MARION HARDING – People, Places and Events Selection of articles written and edited by: Ruan Harding Contents People Antoni Gaudí Arthur Pan Bryher Carl Jung Hugo Perls Ingrid Bergman Jacob Moritz Blumberg Klaus Perls Marion Harding Pablo Picasso Paul-Émile Borduas Pope John Paul II Theodore Harold Maiman Places Chelsea, London Hyères Ireland Portage la Prairie Vancouver Events Nursing Painting Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ernstblumberg/Books/Marion_Harding_- _People,_Places_and_Events" Categories: Wikipedia:Books Antoni Gaudí Antoni Gaudí Antoni Gaudí in 1878 Personal information Name Antoni Gaudí Birth date 25 June 1852 Birth place Reus, or Riudoms12 Date of death 10 June 1926 (aged 73) Place of death Barcelona, Catalonia, (Spain) Work Significant buildings Sagrada Família, Casa Milà, Casa Batlló Significant projects Parc Güell, Colònia Güell 1See, in Catalan, Juan Bergós Massó, Gaudí, l'home i la obra ("Gaudí: The Man and his Work"), Universitat Politècnica de Barcelona (Càtedra Gaudí), 1974 - ISBN 84-600-6248-1, section "Nacimiento" (Birth), pp. 17-18. 2 "Biography at Gaudí and Barcelona Club, page 1" . http://www.gaudiclub.com/ingles/i_vida/i_vida.asp. Retrieved on 2005-11-05. Antoni Plàcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet (25 June 1852–10 June 1926) – in English sometimes referred to by the Spanish translation of his name, Antonio Gaudí 345 – was a Spanish Catalan 6 architect who belonged to the Modernist style (Art Nouveau) movement and was famous for his unique and highly individualistic designs. Biography Birthplace Antoni Gaudí was born in the province of Tarragona in southern Catalonia on 25 June 1852. While there is some dispute as to his birthplace – official documents state that he was born in the town of Reus, whereas others claim he was born in Riudoms, a small village 3 miles (5 km) from Reus,7 – it is certain that he was baptized in Reus a day after his birth.. The artist's parents, Francesc Gaudí Serra and Antònia Cornet Bertran, both came from families of coppersmiths. It was this exposure to nature at an early age that influenced him to incorporate natural shapes into his later work.8 Higher education Gaudí, as an architecture student at the Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura in Barcelona from 1873 to 1877, was not particularly outstanding but did excellently in his "Trial drawings and projects".9 After five years of work, he was awarded the title of architect in 1878. As he signed the title, Elies Rogent declared, "Qui sap si hem donat el diploma a un boig o a un geni: el temps ens ho dirà" ("Who knows if we have given this diploma to a nut or to a genius. Time will tell.") The newly named architect immediately began to plan and design and would remain affiliated with the school his entire life. 3Gaudí, living under Spanish dictatorship, was not allowed to register his name in his native Catalan. The imposed Spanish translation of his name was popularized and spread during the nationalistic Francoist period. Many publications from this period, including English references, use the Spanish translation. His native Catalan name, Antoni, is now preferred and widely used. 4 "Gaudí, Antonio" . The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company. 2000. http://www.bartleby.com/61/7/G0060700.html. Retrieved on 2008-11-11. 5 "Gaudí, Antonio" . Random House Unabridged Dictionary. Random House, Inc.. 2006. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gaudi. Retrieved on 2008-11-11. 6 "Antoni Gaudi" . http://www.archiplanet.org/architects/Antoni_Gaudi.html. Retrieved on 2008-10-02. 7 8 9 "Biography of Gaudi and Barcelona Club, page 2" . http://www.gaudiclub.com/ingles/i_vida/i_vida.asp. Retrieved on 2005-11-05. Early career •1878–1879: Lampposts for the Plaça Reial at Barcelona; •1878: Showcase for glove manufacturer Comella. Via this work, used at the World's Fair in Paris, Eusebi Güell came to know the architect.10 •1878–1882: Several designs for the Obrera Mataronense at Mataró. Only a very small part of these plans was built, but it shows Gaudí's first use of parabolic arches, here in a wooden structure. •1883–1885: Casa Vicens; •1883–1885: Villa "El Capricho" at Comillas (Santander); •1884: Finca Güell: Entrance pavilion and stables for the palace at Pedralbes (first completed building for Eusebi Güell); •1884–1891: Completion of the crypt of the Sagrada Família (the crypt had been started by the architect Francisco del Villar in 1882, who had to abandon the project in 1883); •1885–1889: Palau Güell; •1887–1893: Episcopal palace at Astorga; Later years Gaudí was a devoted Catholic, to the point that in his later years, he abandoned secular work and devoted his life to Catholicism and his Sagrada Família. He designed it to have 18 towers, 12 for the 12 apostles, 4 for the 4 evangelists, one for Mary and one for