Claude Monet

Claude Monet also known as Oscar-Claude Monet or Claude Oscar Monet (November 14, 1840 – December 5, 1926) was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. The term Impressionism is derived from the title of his painting Impression, Sunrise.
Claude Monet was born on November 14, 1840 on the fifth floor of 45 rue Laffitte, in the ninth arrondissement of Paris. He was the second son of Claude-Adolphe and Louise-Justine Aubrée Monet, both of them second-generation Parisians. On May 20, 1841, he was baptized into the local church parish, Notre-Dame-de-Lorette as Oscar-Claude. In 1845, his family moved to Le Havre in Normandy. His father wanted him to go into the family grocery store business, but Claude Monet wanted to become an artist. His mother was a singer.

On the first of April 1851, Monet entered the Le Havre secondary school of the arts. He first became known locally for his charcoal caricatures, which he would sell for ten to twenty francs. Monet also undertook his first drawing lessons from Jacques-François Ochard, a former student of Jacques-Louis David. On the beaches of Normandy in about 1856/1857 he met fellow artist Eugène Boudin who became his mentor and taught him to use oil paints. Boudin taught Monet "en plein air" (outdoor) techniques for painting.

On 28 January 1857 his mother died. He was 16 years old when he left school, and went to live with his widowed childless aunt, Marie-Jeanne Lecadre.

Paris

s

When Monet traveled to Paris to visit The Louvre, he witnessed painters copying from the old masters. Monet, having brought his paints and other tools with him, would instead go and sit by a window and paint what he saw. Monet was in Paris for several years and met several painters who would become friends and fellow impressionists. One of those friends was Édouard Manet.

In June 1861 Monet joined the First Regiment of African Light Cavalry in Algeria for two years of a seven-year commitment, but upon his contracting typhoid his aunt Marie-Jeanne Lecadre intervened to get him out of the army if he agreed to complete an art course at a university. It is possible that the Dutch painter Johan Barthold Jongkind, whom Monet knew, may have prompted his aunt on this matter. Disillusioned with the traditional art taught at universities, in 1862 Monet became a student of Charles Gleyre in Paris, where he met Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Frédéric Bazille, and Alfred Sisley. Together they shared new approaches to art, painting the effects of light en plein air with broken color and rapid brushstrokes, in what later came to be known as Impressionism.

Monet's Camille or The Woman in the Green Dress (La Femme à la Robe Verte), painted in 1866, brought him recognition, and was one of many works featuring his future wife, Camille Doncieux; she was the model for the figures in The Woman in the Garden of the following year, as well as for On the Bank of the Seine, Bennecourt, 1868, pictured here. Shortly thereafter Doncieux became pregnant and gave birth to their first child, Jean. In 1868, due to financial reasons, Monet attempted suicide by throwing himself into the Seine.

Franco-Prussian War, Impressionism, and Argenteuil

Impression Sunrise

After the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War (July 19, 1870), Monet took refuge in England in September 1870. While there, he studied the works of John Constable and Joseph Mallord William Turner, both of whose landscapes would serve to inspire Monet's innovations in the study of color. In the Spring of 1871, Monet's works were refused authorisation to be included in the Royal Academy exhibition.

In May 1871 he left London to live in Zaandam, where he made 25 paintings (and the police suspected him of revolutionary activities). He also paid a first visit to nearby Amsterdam. In October or November 1871 he returned to France. Monet lived from December 1871 to 1878 at Argenteuil, a village on the Seine near Paris, and here he painted some of his best known works. In 1874, he briefly returned to Holland.

In 1872 (or 1873), he painted Impression, Sunrise (Impression: soleil levant) depicting a Le Havre landscape. It hung in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874 and is now displayed in the Musée Marmottan-Monet, Paris. From the painting's title, art critic Louis Leroy coined the term "Impressionism", which he intended as disparagement but which the Impressionists appropriated for themselves.

Monet and Camille Doncieux had married just before the war (June 28, 1870) and, after their excursion to London and Zaandam, they had moved into a house in Argenteuil near the Seine River in December 1871. She became ill in 1876. They had a second son, Michel, on March 17, 1878, (Jean was born in 1867). This second child weakened her already fading health. In that same year, he moved to the village of Vétheuil. At the age of thirty-two, Madame Monet died on 5 September 1879 of tuberculosis; Monet painted her on her death bed.

Later life

After several difficult months following the death of Camille on 5 September 1879, a grief-stricken Monet (resolving never to be mired in poverty again) began in earnest to create some of his best paintings of the 19th century. During the early 1880s Monet painted several groups of landscapes and seascapes in what he considered to be campaigns to document the French countryside. His extensive campaigns evolved into his series' paintings.

In 1878 the Monets temporarily moved into the home of Ernest Hoschedé, (1837-1891), a wealthy department store owner and patron of the arts. Both families then shared a house in Vétheuil during the summer. After her husband (Ernest Hoschedé) became bankrupt, and left in 1878 for Belgium, in September 1879, and while Monet continued to live in the house in Vétheuil; Alice Hoschedé helped Monet to raise his two sons, Jean and Michel, by taking them to Paris to live alongside her own six children. They were Blanche, Germaine, Suzanne, Marthe, Jean-Pierre, and Jacques. In the spring of 1880 Alice Hoschedé and all the children left Paris and rejoined Monet still living in the house in Vétheuil. In 1881 all of them moved to Poissy which Monet hated. From the doorway of the little train between Vernon and Gasny he discovered Giverny. In April 1883 they moved to Vernon, then to a house in Giverny, Eure, in Upper Normandy, where he planted a large garden where he painted for much of the rest of his life. Following the death of her estranged husband, Alice Hoschedé married Claude Monet in 1892.

