club, which most important aspiration is to share the work and life of the great architect with the world, has done several attempts to obtain some kind of benefit for its members and people interested in attending the opera. Unfortunately, our efforts have been in vain, but in case you have the time, we recommend you to go and see it.

  Please, don’t hesitate letting us know your opinion: news@gaudiclub.com
  
  More information

• THE TEATRO METROPOL OF TARRAGONA WILL HOST JUJOL’S NEW ARCHIVE

  The Council of Tarragona and the family of Josep Maria Jujol have signed an agreement so as to found a new archive/museum with documentation and material of the architect and collaborator of Antoni Gaudí. The collection will gather drawings, plans, furniture and other materials that are currently possessed by Jujuol’s family and the College of Architects of Catalonia.

  The categorization of the entire documental collection is now been worked on. As from the end of this year or the beginning of 2005, it will be located temporarily in the outbuildings of the municipal archive of Tarragona. In a second phase, it is foreseen that the archive/museum will occupy definitely the second and third floor of the Teatro Metropol made by Jujol himself. There will also be space for temporal exhibitions.

  The archive will be administrated by a foundation with the participation of the University Rovira i Virgili of Tarragona, the College of Architects of Catalonia and through its delegations, the city’s Council o and family Jujol.

  More information about Josep Maria Jujol

• CONGRESS TRADITION AND MODERNITY: CERAMICS IN MODERNISM
  IX Annual Congress of the Association of Ceramics
  
  

  This congress has been hosted by the “Casal de Cultura Robert Brillas” of Esplugues de Llobregat October 29th till 31st 2004. It was presented as a “platform where one can debate ideas and interchange knowledge and open to all experts and interested people in the field of ceramics”. This year’s edition was dedicated to the existing associations between ceramics and Modernism. The city of Esplugues has the privilege to host the ovens and other movable property of Pujol i Bausis’s antic ceramics factory, one of the most important industrial ceramics production centers of Modernism and habitual providers of Gaudí.

  
  ..
• CLOSURE OF THE EXHIBITION “GAUDÍ Y MOMPOU, EL SONIDO DE LA LUZ” IN COLOMBIA

  The Museum of Bogotá has hosted from October 1st till 31st 2004, the exhibition “Gaudí y Mompou, el sonido de la luz”. It’s about a multidisciplinary experience which integrated a series of large format pictures -“Gaudí, el maestro de la luz”-, a piano concert with digitally treated images -“Mompou, el sonido del silencio”- as well as a conference cycle-workshop about the symbolism and spirituality present in the works of the architect Antoni Gaudí and the musician Frederic Mompou.

  The last conference of the cycle took place on October 29th. Under the title “El pensamiento de Gaudí, una clave para hacer ciudad”, the architect and member of the Gaudí & Barcelona Club Diego Maldonado analyzed the few documents the architect has left us - “Las Abejas”, “La casa Pairal”, “The restoration of the Monastery of el Poblet”, “The Manuscript of Reus” and “The Lamps of the Plaza Real” - as well as his reflections collected by his collaborators. Supported by a projection of pictures of the works of Gaudí, it was the conference’s purpose to demonstrate Gaudí’s profound vision of the city, the world and the cosmos.
  

• MODERNIST FIESTA IN COLONIA GÜELL

  The weekend from October 16th and 17th, the fourth edition of the Modernist Fiestas was celebrated in Colonia Güell –Santa Coloma de Cervelló-. An imaginary leap in time leaded the entire colony into the beginning of the XX century. In the morning, all the workers and habitants got up frightened. The air was filth with some kind of nervousness: it was the day Eusebi Güell, Don Eusebi, visited his colony.

  The cloths were washed and with starch; the craftsmen worked hard to finish their pieces; the housemaids ran around and discussed about any detail; with his booming voice, the supervisor gave the last commands… And finally Gaud´’s sponsor arrived, with his beard and his coat, accompanied by his wife. He invited the visitors to a drink in his farmstead. In the meanwhile, in another house a baptism was celebrated and everybody was invited to chocolate and marzipan.

Our member and collaborator Jaume Mestres went to have a look at the fiesta and took some pictures.