Jesus. Soon after, his closest family and friends began to die. His works slowed to a halt, and his attitude changed. One of his closest family members – his niece Rosa Egea – died in 1912, only to be followed by a "faithful collaborator, Francesc Berenguer Mestres" two years later. After these tragedies, Barcelona fell on hard times, economically. The Casa Milà, in the Eixample, The construction of La Sagrada Família Barcelona. slowed; the construction of La Colonia Güell ceased altogether. Four years later in 1916, Eusebi Güell, his patron, died.11 10 "Biography at Gaudí and Barcelona Club, page 4" . http://www.gaudiclub.com/ingles/i_vida/i_vida4.asp. 11 "Biography at Gaudí and Barcelona Club, page 5" . http://www.gaudiclub.com/ingles/i_vida/i_vida5.asp. Retrieved on 2005-11-09. Perhaps it was because of this unfortunate sequence of events that Gaudí changed. He became reluctant to talk with reporters or have his picture taken and solely concentrated on his masterpiece, La Sagrada Família.12 On 7 June 192613 Gaudí was run over by a tram. Because of his ragged attire and empty pockets, many cab drivers refused to pick him up for fear that he would be unable to pay the fare. He was eventually taken to a pauper's hospital in Barcelona. Nobody recognized the injured artist until his friends found him the next day. When they tried to move him into a nicer hospital, Gaudí refused, reportedly saying "I belong here among the poor." He died three days later on June 10, 1926, at age 73 half of Barcelona mourning his death. He was buried in the midst of La Sagrada Família.14 Although Gaudí was constantly changing his mind and recreating his blueprints, the only existing copy of his last recorded blue prints were destroyed by the anarchists in 1938 during the Spanish Civil War. This has made it very difficult for his workers to complete the cathedral in the same fashion as Gaudí most likely would have wished. It is for this that Gaudí is known to many as "God's Architect". La Sagrada Família is now being completed but differences between his work and the new additions can be seen. As of 2007, completion of the Sagrada Familía is planned for 2026. However, this may prove wildly optimistic if the worst fears of many eminent engineers and architects are realized. These have pointed out the structural dangers posed by a tunnel for a TGV-style high-speed rail, which would run within feet of the church’s foundations15[0]; one might note the precedent of one metro tunnel in Barcelona’s Carmel district that collapsed and destroyed an entire city block on the 1st of February 2005. Others of Gaudí's works threatened by the city center route chosen by Barcelona's mayor Jordi Hereu for the new rail line include Casa Batlló and Casa Milà. Artistic style It is widely acknowledged that Gaudi is a part of Barcelona. His first works were designed in the style of gothic architecture and traditional Catalan architectural modes, but he soon developed his own distinct sculptural style. French architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, who promoted an evolved form of gothic architecture, proved a major influence on Gaudí. But the student surpassed the master architect and contrived highly original designs – irregular and fantastically intricate. Some of his greatest works, most notably La Sagrada Família, have an almost hallucinatory power. 12 13 Antoni Gaudí, Spanish Modernist Architect - Life of Antoni Gaudí 14 15 "Video produced by SOS Sagrada Familia ( http://www.sossagradafamilia.org) " . http://www.elperiodico.com/default.asp? idpublicacio_PK=46&idioma=CAS&idnoticia_PK=425520&idseccio_PK=1022. In Gaudí's hanging model a system of threads represents columns, arches, walls and vaults. Sachets with lead shot resemble the weight of small building parts. Gaudí spent ten years working on studies for the design, and developing a new method of structural calculation based on a stereostatic model built with cords and small sacks of pellets. The outline of the church was traced on a wooden board (1:10 scale), which was then placed on the ceiling of a small house next to the work site. Cords were hung from the points where columns were to be placed. Small sacks filled with pellets, weighing one ten-thousandth part of the weight the arches would have to support, were hung from each catenaric arch formed by the cords. Photographs were taken of the resulting model from various angles, and the exact shape of the church's structure was obtained by turning them upside-down obtaining therefore the form, absolutely precise and exact, of the structure of the building, without having to have conducted an operation of calculation and without possibility of error. The forms of cords corresponded to the lines of tension of the prim structure and when inverting the photo, the lines of pressure of the compressed structure were obtained.