Giverny

  I

At the beginning of May 1883, Monet and his large family rented a house and two acres from a local landowner. The house was situated near the main road between the towns of Vernon and Gasny at Giverny. There was a barn that doubled as a painting studio, orchards and a small garden. The house was close enough to the local schools for the children to attend and the surrounding landscape offered an endless array of suitable motifs for Monet's work. The family worked and built up the gardens and Monet's fortunes began to change for the better as his dealer Paul Durand-Ruel had increasing success in selling his paintings. By November 1890 Monet was prosperous enough to buy the house, the surrounding buildings and the land for his gardens. Within a few years by 1899 Monet built a greenhouse and a second studio, a spacious building, well lit with skylights. Beginning in the 1880s and 1890s, through the end of his life in 1926, Monet worked on "series" paintings, in which a subject was depicted in varying light and weather conditions. His first series exhibited as such was of Haystacks, painted from different points of view and at different times of the day. Fifteen of the paintings were exhibited at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in 1891. He later produced several series of paintings including: Rouen Cathedral, Poplars, the Houses of Parliament, Mornings on the Seine, and the Water Lilies that were painted on his property at Giverny.

Monet was exceptionally fond of painting controlled nature: his own gardens in Giverny, with its water lilies, pond, and bridge. He also painted up and down the banks of the Seine.

Between 1883 and 1908, Monet traveled to the Mediterranean, where he painted landmarks, landscapes, and seascapes, such as Bordighera. He painted an important series of paintings in Venice, Italy, and in London he painted two important series — views of Parliament and views of Charing Cross Bridge. His second wife Alice died in 1911 and his oldest son Jean, who had married Alice's daughter Blanche, Monet's particular favourite, died in 1914. After his wife died, Blanche looked after and cared for him. It was during this time that Monet began to develop the first signs of cataracts.

During World War I, in which his younger son Michel served and his friend and admirer Clemenceau led the French nation, Monet painted a series of Weeping Willow trees as homage to the French fallen soldiers. Cataracts formed on Monet's eyes, for which he underwent two operations in 1923. The paintings done while the cataracts affected his vision have a general reddish tone, which is characteristic of the vision of cataract victims. It may also be that after surgery he was able to see certain ultraviolet wavelengths of light that are normally excluded by the lens of the eye, this may have had an effect on the colors he perceived. After his operations he even repainted some of these paintings, with bluer water lilies than before the operation.

Death

Monet died of lung cancer on December 5, 1926 at the age of 86 and is buried in the Giverny church cemetery. Monet had insisted that the occasion be simple; thus about fifty people attended the ceremony.

His famous home and garden with its waterlily pond were bequeathed by his heirs to the French Academy of Fine Arts (part of the Institut de France) in 1966. Through the Fondation Claude Monet, the home and gardens were opened for visit in 1980, following refurbishment. In addition to souvenirs of Monet and other objects of his life, the home contains his collection of Japanese woodcut prints. The home is one of the two main attractions of Giverny, which hosts tourists from all over the world.

Posthumous sales

In 2004, London, the Parliament, Effects of Sun in the Fog (Londres, le Parlement, trouée de soleil dans le brouillard) (1904), sold for U.S. $20.1 million. In 2006, the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society published a paper providing evidence that these were painted in situ at St Thomas' Hospital over the river Thames.

Falaises près de Dieppe (Cliffs near Dieppe) has been stolen on two separate occasions. Once in 1998 (in which the museum's curator was convicted of the theft and jailed for five years along with two accomplices) and most recently in August 2007. It has yet to be recovered.

Monet's Le Pont du chemin de fer à Argenteuil, an 1873 painting of a railway bridge spanning the Seine near Paris was bought by an anonymous telephone bidder for a record $ 41.4 million at Christie's auction in New York on May 6, 2008. The previous record for his painting stood at $ 36.5 million.

Le bassin aux nymphéas (from the water lilies series) sold at Christie's 24 June 2008, lot 19, for £36,500,000 ($71,892,376.34) (hammer price) or £40,921,250 ($80,451,178) with fees, setting a new auction record for the artist. (From wikipedia)
www.claudemonetgallery.org

Agatha Christie

Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born on 15 September 1890 in Torquay, England.  Her father, Frederick, was an outgoing American with an independent income.  Her mother, Clara, was rather shy; Agatha resembled her greatly in personality.  There were two other children - Madge and Monty, both older than Agatha.
Although Madge received a formal education, Clara decided Agatha should not.  She intended that Agatha be taught to read when she was eight; however, by the age of five Agatha had already taught herself to read.  The rest of her education was through a mixture of tutors, part-time schooling and French finishing schools. She also trained as a singer and pianist and had it not been for her extreme shyness, she had the talent to have made this her career.
When Agatha was eleven her father died and she became even closer to her mother. Without Frederick, Clara became restless and began to travel, at times taking Agatha with her; these early trips began Agatha's lifelong love of travel.
In 1912 Agatha met Archie Christie, her future husband, a qualified aviator who had applied to join the Royal Flying Corps.  After a tempestuous romance, they married on Christmas Eve 1914, by special licence, with Archie returning to the war in France on Boxing Day.
Agatha was not idle during the war. She became a nurse in the Voluntary Aid Detachment of the Red Cross Hospital in Torquay - ultimately working in the dispensary where she enjoyed the work and completed the examination of the Society of Apothecaries.
Although Agatha had amused herself as a child, acting out stories and make believe, her writing career really began after her sister Madge challenged her to write a novel. It took several years to get her first book The Mysterious Affair at Styles published - with the publisher suggesting an alternative final chapter - but the reviews were kind and the murder by poison so well described that Agatha received the unprecedented honour of a review in the Pharmaceutical Journal!
Agatha’s happiness was complete when Rosalind, her only daughter was born on 5th August 1919 but by 1926, her life was in tatters: Christie’s mother Clara died and Archie left her for another woman.
Christie slowly rebuilt her life and in 1930 she visited Baghdad for a second time. It was here she met Max Mallowan. Max took Agatha on a tour of Baghdad and the desert - it was an action-packed journey - their car got stuck in the sand and they were rescued by the Desert Camel Corps! When they reached Athens, Agatha received a telegram saying that Rosalind was seriously ill. Agatha's only concern was to get home, however she had badly sprained her ankle on an Athens street and was unable to walk. Max chose to accompany her back to England. She could not have made the trip without him and when they reached home he proposed and she happily accepted.
Agatha accompanied Max on his annual archaeological expeditions for nearly 30 years. She continued to write, both at home and on field trips and her book Come, Tell Me How You Live wittily describes her days on digs in Syria.  She and Max were happily married for 46 years.  After a hugely successful career and a wonderful life Agatha died peacefully on 12 January 1976.
You can read Agatha Christie's own account of her life in An Autobiography which was published after her death in 1977.
 http://agathachristie.com

