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ANTONIO GAUDI, BY GEORGE R. COLLINS

CHRONOLOGY OF LIFE AND WORKS

1852 Born Reus (?), June 25. [104]
1867-68 Illustrations for a handwritten school magazine El Arlequin (Reus).  No copies seem to have survived. [105]
1869-70 Illustrations for a project for the restoration of the monastery of Poblet. [106]
1874-78 Attended the Escuela Superior de Arquitectura of Barcelona. [107]  A number of his student projects are listed and illustrated in Rafols 1929, pp. 14-19, 267, but these appear to have been lost in the destruction of Gaudi's workshop in 1936.  Little information survives about a series of writings on the esthetics of architecture which he composed between 1876-78. [107a]
1870s Collaboration with the architects Juan Martorell and Emilio Sala of Barcelona.
1875?-77 Collaboration as a student with the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar y Lozano in construction of the camarin of the Virgin in the Monastery of Montserrat. [21] Illustrated in Rafols 1929, p. 13.  The camarin, a peculiarly Spanish type of lady chapel here contains the ancient image of the Virgin of Montserrat.
1876 Collaboration as a student with the engineer Jose Serramalera in various projects (disappeared) and drafting for the firm Padros i Borras (industrial machinery).
1877-82 Works, mainly in collaboration with the maestro de obras Jose Fontsere, in and about the Parque de la Ciudadela of Barcelona. [22]  These include the monumental cascade, 1877-82 (plate 9), the balustrade surrounding the monument to Aribau, 1878, (illustrated in Rafols 1929, p. 13), decorations of the Salon de San Juan, (fig. 10), and some details on the entrance gates of the park.
1878 Own writing desk.  Preparatory drawing and photograph in Rafols 1929, p. 225.
1878 Final examinations (January 4) and title as architect (March 15).
1878 Won municipal competition for design of street lights that are now in the Plaza Real of Barcelona.  Illustrated in Rafols 1929, p. 22.
1878 Furniture for Juan Martorell's pantheon-chapel for the first Marques of Comillas in Comillas near Santander (plate 96, plate 97, plate 98 and plate 99). [27]
1878 Design for Church Monstrance.  Drawing is in Municipal Museum of Reus (fig. 11).
1878 Glass show case for the glove-maker Esteban Comella at the Paris Exposition.  A tiny drawing for this on the back of his business card still exists in the Municipal Museum of Reus.  Illustrated in Rafols, 1929, p. 22.
1878-80 House of Manuel Vicens, now 24-26 calle de las Carolinas, Barcelona (plate 10, plate 11, plate 12).  The original condition of the house is illustrated in Rafols 1929, pp. 27-36, and in Bergos 1954, p. 69.  The house, grounds, and enclosing fence were greatly enlarged and modified in 1925-26 by the architect J. B. de Serra Martinez, a friend of Gaudi working under Gaudi's instructions.  De Serra's work received the annual prize of the Ayuntamiento.
1878-82 Constructed a machinery shed (fig. 1) and kiosk (fig. 12) and designed workers' housing and other buildings for the textile cooperative "La Obrera Mataronense" in Mataro, NE of Barcelona. [9]
1879 Drawings for an allegorical cavalcade in Vallfogona de Riucorp (east of Lerida).  These drawings, partly illustrated in Rafols 1929, p. 20, are today in the Municipal Museum of Reus.
1880 Street lights for the Paseo Nacional on the Barceloneta waterfront in Barcelona.  Similar to those of the Plaza Real, only two seem to have survived, at the entrance of the Paseo.
1880 Collaborated with the engineer Serramalera in a project for the electric illumination of the Muralla de Mar waterfront of Barcelona, which was not carried out.  Illustrated in Rafols 1929, pp. 14-16.
1880-82 Altar and benches for the chapel of the Colegio de Jesus-Maria, calle Mendez-Nunez, Tarragona.  Seem to have disappeared.  Illustrated in Rafols 1929, p. 37.
1882 Entered into the dispute over the completion of the facade of the Cathedral of Barcelona, making a rendering of Juan Martorell's (unsuccessful) project that has been variously published. [108]  See fig. 25.
1882 Project (unexecuted) for a hunting pavilion for Eusebio Guell at Garraf (SW of Barcelona).  Illustrated in Rafols 1929, p. 26.
1883-85 Summer house for Maximo Diaz de Quijano, son-in-law of the first Marques of Comillas at Comillas near Santander (plate 1, plate 13, plate 14).  Work was actually supervised by architect Cristobal Cascante. [33]
1883 Project for an altar at Alella, NE of Barcelona (plate 15).
1884 Undertook works of the Expiatory Church of the Holy Family in Barcelona, succeeding Francisco de Paula del Villar y Lozano. [109]The chronology of the works of this, his major building, is as follows:
1875 Original project, a replica of Loreto in Italy.  No architect engaged.
1882 Simple neo-Gothic designs by del Villar, the diocesan architect (fig. 2a, fig. 2b). [37]
1882-91 Construction of crypt, which it appears was vaulted by 1887.
1884 Gaudi's project for chapel of S. Jose in the crypt (fig. 14).  Mass was celebrated here from 19 March 1885, before the crypt was vaulted.
1887-93 Apse walls and finials constructed.
1891-1903 Portals and structures adjoining the Nativity transept facade erected (plate 16, plate 17, plate 19).
1903-30 Work on towers of Nativity transept.  A successful carillon test was made in 1915; masonry work of the first tower was completed in April 1918; the first spire was entirely finished in December 1926, the others following in 1927, 1929, and 1930 (plate 7, plate 16, plate 18).

