By William H. Robinson, Jordi Falgás and Carmen Belen Lord
Foreword by Robert Hughes
Cleveland Museum of Art
Yale University Press
$65

From 1868 until 1939, with the fall of the Second Spanish Republic, Barcelona, the principal city of Catalonia and a major Mediterranean port, experienced tremendous economic growth, emerging as the most politically and culturally progressive city in Spain. This fascinating period is explored in depth in this comprehensive book—with more than 30 contributing scholars—that accompanied an exhibition this past year at the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Although it is interesting to learn about the Catalan roots of world-famous painters like Picasso, Miró and Dalí, as well as lesser-known figures, the strongest appeal of the book for the craft aficionado undoubtedly lies in the substantial chunk of its 540 pages devoted to architecture, design and the decorative arts, including textiles and fashion, ceramics, glass and jewelry. Among the architects surveyed are Josep Puig i Cadafalch, Lluis Domènech i Montaner and Josep Jujol, whose astonishingly original buildings and decorative pieces are shown in rich detail. And at the heart of the book, naturally, because his work embodies the quintessential Catalan blend of local tradition and innovation, are the achievements of Antoni Gaudí, who in addition to his architectural projects such as the iconic Expiatory Temple of the Sagrada Familia and the mind-blowing curvilinear apartment house Casa Milà, created a wide range of home furnishings. “Gaudí approached every project from a small piece of furniture to a major building in the same way,” writes Daniel Giralt-Miracle, “he aimed for a total work of art whose unity resulted from the harmony of its various elements. . . . In his mind, there were no higher or lesser arts, nor did he differentiate among architecture, sculpture, painting, or crafts.” If you’re going to Barcelona, you might be reluctant to lug this heavyweight guide along, but a study of it beforehand will surely deepen your experience of a scintillating destination.