Marc Chagall

Chagall Marc (1887-1985), francuski malarz, grafik, scenograf, ilustrator pochodzenia żydowsko-rosyjskiego, zaliczany do kręgu malarzy École de Paris. W latach 1907-10 studiował w Petersburgu, m.in. u L. Baksta. W 1910-14 w Paryżu, gdzie uległ wpływom kubizmu. Nawiązał przyjaźń z awangardowymi poetami (G. Apollinaire, B. Cendrars, M. Jacob) i malarzami (R. Delanuay, A. Gleizes, F. Léger, Ch. Soutine). W 1914 w Berlinie miał pierwszą samodzielną wystawę i wywarł wpływ na niemieckich ekspresjonistów. W czasie rewolucji w 1917 był komisarzem sztuk pięknych w Witebsku, gdzie założył Akademię Malarską. Od 1922 w Paryżu. W 1941-47 w USA. Od 1948 na stałe we Francji, początkowo w okolicach Paryża, a potem na Riwierze Francuskiej.

Całe życie podejmował tematy z czasów swojego dzieciństwa i młodości w Witebsku, zaczerpnięte z obrzędów i zwyczajów żydowskich i życia rosyjskiego ludu. Często malował liryczne sceny miłosne. Już we wczesnych obrazach pojawiają się charakterystyczne cechy jego stylu, jak ekspresyjny kolor, naruszanie proporcji i zestawianie elementów świata realnego w nierealne układy (Czerwony akt 1908). Około 1911 posługując się językiem poetyckiej metafory i zacierając granicę między światem realnym a fantastycznym stworzył własny indywidualny styl. W jego sztuce można odnaleźć elementy symbolizmu i ekspresjonizmu. Baśniowa atmosfera jego obrazów zapowiadała surrealizm.

Charakterystycznymi środkami wyrazu jego malarstwa są miękka i płynna deformacja kształtów, ekspresyjny koloryt z przewagą żywych czerwieni, błękitów i zieleni oraz nastrój dziwności i fantastyczności (Ja i wieś 1911, Skrzypek 1912-1913, Zakochani nad miastem 1915, Przechadzka 1917, Linoskoczka 1930, Kochankowie w bzach 1931, Ulica zakochanych 1939).

W czasie II wojny światowej w jego obrazach dominowała nuta smutku i rozpaczy, a koloryt stał się ciemniejszy (Czerwony kogut 1940, Żongler 1943). Po wojnie koloryt znowu się rozjaśnił i wrócił dawny pogodny nastrój (Kwiaty nad Paryżem 1967).

Był on jednym z najwybitniejszych współczesnych grafików (akwaforty do Martwych dusz N. Gogola 1923-27, Bajek J. de La Fontaine’a 1927-31, Biblii 1931-55). Zajmował się także scenografią (kostiumy do baletów: Aleko 1942), Ognisty ptak 1945), ceramiką, rzeźbą, witrażownictwem (witraże do katedry w Reims 1974) i malarstwem monumentalnym (plafon w operze w Paryżu).

 http://portalwiedzy.onet.pl

Antonio Gaudi

Antoni Gaudí was a pupil at the Piarist School in Reus, where he stood out on account of his gift for analysing and rationalising questions. During his adolescence, Gaudí formed a strong friendship with two of his fellow pupils: Eduard Toda and Josep Ribera. The three young men were enthusiastic about nature and interested in history, and were very fond of going on excursions. On one of these outings, Josep Ribera brought his friends to an abandoned building that he had discovered: the ruins of the Santa María de Poblet monastery. The three youths made a resolution to restore the ancient building. Of that enthusiastic youthful project, all that remains is a floor plan drawn by Gaudí, who must have been about 15 at the time, and a note written by his companions. For Gaudí, that experience was undoubtedly the declaration of his vocation as an architect.

A short time afterwards, Gaudí moved to Barcelona to study the final year of his secondary education and to do the foundation course at the School of Architecture. By that time, Gaudí had already distinguished himself as a result of his creative genius and through a flair for calculus. From early on in his studies, the brilliant architect was hard at work in the studios of eminent professors and masters of the craft such as Francisco Paula de Villar and Josep Fontseré. It was in the studio of the latter that Gaudí achieved the first recognition of his work: on his own initiative he corrected a task that had been given to a fellow student – designing the water tank for the Cascada Fountain in Parc de la Ciutadella.

The year 1878 marked the beginning of Gaudí’s intense professional activity. During that year he won a competition organised by the Barcelona City Council for his design and production of some street lamps (located in two squares, Plaça Reial and Pla de Palau), he was awarded a commission for Casa Vicens, his first important work, and he drew up preliminary plans for an industrial complex with residential quarters for the Obrera Mataronense workers’ cooperative. This was an important time for Gaudí. It was a period of research and hard work in which he learned to use the tools which would enable him to create his works of great genius in the years to come.

However, if Gaudí had one key commission in 1878, it was without a doubt the design of a small display stand for the Spanish Pavilion at the International Exhibition in Paris that same year. One of the visitors to the exhibition hall, Mr. Eusebi Güell i Bacigalupi, was so impressed by the originality of the stand that he asked to be put in contact with its creator. This marked the beginning of both a professional relationship and a close friendship between them that would last for 40 years. From that point onwards, Güell was his best client. Gaudí designed and built magnificent works for him, with painstaking attention to even the smallest details, which contributed to expanding his genius and his originality as an architect.

The development and consolidation of a genius.

