Modernisme

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Modernisme. Cultural movement in Catalonia, Spain, from c.1880 to c.1920, divided into conservative National Romanticism (La Renaixença—which promoted and celebrated Catalonian culture and language) and Progressivism (which tended to embrace many European tendencies, including the Arts-and-Crafts movement, Art Nouveau, and faith in the benefits of scientific investigation, technological advances, and industrialization). Catalan intellectuals saw Progressivism as a release from the stifling centralist structures of Madrid, and so Modernisme was associated with an assertion of regional (even nationalist) pride and identity. Its architectural expression lay in the incorporation of eclectic elements derived from historic styles, notably the Moorish and Gothic architecture of Spain; exploitation of materials (especially brick and tile) to express structure as well as to embellish every visible part of the fabric; and the exuberant use of enrichment, applied or integral to the structure. Its most celebrated protagonists were Domènech i Montaner, Gaudí, and Puig i Cadafalch.

Bibliography

Boh (1968);
Bohigas et al. (1991);
M. Freixa (1991);
Greenhalgh (ed.) (2000);
Lampugnani (ed.) (1988);
Marfany (1975)