Antoni Gaudí (1852 - 1926)
Parc Güell (1900-1914) - Antoni Gaudí
image sourced here.
Biography
Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (more widely known in the English speaking world under the Spanish version of his first name, as Antonio Gaudí, or, just simply, Gaudi), (25 June 1852–10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect famous for his unique designs expressing sculptural and individualistic qualities. His works are categorised under the Art Nouveau style of architecture, a precursor to modern architecture. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoni_Gaud%ED [Feb 2005]Parc Güell
Parc Güell (originally Park Güell) is a garden complex with architectural elements situated on the hill of El Carmel in the Gràcia district of Barcelona, Spain. It was designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí and built in the years 1900 to 1914. It is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parc_G%C3%BCell [Jan 2006
At least two of European film director Jess Franco were partially filmed at the park. [Jan 2006]
Camp
In Camp there is often something démesuré in the quality of the ambition, not only in the style of the work itself. Gaudí's lurid and beautiful buildings in Barcelona are Camp not only because of their style but because they reveal - most notably in the Cathedral of the Sagrada Familia - the ambition on the part of one man to do what it takes a generation, a whole culture to accomplish. --Susan Sontag, 1964Modernismo
Modernismo is Spanish for modernism, however the term Modernismo indicates a more specific art movement:
Modernismo, also known by its Catalan name Modernisme, as term in architecture generally refers to the pre-Art Nouveau style existing; e.g. in Barcelona in the last decades of the 19th century, the time Antoni Gaudí finished school and built his first projects. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernismo [Jan 2006]
DVD
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Antonio Gaudi (1984) - Hiroshi Teshigahara [Amazon US]
Creator of one of the most bizarre and organic styles in the history of architecture, Antonio Gaudi Cornet, Spain's national treasure, was blessed with not only the vision, but the patronage that allowed him to build his elaborate and surreal designs. With Antonio Gaudi, Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara (Woman in the Dunes) gives a tour of the makings of Gaudi's world. Almost entirely without narration, Teshigahara guides us instead with an eerie score by Toru Takemitsu and a few subtitles. The film is more a poem than a documentary, but don't expect an approach similar to Godfrey Reggio's Koyaanisqatsi. Instead we are given a quiet soundtrack that mixes Takemitsu's sparse score with the natural sounds surrounding Gaudi's structures, and a stationary camera presents the buildings as if they have sprouted: supports seem to magically erupt from the ground like roots, and our eyes are led through the textures and patterns of Gaudi's elaborate mosaic stone and brick designs. Visually revealing and comprehensive, Teshigahara leaves us with only one thing to do--to view Gaudi's amazing world with our own eyes. --Ted Sonnenschein, Amazon.com
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