The 1880s was a decade of evolution and transformation, both in the field of architecture and in Gaudí’s personal life. His style became more and more individual and bold, and all things considered he became a successful architect. He worked in every conceivable category of civil architecture: residential properties (the Güell Estate and the Güell Palace), decorative houses and halls (El Capricho in Comillas and the pavilion of the Compañía Transatlántica at the Cádiz Exhibition), and religious buildings (the Bishop’s Palace in Astorga, the School of the Teresian Nuns and the Church of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona). He dealt with magnates and with influential church authorities. He both impressed them and learned from them. In 1900, the Barcelona City Council awarded him the first prize for the best modernist building in the city: Casa Calvet.
In 1904 that Gaudí undertook the refurbishment of Casa Batlló, on the commission of the textile industrialist Josep Batlló i Casanovas, in elegant Passeig de Gràcia, on the same stretch of street as Casa Lleó Morera and Casa Amatller, built by Doménech i Montaner and Puig i Cadafalch respectively. The difference between the styles of these three Greats of Catalan Modernism gave rise to the block being called “La Manzana de la Discordia”, or Block of Discord, a name which it has kept to this day. It is interesting to note that in Casa Batlló Gaudí was able to work according to his personal taste, and with total creative freedom. For that very reason, Casa Batlló is a showcase of his skills in the use of all kinds of materials: stone, wood, ceramic tiles, glass and iron, and he played masterfully with colour and shape. His dealings with Josep Batlló led to his acquaintance with Mr. Milá, who subsequently commissioned him to design Casa Milá, where Gaudí used many of the techniques which he had already tested in building Casa Batlló.

In 1910 a major exhibition of Gaudí’s work opened in the Gran Palais in Paris, and this was the only exhibition outside of Spain dedicated to the architect during his lifetime. On the 7th of June 1926 he was knocked down by tram while on his way to the Church of Sant Felip Neri, before going to the building site of the Sagrada Familia. He died on the 10th of June in the Hospital de la Santa Creu. His funeral was held two days later, and was attended by throngs of his many admirers, disciples and friends.

Historic Gaudí. A contemporary perspective.
Gaudí is the definitive architect associated with the city, having designed such major works as the Sagrada Familia, the only cathedral in the world under construction, Casa Batlló, la Pedrera, Palau Güell, and many more.
Today Gaudí has become a world-famous architect, the top name in Catalan architecture. Over the years, his works have gone from being obscure or even criticised to achieving international renown and being symbols and icons of an increasingly global Barcelona. In fact, 2002 was declared the International Year of Gaudí in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of his birth.

Gaudí was an outstanding and unique architect, very much one of a kind; a dreamer and yet rigorous, he was attracted by concepts which may have seemed contradictory but which for him were necessarily bound together. He was at once a craftsman and an artist, the architect of both religious and civil buildings, very strict when it came to technical details, and possessed of a creativity which knew no bounds. But above all, he was an architect who drew his inspiration not only from nature but equally from historical styles and traditional types of construction. He also had a surpassing vision: that of creating new forms which would allow him to experiment and to develop his creative interests.

Many influences - oriental, neoclassical and neo-Mudejar among others – can be seen in his architecture; however Gaudí mixed these styles with new solutions and materials such as iron, concrete, glass and ceramic tiles, materials which could be produced industrially to bring down the cost. He was also a pioneer of such contemporary notions as ecology, using recycled materials in his work.

Gaudí broke away from all previous tradition and created a new language, and although it contained elements similar to those used by other past or contemporary movements, it turned these around, reinterpreted them and took them to new levels. There is no doubt that Gaudí was a modernist, perhaps even its greatest exponent. There are even those who believe that he created a new style in its own right.

Gaudí lived in an era which was characterised by the intense economic and urban development of Barcelona, the adoption of technical changes driven by the industrial revolution, and the dawn of a prosperous Catalan bourgeoisie who were interested in artistic projects and the restoration of Catalan values through the movement known as the Renaixença (the Rebirth). All of these aspects had an influence on Gaudí, on his ideas and on his methods of working.

His family background clearly also had an impact on his work. Gaudí was from a family of boilermakers, and this influenced his understanding of space and his competence for manual trades. His poor health during childhood prevented him from going to school, and Gaudí spent long periods in the countryside, in the town of Riudoms (Tarragona), where he passed his days absorbed in the contemplation of nature and animals. Organic elements always stand out in his architecture.

In professional terms, Gaudí is closely linked to Barcelona, the city in which he completed his studies and which is home to the vast majority of his works. One of his first important projects was Casa Vicens. At that time, at the beginning of his career, he also entered into one of the most productive partnerships in the history of patronage: his relationship with Eusebi Güell, who also became one of his closest friends.
Gaudí designed a spectacular display case for the Comella glove manufacturer at the International Exhibition in Paris. Made of iron, its originality immediately captivated Güell, who then commissioned Gaudí to build the entrance to his estate in Pedralbes, Finca Güell, and it was there that Gaudí built his first catenary arch.

After this followed a whole host of commissions, among them Palau Güell, Casa Botines, Casa Calvet, Park Güell, Bellesguard, Casa Batlló, La Pedrera, and many other buildings.
In 1883 he received the commission to build the Sagrada Familia. Initially he balanced work on that project alongside various others, but in the last years of his life he worked exclusively on the church. As his faith got stronger, so did his dedication to the project, to the point where he even moved his studio and his home to the church itself.
http://www.casabatllo.es

Gaudí’s childhood. The observation of Nature.

The son of Francesc Gaudí i Serra, a boilermaker, and Antonia Cornet i Bertran, Antoni Plàcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet, was born on a hot 25th of June 1852 in Reus (Tarragona). Gaudí spent his childhood between Reus, where his parents had their business, and the countryside, in a small cottage owned by his mother known as Mas de la Calderera – the Boilermaker’s house – as his mother’s family had also been involved in that craft. Frequent contact with nature may have been one of the factors that stimulated two of the abilities which were to become crucial in the development of his work: the observation and meticulous analysis of the natural world.

Adolescence. The awakening of a genius.

Antoni Gaudí was a pupil at the Piarist School in Reus, where he stood out on account of his gift for analysing and rationalising questions. During his adolescence, Gaudí formed a strong friendship with two of his fellow pupils: Eduard Toda and Josep Ribera. The three young men were enthusiastic about nature and interested in history, and were very fond of going on excursions. On one of these outings, Josep Ribera brought his friends to an abandoned building that he had discovered: the ruins of the Santa María de Poblet monastery. The three youths made a resolution to restore the ancient building. Of that enthusiastic youthful project, all that remains is a floor plan drawn by Gaudí, who must have been about 15 at the time, and a note written by his companions. For Gaudí, that experience was undoubtedly the declaration of his vocation as an architect.