Did you go as well? Did you make some pictures? Please, don’t hesitate collaborating with us and send us your opinion: news@gaudiclub.com

• INAUGURATION OF GAUDINIAN MONUMENT IN JAPAN

  	Our friend and architect Hiroya Tanaka, Japanese by birth and Catalan by adoption, inaugurated last October 17th 2004 a monument in the Japanese city of Ebetsu, known for its important tile industry. The work, made with this construction material, represents a vault of the “Cuatro Sillas de Montar” and is known by the name “The Vault of Muguete”, because of the typical flower of the province of Hokkaido where Ebetsu is located.
  The sculpture has a dimension of 4m x 4m x 4m. Its structure is made of the tile of Ebetsu and it is covered with Breda ceramic and Weber cement.
  	With this work, Tanaka explains he wanted to introduce a different tile construction system which until now hadn’t reached Japan: “Thanks to his investigation Gaudí and the help the Catalan master filler Jordi Domenech and his Japanese assistant Taniguchi Tatsuhei, Tanaka has been able to design an organic geometry based on tiles”. Tanaka got the assignment from Brickjam 2004 and the Council of Ebetsu and he could reckon on the help of 5 volunteers who have worked for more than 12 days - from October 4th til 16th 2004 - in order to raise the monument. The monument is located in front of the Ceramic Art Centre of Ebetsu.

4. GAUDINIAN AGENDA

• EXHIBITION“GAUDÍ. THE SEARCH FOR SHAPE” IN NAPLES
  

  The Castel dell’Ovo of Naples hosts until next January 9th 2005 the exhibition “Gaudí. The search for shape”. This exhibition, which we could visit in Barcelona during the International Gaudí Year 2002, pretends explaining by means of scale models, corporal models, pictures and multi media resources the complex world of technical solutions and construction formulas behind the architecture of Gaudí.

  Exhibition “Gaudí. The search for shape”
  September 28th 2004 – January 9th 2005

  Castel dell`Ovo
  Via Caracciolo
  Porto Santa Lucia
  Naples
  Italy

  More information:
  http://www.bcn.es/icub/gaudiforma/english/indexeng.htm
  http://www.seacex.es/indexflash.htm
  

• CALL TO ALL THE MEMBERS OF THE GAUDÍ & BARCELONA CLUB
  

  At every time and everywhere in the world it’s possible to organize an event related to Gaudí, to create a building or a trencadis mosaic influenced by Gaudí’s estheticism, to paint or to organize exhibitions, conferences, musicals or literary evenings… Do you know, [[NOM]], whether there’s an event being celebrated in your city or country? Let us know and you will help us to keep all our members informed. Become our correspondent and send us every kind of information, program or pictures that seem to be interesting to you: news@gaudiclub.com

  Even your smallest collaboration or help means a lot to us. Thank you in advance.

5. CAN YOU HELP US WITH YOUR FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION?

We would like to express our gratitude to all the paying members for their financial contribution. Thanks to your collaboration we can continue our association. We encourage all the other members to become a paying member right now.

One of the advantages of being a paying member is the discount of 8% you obtain on all your purchases in our shop. It’s a great opportunity if you’d like to give an original present during these days!

6. VISIT OUR ONLINE SHOP

All the Gaudinian presents have their own personality and their quality is undoubtedly good.

In our shop online you will a great selection of different articles, going from exclusive jewels to decorative reproductions of the works of the genius architect Antoni Gaudí. We recommend you to have a look at our shop. In case you have determined your Christmas budget, you can consult our list of articles by their price.

Please, don’t forget that some of our pieces are made according to traditional methods, so it might take us some days to deliver them. We therefore recommend you not to wait until the last moment.

	NEW 2005 CALENDARS Live gaudinism dayly with these calendars for the year 2005. Use them in your office, at home ...
	PERSONALIZED GAUDINIAN CHRISTMAS FOR YOUR COMPANY Personalized Christmas with Gaudinian motifs for your Company. Send original and exclusive christmas cards to your customers and friends. Chalk technique, colour, trencadis, reproduction and drawing of Gaudi buildings... Exclusive design.

7. BOOKS FOR YOUR LIBRARY

	EL PENSAMENT DE GAUDÍ “The thinking of Gaudí”. New publication of the Isidro Puig-Boada's book, which recapitulates exhaustively the ideas and comments Gaudí expressed, mainly orally, to his friends and collaborators. Discover the most human facet of the genius architect. In Catalan only.
	THE SAGRADA FAMILIA TEMPLE New edition of this book, in a new format, dedicated to Gaudí’s most spectacular work.

