Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona and Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Glasgow were an important part of the modern movement which shaped the new architecture of some of the more progressive cities of Europe and North America at the beginning of the 20th century.
Normally architectural images are created by line drawings, following straight edges and shadows, but with the whimsical creations of Gaudi, shape and overall form, rather than line are much more significant.
Top level of the Casa Mila in Barcelona, created by Antoni Gaudi, 1905 - 1910
With the Willow Tearoooms in Glasgow, Mackintosh uses subtle variations in shape to create a frontage unlike any other in the city centre, using absolute minimalism to produce a profile which could not be expressed in a purely linear drawing.
Façade of the Willow Tearooms, created by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, 1903 - 1904
The façade of the Casa Batllo was also added to an older building by Guidi, being completed in 1906. Lower levels of the Casa Batllo in Barcelona, created by Antoni Gaudi, 1904 - 1906
The incredible rooftop of the Casa Batllo looks like a dragon's back with a curved spine covered with multi-coloured ceramic scales and humps.
Roof top of the Casa Batllo in Barcelona, created by Antoni Gaudi, 1904 - 1906
Mackintosh’s most colourful façade at the Daily Record Building is hidden from proper viewing as it is situated in a narrow lane, a mere 6 metres wide. Top of Daily Record Building, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, 1901-1904
The entrance to Glasgow School of Art shows Mackintosh's use of metal decoration on the balconies and railings. His archetypical roses are an attractive feature, facing the huge studio windows on the upper level. Entrance to Glasgow School of Art by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, completed 1909
After decades of construction, the nativity façade of the church of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona was completed in the years following Gaudi’s death in 1926. Top of the nativity façade of the church of the Sagrada Familia, architect Antoni Gaudi
In contrast to Gaudi’s use of colourful materials and organic shapes in his exteriors, Mackintosh preferred clean geometric forms with minimum use of colour.
With the west facing side of the Hill House in Helensburgh, Mackintosh anticipates some of the design themes of Art Deco which would come some 25 years later.
The curved stair tower and the angled chimney are very futuristic for 1903, when the house was completed. Western entrance of Hill House, Helensburgh, architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Stair tower at rear of Hill House, Helensburgh
Gaudi’s earlier work does not reveal the unique freedom of expression shown later. With the Casa Calvet in the Eixample district, the city authorities insisted on a design which would match the more conservative buildings surrounding it. The City Council admired the completed Casa Calvet so much that they bestowed it with an award for building of the year in 1900. Lower levels of the Casa Calvet in Barcelona, created by Antoni Gaudi, 1900
Although Mackintosh and Gaudi were contemporaries and introduced novel styles of architecture, their buildings were very different, although equally fascinating.
In his 1968 book, The Sources of Modern Architecture and Design, the architectural historian, Nikolaus Pevsner, discussed Gaudi’s Modernisme and Mackintosh’s Glasgow Style. He hailed Gaudi as a pioneer of twentieth century structure; “in his extreme individualism once again Gaudi was part of Art Nouveau, for Art Nouveau was an outbreak of individualism first and foremost”.
With regard to there being little appreciation of Mackintosh's genius in Britain, Pevsner was of the opinion that “what made it possible for the Continent to admire him was precisely what deprived him of patronage in England. He was too Art Nouveau for England ”. Mackintosh's architectural career in Scotland was over by the time he was 40.
Gaudi's Casa Mila block in Barcelona, illustrated here by Gerald Blaikie, is probably the best example to be found of a flowing curved form of building style.
The face of an existing building was recast and the tearooms were formed behind the new façade. Mackintosh designed all the interiors and furnishings in his familiar Art Nouveau "Glasgow Style".
With the lower levels of the building, below, Guidi somehow manages to create a a truly organic structure which has to be seen to be properly appreciated.
The stonework gives the appearance of skeletal bones, topped with balconies which look like skulls.
In Glasgow’s gloomy lanes, glazed bricks were a common building material because they reflected the available light back into the alleyways.
Between the bays of the building Mackintosh created motifs depicting the tree of life on the white background by using green bricks rising up towards stylised tree tops of red brick.
In the end bay, shown below, the symbolic tree is also used to disguise the vertical drainpipe.
The top and bottom storeys have carved sandstone features, such as the Mackintosh rose featured in the dormer window at the rooftop.
This frontage has a more Viennese character to it than any of Mackintosh’s other buildings.
The curved stonework at the staircase allows for a flowing effect leading down to the street.
The central portico depicts the birth of Jesus in the stable at Nazareth, surrounded by Gaudi's gloriously irregular stonework. It is topped by four towers, each dedicated to a particular saint.
Mackintosh also designed the interiors and the furniture of the Hill House, where he used his familiar stylised roses, foliage and other features inspired by nature.
The façade is still maintained in its original condition, with perfectly symmetrical doors and windows with identical green shutters.
The decorative stonework and the ironwork at the balconies anticipate some of his later works where there is more use of forms inspired by nature.
|
|
|
|
All original artwork, photography and text ©Gerald Blaikie 2002-2010
Unauthorised reproduction of any image on this website is not permitted.
Contact: admin@scotcities.com