University. The discovery of architecture.

A short time afterwards, Gaudí moved to Barcelona to study the final year of his secondary education and to do the foundation course at the School of Architecture. By that time, Gaudí had already distinguished himself as a result of his creative genius and through a flair for calculus. From early on in his studies, the brilliant architect was hard at work in the studios of eminent professors and masters of the craft such as Francisco Paula de Villar and Josep Fontseré. It was in the studio of the latter that Gaudí achieved the first recognition of his work: on his own initiative he corrected a task that had been given to a fellow student – designing the water tank for the Cascada Fountain in Parc de la Ciutadella.

Gaudí as architect. His first steps.
The year 1878 marked the beginning of Gaudí’s intense professional activity. During that year he won a competition organised by the Barcelona City Council for his design and production of some street lamps (located in two squares, Plaça Reial and Pla de Palau), he was awarded a commission for Casa Vicens, his first important work, and he drew up preliminary plans for an industrial complex with residential quarters for the Obrera Mataronense workers’ cooperative. This was an important time for Gaudí. It was a period of research and hard work in which he learned to use the tools which would enable him to create his works of great genius in the years to come.

A decisive meeting: Eusebi Güell.

However, if Gaudí had one key commission in 1878, it was without a doubt the design of a small display stand for the Spanish Pavilion at the International Exhibition in Paris that same year. One of the visitors to the exhibition hall, Mr. Eusebi Güell i Bacigalupi, was so impressed by the originality of the stand that he asked to be put in contact with its creator. This marked the beginning of both a professional relationship and a close friendship between them that would last for 40 years. From that point onwards, Güell was his best client. Gaudí designed and built magnificent works for him, with painstaking attention to even the smallest details, which contributed to expanding his genius and his originality as an architect.

The development and consolidation of a genius.

The 1880s was a decade of evolution and transformation, both in the field of architecture and in Gaudí’s personal life. His style became more and more individual and bold, and all things considered he became a successful architect. He worked in every conceivable category of civil architecture: residential properties (the Güell Estate and the Güell Palace), decorative houses and halls (El Capricho in Comillas and the pavilion of the Compañía Transatlántica at the Cádiz Exhibition), and religious buildings (the Bishop’s Palace in Astorga, the School of the Teresian Nuns and the Church of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona). He dealt with magnates and with influential church authorities. He both impressed them and learned from them. In 1900, the Barcelona City Council awarded him the first prize for the best modernist building in the city: Casa Calvet.

In 1904 that Gaudí undertook the refurbishment of Casa Batlló, on the commission of the textile industrialist Josep Batlló i Casanovas, in elegant Passeig de Gràcia, on the same stretch of street as Casa Lleó Morera and Casa Amatller, built by Doménech i Montaner and Puig i Cadafalch respectively. The difference between the styles of these three Greats of Catalan Modernism gave rise to the block being called “La Manzana de la Discordia”, or Block of Discord, a name which it has kept to this day. It is interesting to note that in Casa Batlló Gaudí was able to work according to his personal taste, and with total creative freedom. For that very reason, Casa Batlló is a showcase of his skills in the use of all kinds of materials: stone, wood, ceramic tiles, glass and iron, and he played masterfully with colour and shape. His dealings with Josep Batlló led to his acquaintance with Mr. Milá, who subsequently commissioned him to design Casa Milá, where Gaudí used many of the techniques which he had already tested in building Casa Batlló.

In 1910 a major exhibition of Gaudí’s work opened in the Gran Palais in Paris, and this was the only exhibition outside of Spain dedicated to the architect during his lifetime. On the 7th of June 1926 he was knocked down by tram while on his way to the Church of Sant Felip Neri, before going to the building site of the Sagrada Familia. He died on the 10th of June in the Hospital de la Santa Creu. His funeral was held two days later, and was attended by throngs of his many admirers, disciples and friends.

Historic Gaudí. A contemporary perspective.
Gaudí is the definitive architect associated with the city, having designed such major works as the Sagrada Familia, the only cathedral in the world under construction, Casa Batlló, la Pedrera, Palau Güell, and many more.

Today Gaudí has become a world-famous architect, the top name in Catalan architecture. Over the years, his works have gone from being obscure or even criticised to achieving international renown and being symbols and icons of an increasingly global Barcelona. In fact, 2002 was declared the International Year of Gaudí in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of his birth.

Gaudí was an outstanding and unique architect, very much one of a kind; a dreamer and yet rigorous, he was attracted by concepts which may have seemed contradictory but which for him were necessarily bound together. He was at once a craftsman and an artist, the architect of both religious and civil buildings, very strict when it came to technical details, and possessed of a creativity which knew no bounds. But above all, he was an architect who drew his inspiration not only from nature but equally from historical styles and traditional types of construction. He also had a surpassing vision: that of creating new forms which would allow him to experiment and to develop his creative interests.

Many influences - oriental, neoclassical and neo-Mudejar among others – can be seen in his architecture; however Gaudí mixed these styles with new solutions and materials such as iron, concrete, glass and ceramic tiles, materials which could be produced industrially to bring down the cost. He was also a pioneer of such contemporary notions as ecology, using recycled materials in his work.

Gaudí broke away from all previous tradition and created a new language, and although it contained elements similar to those used by other past or contemporary movements, it turned these around, reinterpreted them and took them to new levels. There is no doubt that Gaudí was a modernist, perhaps even its greatest exponent. There are even those who believe that he created a new style in its own right.

Gaudí lived in an era which was characterised by the intense economic and urban development of Barcelona, the adoption of technical changes driven by the industrial revolution, and the dawn of a prosperous Catalan bourgeoisie who were interested in artistic projects and the restoration of Catalan values through the movement known as the Renaixença (the Rebirth). All of these aspects had an influence on Gaudí, on his ideas and on his methods of working.

His family background clearly also had an impact on his work. Gaudí was from a family of boilermakers, and this influenced his understanding of space and his competence for manual trades. His poor health during childhood prevented him from going to school, and Gaudí spent long periods in the countryside, in the town of Riudoms (Tarragona), where he passed his days absorbed in the contemplation of nature and animals. Organic elements always stand out in his architecture.