8. GAUDÍ TODAY

 

9. GAUDI TOURS – TRAVEL WITH US

Are you planning to travel to Barcelona? Count on our experience and let us help you to organize an unforgettable visit to the city which silhouette has been influenced by Gaudí’s work.

 

10. GAUDÍ INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS

It is our association’s purpose, in collaboration with many other Gaudinian organizations, to realize an international meeting with the assistance of the most important Gaudinian celebrities worldwide and in which architects, experts, artists and admirers of the architect in general can debate and express their opinions about this outstanding personality in history as well as his legacy.

In case you haven’t filled in our questionnaire yet, please spend some minutes to answer our questions

Together we will be able to design an appealing program which goes into interesting and innovative questions about the life, the spirituality , the architecture, the techniques and the influences of Gaudí.

More information: info@gaudicongress.com

11. BARCELONA’S HEARTBEAT

The internationally recognized guitar player Manuel González, friend and member of the Gaudí and Barcelona Club, has just inaugurated the Festival “The Guitar and the Monuments” in Barcelona. González has a thorough command of the instrument and lets us enjoy e.g. two works of Joaquín Rodrigo, Francesc Tárrega and Isaac Albéniz as well as some works of the most beautiful churches of the city. The Festival programs 2 concerts a week as from November 11th until the end of the year 2005. The main guideline through this cycle is the guitar in all its facets: soloist guitar recitals, duets, trios, quartets and quintets with different instruments as well as accompanied by orchestras.

Manuel González has been defined by critiques of the New York Times and El País as "one of the best guitar players of our days". He has performed among others in the Lincoln Centre, the headquarters of the United Nations (New York), the Teatro Real de Madrid and the Palacio de la Música Catalana. He has been recognized by numerous institutions and organizations.

Attention: The members of the Gaudí & Barcelona Club get a discount of 50% if they buy their entrances at the ticket office.

Have a look at our latest cultural recommendations about “This week’s specials” (Available only in Spanish)

12. LINKS OF INTEREST

Our member Pedro Uhart shows us his website, where we can see some interesting pictures and a small text about the most important works of Gaudí.

Article about the design of Barcelona in the XX century. It gives a review from Gaudí’s contributions until the Olympic Games in 1992.

13. CURIOSITIES

THE CRYPTOGRAMM OF THE SAGRADA FAMILIA

	In the Passion Façade of the Sagrada Familia Temple we find a cryptogram. It’s about one of the most popular motives of this façade, decorated by Josep M. Subirachs. This enigmatic square of 16 numbers allows you to make more than 310 different combinations summing the numbers of four different quads, always with the same result: 33, the age of Christ the moment he died –which is the most important fact of the Passion-. Summing the numbers in columns, rows, diagonals, summing the extremes… Can you find all the combinations?
	Gaudí was not very clear about what the sculpture covering of the Passion Façade should look like. When Subirachs accepted the assignment (1987), one of the conditions he posed is that he could apply his personal style, in order to create no confusion with the original work of Gaudí and to continue his own artistic career.
	Subirachs’ cryptogram is based on the cryptogram made by the German Renascent painter and geometric Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) in 1514 in the engraving “Melancolia I”. His numbers sum 34, an even number, much more difficult to obtain. You can see that, while in the cryptogram of Subirachs two numbers are repeated, the one of Dürer contains the numbers 1 until 16 without repetitions. Another curiosity: the numbers 14 and 15 in the center quads of the row below indicate the year of construction of this magic square. Josep Mª Subirachs’ website: www.subirachs.org
Do you know some other curiosity or anecdote related to Gaudí? Share it with us and help us to make up these sections!! news@gaudiclub.com

14. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We’d like to express our gratitude to Jaume Mestres for his admiration for Gaudí and his disinterested disposition to photograph everything related to the architect; to Diego Maldonado, for involving us in his conference in Bogotá; to Hiroya Tanaka for showing us his monument; and to Pedro Uhart, for keeping us posted about the progress of his website.

Come on and join us!
If you don’t’ remember your id number or password, please send an e-mail to: news@gaudiclub.com

Thank you for staying with us. See you in the next Gaudi News!
We look forward to hearing from you! Come on and join us!

Comments and suggestions: info@gaudiclub.com

GAUDI & BARCELONA CLUB ASSOCIATION
Còrsega, 366 3r.
08037 Barcelona
Telfs: +34 93 415 25 66
Fax: +34 93 415 30 33
http://www.gaudiclub.com
e-mail: news@gaudiclub.com