In professional terms, Gaudí is closely linked to Barcelona, the city in which he completed his studies and which is home to the vast majority of his works. One of his first important projects was Casa Vicens. At that time, at the beginning of his career, he also entered into one of the most productive partnerships in the history of patronage: his relationship with Eusebi Güell, who also became one of his closest friends.

Gaudí designed a spectacular display case for the Comella glove manufacturer at the International Exhibition in Paris. Made of iron, its originality immediately captivated Güell, who then commissioned Gaudí to build the entrance to his estate in Pedralbes, Finca Güell, and it was there that Gaudí built his first catenary arch.

After this followed a whole host of commissions, among them Palau Güell, Casa Botines, Casa Calvet, Park Güell, Bellesguard, Casa Batlló, La Pedrera, and many other buildings.

In 1883 he received the commission to build the Sagrada Familia. Initially he balanced work on that project alongside various others, but in the last years of his life he worked exclusively on the church. As his faith got stronger, so did his dedication to the project, to the point where he even moved his studio and his home to the church itself.

Patricia Urquiola

Patricia Urquiola seeks her inspiration in her personal world: "Sometimes," she once said in an interview, "it is something emotional, other times something very simple and quite trivial that gives me the idea. For me, design is a surprising process. You have an idea and mix it up with other ingredients, but you never know what's going to come out in the end." What she thus creates, above all sofas, armchairs, chairs, not to mention luminaires, outdoor furniture and carpets, is always comfortable and perfectly proportioned. And it always comes with a touch of extravagance and the Bohemian. Indeed the special charm of Urquiola's designs stems above all from her very own feel for subcutaneous subjectivity, to be seen in the patterns and ornaments, but also just as much in the refined craftsmanship of the fabrics and textures.

In recent years, not only her armchairs and recliners called "Antibodi" (boasting pieces of felt sewn together to form blossoms) have caused a real stir. With "Tropicalia" Urquiola has taken the structural principle of garden recliners featuring plastic wickerwork from the 1950s and given them a surprisingly new lease of life with colors, freshness and the joy of African patterns.

The careful and yet decidedly radical way in which she brings new air into the middle-class living room and gives it a completely new feel becomes especially clear in the case of her "Bohemian" collection, again created for Moroso. There, Urquiola not only finds a new form for the classic "Capitonné" but also succeeded in conjuring up a product family consisting of sofa, reclining armchair, chaise-longue and armchair, all with upholstery (attached to the seating frames by snap fasteners) and shapes that seem to dissolve into irregular, seemingly chance lines. For all the classical underlying shape, a sofa suddenly looks as though it has hung a shawl over its shoulders – or animal hides reminiscent of Mongolian carpets. This subtle superimposition of materials in forever new variants on a basic underlying element engenders a hybrid mix fueled by different cultures and traditions without trying to emulate the one or completely adopt it. It is above all this luxurious patchwork that now and again gives Urquiola's furniture that nomadic flair, thanks to which she refreshes the otherwise musty world of middle-class homes and comments ironically on them. Above all the Italians love her for the furniture that addresses a new multicultural and cosmopolitan bourgeoisie and for all the playfulness always exudes a certain grandezza. Because her postmodern variations on classics brilliantly combine cultures and epochs, they could be termed a kind of Bohemian Rhapsody.

And these are just some of the reasons why it is no surprise that in the past decade Patricia Urquiola has emerged as one of the best known and most sought after designers active in the field of furniture. Born in 1961 in Oviedo, Spain, she focused from an early date on Italian design. In 1989, having started her studies in Madrid, she graduated from the Milan Polytechnic in architecture having completed her final-year project under Achille Castiglioni; from 1990-6 she worked in product development at De Padova, where she and Vico Magistretti realized their "Flower", "Loom Sofa" and "Chaise Longue" designs. For five years she headed the Atelier Lissoni Associati design section before in 2001, joining up with Martino Berghinz to open her own studio in Milan, concerning herself with design, exhibition concepts and architectural projects.

 

The Italians have nicknamed her the "Hurricane" because of the way she has stormed through the design scene for years now. Conversely, she holds the fact that Italian manufacturers gladly experiment in high esteem: "Companies here have less fear of risks, they are flexible and move things forward. I like their agility." And Patricia Urquiola is equally successful as an architect, as is shown by the villa she and Martino Berghinz designed in Udine for Patrizia Moroso and her family. Here can we see not only how skillfully Urquiola links the private domain and a representative setting in a modern vein, but also how creates clear sequences of rooms that are decidedly contemporary.

To get an overview of Patricia Urquiola's diverse output all you need do is cast a glance in the Stylepark database. If one also includes her collaborative efforts with other designers, then there are round about 270 products there, for 19 different makers. What better testimony could there be to her own diversity and agility. And Patricia Urquiola is anything but an unknown for Stylepark over and above her work in product design. As part of "Stylepark in Residence – touchy-feely", in January 2007, on the basis of her "Pelle d'Asino" special show (first displayed at the Abitare il Tempo in Verona) her product cosmos was unfurled during imm cologne in the Kölnischer Kunstverein premises. The objects hung like trophies from a transportation belt in the "Dance n.2" installation, slowly circling the room. Again in 2007 she and Martino Berghinz devised the exhibition footprint for the second edition of "The Design Annual" in Frankfurt's Festhalle, which focused on "private identity", how design fosters it, and what its cultural and social reference points are.

We can now look forward to seeing what Patricia Urquiola has dreamed up in response to being made "Designer of the Year". There can be no doubt that with her rhapsodies on contemporary design she knows exactly how to give transient, only loosely linked cultural themes and patterns a decidedly current spin.

www.patriciaurquiola.com

Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali urodził się 11 maja 1904 roku w miejscowości Figueras, w Katalonii. Od 1921 roku uszęszczał do Akademi Sztuk Pięknych w Madrycie, tam poznał m.in. poetę Garcie Lorca i filmowca Luisa Bunuela. W 1926 roku został wydalony z uczelni, lecz już wtedy postrzegany był jako uzdolniony artysta. W latach 20-tych Dali pierwszy raz odwiedził Paryż. Tam spotkał malarza Joana Miro, który wprowadził go w tajniki surrealizmu. W 1929 roku artysta współtworzył scenariusz do pierwszego filmu surrealistycznego Un Chien Andalou (1929), którego reżyserem był wspomniany Luis Bunuel. Produkcja stała się ich wizytówką oraz biletem wstępu do grupy surrealistów. Niezwykły talent do autopromocji, niedługo potem, pozwolił artyście zostać czołową postacią grupy. W jednej ze swoich książek napisał:

Nigdy, przenigdy nadmiar pieniędzy, reklamy, sukcesu czy popularności nie sprawił, żebym choć przez ułamek sekundy miał chęć popełnić samobójstwo. Wręcz przeciwnie, przepadam za tym.

Podczas lat 30-tych Dali namalował swoje najbardziej znane surrealistyczne obrazy, takie jak np. Trwałość pamięci (1931) i Płonąca żyrafa (1937). Artysta rozwinął styl, który nazwał metodą paranoiczno-krytyczną, używając szczegółowej i realistycznej techniki do stworzenia, jak sam to określał ręcznie malowanych fotografii pochodzących ze świata snów pełnych halucynacji, rozpływających się zegarów, płonących żyraf i półek wystających z ciał.
W 1934 roku Dali, ożenił się z Galą, żoną francuskiego poety Paula Eluarda, która stała się jego muzą. Charakterystyczne było uwielbienie jakim artysta darzył swoją żonę. Znane jest jego zdanie:

Kocham Galę bardziej niż matkę, bardziej niż ojca, bardziej niż Picassa, a nawet bardziej niż pieniądze.

W latach 30-tych Salvador Dali uczestniczył w zebraniach grupy surrealistów, gdzie popadł w konflikt z jej założycielem Andre Bretonem. W 1936 roku na Światowej Wystawie Surrealistów w Londynie, wykładał ubrany w strój płetwonurka, symbolizującym surrealistyczne zanurzenie się w podświadomość, meandry umysłu.
Dali ostatecznie zerwał z grupą surrealistów w 1939 roku deklarując poparcie hiszpańskiemu dyktatorowi Franco. Wypowiedział wtedy słynne zdanie:

Jedyna różnica między mną a surrealistami jest taka, że to właśnie ja jestem prawdziwym surrealistą.

Inspirowany twórczością renesansu, jego styl w tamtym czasie zmieniał się w kierunku naturalistycznym. W 1939 roku przeniósł się do Stanów Zjednocznych, gdzie często pokazywał swoje prace, napisał fabularyzowaną autobiografię Sekretne życie Salvadora Dali oraz jeszcze bardziej rozwinął talent do autopromocji. Jego twórczość obejmowała w tym czasie m.in. projektowanie scen baletów, projekt filmu animowanego Destino (1945) rozpoczęty wraz ze studiem Walta Disneya oraz wykonanie sceny prezentującej sny w filmie Spellbound (1945) Alfreda Hitchcocka, a nawet projektowanie sklepowych witryn, o czym mówił:

Kiedy mam zrobić witrynę w dużym sklepie, z zasady pytam kierownika sprawującego nadzór, czy gotów jest stracić pracę. Jeśli powie, że tak, mogę zaczynać.

W 1948 Salvador Dali na stałe powrócił do Hiszpani, choć często wracał do Nowego Jorku. W tym czasie rozpoczął serię religijnych obrazów, szczególnie znane dzieła z tego okresu to Chrystus św. Jana od Krzyża (1951) oraz Corpus Hypercubus (1954). W 1979 roku odbyła się wielka wystawa prac artysty w muzeum Pompidou w Paryżu.
Po śmierci żony w 1982 roku, Salvador Dali zaczął chorować, jego stan pogorszył się po wypadku dwa lata później. Pod koniec swojego życia został niemal całkowicie samotny. Zmarł w 1989 roku w miejscu swojego urodzenia w Figueres, w Katalonii. Pozostawił tam na swoją pamiątkę, osobiście zaprojektowane i urządzone, niezwykłe muzeum zwane Teatro-Museo Dali.

http://www.salvadordali.com.pl

Coco Chanel - kreatorka dobrego smaku!!!

Chociaż nie żyje od 40 lat to w umysłach i sercach fanów mody figuruje jako ikona stylu i kreatorka dobrego smaku.
Jej prawdziwe nazwisko to Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel. Dzieciństwo przyszłej kreatorki stylu nie bylo kolorowe. Po śmierci matki ojciec odesłał Coco wraz z siostrą do przyklasztornego sierocińca. Mała Gabrielle miała wtedy zaledwie 11 lat. To właśnie w sierocińcu zaczęła się jej przygoda z modą – zakonnice nauczyły ją szyć. Gdy dziewczynka podrosła pod opiekę wzięła ją ciotka, prowadząca sklep dziewiarski. Chanel pracowała tam, a wieczorem występowała w kabaretach.
To właśnie z tamtego okresu pochodzi jej przydomek Coco. Występując w kabarecie często śpiewała piosenkę o piesku “Ko Ko Ri Ko”. Żołnierze, przyglądający się jej występom zapamiętali tytuł utworu i od tej pory artystka została nazywana po prostu Coco. Nie potrafiła jednak długo żyć jako kobieta do towarzystwa. Pragnęła działać i rozwijać się zawodowo.
W 1913 otworzyła swój pierwszy, samodzielny interes. Prowadziła sklep z kapeluszami w mieszkaniu przyjaciela Arthura Capela. Już wtedy szokowała sprzedawanymi tam kreacjami i tym, co sama nosiła. Pozbyła się gorsetu, nosiła luźne, nonszalanckie, stylizowane na męskie kostiumy.
Rok 1914 przyniósł niezwykle upalne lato, a co za tym idzie realizację pierwszego stroju kąpielowego dla kobiet autorstwa Coco Chanel. W czasach, gdy kobiety wchodząc do wody mogły tylko zakasać do góry spódnicę rybaczki i cienka tunika, przewiązana wstążką były olbrzymią rewolucją. Szokujący był również fakt, że Coco preferowała odrzucenie kapeluszy zasłaniających twarz i wprowadziła modę na opaloną skórę. Rozwój interesu projektantki nastąpił po I wojnie światowej. Wtedy założyła kolejny sklep. Czarną kartą w jej życiorysie jest fakt podejrzeń o współpracę z III Rzeszą podczas II wojny światowej oraz szerzenie antysemickich poglądów.
Czym w świecie mody zasłynęła Coco Chanel?
Przede wszystkim wprowadzeniem prostoty do kobiecego stylu ubierania. Wąskie gorsety zastąpiła minimalistycznymi, stylizowanymi na męskie krojami. Proste kołnierzyki, męskie krawaty to jej znak rozpoznawczy. Warto zaznaczyć, że niepowtarzalny styl ubrań Chanel zawdzięczać możemy jej … romansom. Dzięki obcowaniu z Dymitrem Pawłowiczem do kolekcji zaczęły przenikać motywy rosyjskie, a kiedy nawiązuje znajomość z Anglikami inspiruje się tamtejszą modą, wprowadzając do swoich kolekcji takie elementy jak kamizelki w pasy, zestawienia kardiganów i spódnic, tweedy i berety. Warto podkreślić, że jako pierwsza wprowadziła do mody dżersej, który w tamtych czasach służył wyłącznie do produkcji bielizny.
Oprócz kreowania gustu tworzyła także zapachy, które współcześnie uchodzą za kwintesencję kobiecości i ponadczasowej elegancji. Pierwsze, powstałe w 1883 roku, nazwane od daty urodzin projektantki Chanel No.19 miały zielonkawą barwę, dzięki dodaniu do mikstury kłączka florenckiego irysa.
Coco odeszła 10 stycznia 1971 roku w wieku 88 lat. Niezamężna, zmagająca się przez całe życie z problemem bezpłodności ale spełniona na polu zawodowym, będąc dla potomnych żyjącym dowodem na to, że warto walczyć o swoje marzenia.
Dzięki niej kobiety na całym świecie z  powodzeniem noszą sztuczną biżuterię, perły, małą czarną, a obiektem każdej miłośniczki mody jest legendarna, pikowana torebka na łańcuszku. Możemy jej podziękować nie tylko za zrewolucjonizowanie świata mody, ale także za postawienie kobiet na równi z mężczyznami i pokazanie, że one też mają marzenia, które warto urzeczywistniać. Chanel zasługuje na miano prawdziwego geniusza stylu i kobiety sukcesu.
 kobietasukcesu.pl

Amancio Ortega od zera do Zary

Ten jeden z najbogatszych ludzi świata zaczynał jako chłopiec na posyłki w sklepie z koszulami. Dziś jest właścicielem sieci sklepów z odzieżą, które generują 12,8 mld dochodu rocznie. Jak to możliwe?

Chłopak na posyłki Amancio Ortega Gaona urodził się 28 marca 1936 roku w Leon w Hiszpanii, w parę miesięcy przed wybuchem wojny domowej. Jego ojciec pracował na kolei, matka dorabiała jako służąca w domu zamożnych państwa. Nic więc dziwnego, że chłopak w wieku 13 lat porzucił szkołę, aby wspomóc finansowo rodzinę.

Z bliska obserwował oczekiwania klientów względem firm produkujących odzież, aż wreszcie odważył się, aby założyć własny zakład produkcyjny.

Wyruszył do La Coruna, centrum tekstylnego na półwyspie Iberyjskim. Pracował w różnych sklepach jako goniec, pomocnik, wreszcie asystent. Z bliska obserwował oczekiwania klientów względem firm produkujących odzież, aż wreszcie odważył się, aby założyć własny zakład produkcyjny. A zawdzięcza to swojej pierwszej żonie, Rosalii Mera (która dziś też należy do grona milionerów), która... po nocach szyła w ich salonie szlafroki.

Wielka moda dla każdego
Ortega nigdy nie zdobył wyższego wykształcenia, uczył się w praktyce. W latach 60., w wieku zaledwie 27 lat stworzył spółkę Confecciones Goa, która dała początek Grupie Inditex. Produkowała ona… szlafroki.

Początkujący przedsiębiorca zorientował się wówczas, że tylko bogatych ludzi stać na ubrania szyte z najlepszych materiałów, a on marzył o tym, aby jego kolekcje były dostępne dla każdego. Zaczął sprowadzać więc tańsze tkaniny z Barcelony i z nich szyć ubrania identyczne, jak te, które można było dostać w markowych butikach. Na tym do dziś opiera się jego siła. W 1975 roku otworzył swój pierwszy własny sklep. Nazwał go Zara. Sklep szybko stał się sławny, bowiem sprzedawał naprawdę modne i dobre ubrania w umiarkowanych cenach, a jego motto brzmiało: „Kopiować modę i czynić ją dostępną dla wszystkich".

Miliarder
Tańsze nie znaczy gorsze. Ortega szukał więc dla swoich kolejnych sklepów najlepszych lokalizacji. Do dziś wynajmuje powierzchnie handlowe w najlepszych dzielnicach, a swoje kolekcje szyje w Hiszpanii. Dzięki temu może szybciej docierać do klientów i wymieniać swoje kolekcje częściej niż ekskluzywne butiki.

Prywatnie jest ponoć nieśmiały. Codziennie odwiedza klub dla starszych panów, a później ubrany w dżinsy wybiera się do swojej firmy.

Hiszpańska Zara odniosła tak ogromny sukces, że Ortega zdecydował się w 1985 roku stworzyć spółkę holdingową Inditex. Inditex Group wszedł na giełdę w 2001 r. Właściciel zachował ponad 59 % akcji, dzięki czemu szybko stał się jednym z najbogatszych ludzi na świecie.
Chłopak z sąsiedztwa
Prywatnie ponoć jest nieśmiały. Anegdota mówi, że nie powitał osobiście premiera Hiszpanii José Maria Anzara, gdy ten odwiedzał jego firmę, a pracownicy wytłumaczyli to właśnie nieśmiałością przełożonego…

Ze swoją drugą żoną i trójką dzieci mieszka w Arteixo. Codziennie odwiedza klub dla starszych panów, a później ubrany w dżinsy wybiera się do swojej firmy. Nie ma własnego gabinetu, obiady jada z pracownikami w kantynie. Cały czas bowiem pozostał chłopakiem z sąsiedztwa.

  http://www.ototrend.pl