Plans for the lantern of the crossing were completed about 1910, for the Chapel of the Assumption and for the main (Gloria) facade about 1916, for the other (Passion) transept about 1917 (plate 20).  None have been carried out. [80] Preparatory drawings for these and other elements of the church are illustrated in Rafols 1929 and Puig Boada S.F. 1952.

1885 Altar of the private oratory of house of Jose M. Bocabella, 31 calle Ausias March, Barcelona.  Dismantled in 1936.  Illustrated in Rafols 1929, p. 41.
1885-89 "Palacio Guell," a mansion for Eusebio Guell y Bacigalupi, 3 & 5 calle Conde de Asalto, Barcelona (plate 27, plate 28, plate 29, plate 30, plate 31, plate 32, plate 33, plate 34, plate 35, plate 36, plate 37, plate 38, plate 100, plate 101, plate 102).  Ceded to the city in 1945, the building has served as headquarters of the Amigos de Gaudi since 1952, and also as Museum of the Theatre since 1954.
1887 Work on the Guell estate, "Finca Guell," in Las Corts de Sarria, a suburb of Barcelona.  This included construction of the extant gatehouse and stables on the Avenida de la Victoria (plate 2, plate 39, plate 40); modifications to the main house, which were later lost when it was converted into a Royal Palace (a roof terrace of this is illustrated in Rafols 1929, p. 25); construction of walls and another entrance gate which were later destroyed (illustrated in Rafols 1929, pp. 52-53). [34]
1887 Trip to Andalusia and Morocco with Second Marques of Comillas.
1887-93 Work on the Episcopal Palace in Astorga for Bishop Juan Bautista Grau.  This stopped and Gaudi's designs were abandoned with death of the Bishop in 1893.  In 1905 work was resumed by architect Luis de Guereta, who finally roofed [the] building in 1907.  Interior is still under construction (fig. 3, plate 41, plate 42, plate 43). [48]
1888 Pavilion of the Compania Trasatlantica (for the Marques of Comillas) in the Exposicion Universal in Barcelona.  Illustrated in Rafols 1952, p. 16.
1889-94 Colegio de Santa Teresa de Jesus, 41 calle Ganduxer, Barcelona, for Enrique de Osso, founder of the Order (plate 45, plate 46, plate 47, plate 48, plate 49, plate 50).
1891-94 "Casa de los Botines," a business and apartment building constructed on the Plaza de San Marcelo, Leon, for the partners Jose and Aquilino Fernandez Riu and Mariano Andres Luna (fig. 4, plate 51, plate 52, plate 53) [110]  Its popular name derives from the founder of their firm, Juan Hons y Botines.  In 1954-55 its lower floors were modified by the bank which has owned it for thirty years.
1892-93 Project for a Spanish Franciscan mission in Tangier, designed on commission for the Marques of Comillas (plate 44). [35]   Unexecuted.
1898-1904 House for the sons of Pedro Martir Calvet, 48 calle Caspe, Barcelona.  Most of the work had been finished in 1899 as the inscription on the cornice indicates.  In 1900 this building received the first annual prize of the Ayuntamiento of Barcelona (plate 54, plate 55, plate 105, plate 106, plate 107) [59]
1898-1915 Work on the chapel for the Colonia Guell (a textile workers' settlement) at Santa Coma de Cervello (just west of Barcelona).  Although planning began in 1898, construction started only in October 1908, and Gaudi seems to have relinquished the work to his assistant Francisco Berenguer in 1913.  The crypt, the only part to be finished, was inaugurated in November 1915 (fig. 9, plate 5, plate 56, plate 57, plate 58, plate 59, plate 60, plate 61, plate 62, plate 63).  Berenguer constructed a number of other buildings throughout the community. [78]
c. 1900 Banner for the choral society of San Feliu de Codines, north of Barcelona (fig. 15).  This was first mentioned in Destino (Barcelona), 28 Oct. 1950.
1900 Designs for modification of the exterior of the Sanctuary of the Misericordia of Reus.  The drawings are in the Municipal Museum of Reus (fig. 16).
1900-1902 "Bell Esguard," a villa for the Figueras family in the Barcelona suburb of Bonanova, constructed on the ruins of the ancient country house of King Martin I, "el Humano" of Aragon (plate 4, plate 64, plate 65). [50]  Some of the decoration of the entrance was done by Gaudi's assistant Domingo Sugranes.
1900-14 "Park" Guell, a garden suburb laid out for Eusebio Guell on the slopes of Montana Pelada (Monte Carmelo) above the center of Barcelona (fig. 5, plate 3, plate 66, plate 67, plate 68, plate 69, plate 70, plate 71.  Unsuccessful as a housing development, it has for many years been a municipal park.  Gaudi lived there from 1906 until shortly before his death in 1926.  His own structural drawings for the inclined piers of the Park viaducts are illustrated in Rafols 1929, pp. 152-53.
1901-02 Wall and gate of the finca (estate) of Hermenegildo Miralles on the Paseo de Manuel Girona in Las Corts de Sarria suburb of Barcelona.  The Miralles house and all decorative details except the wall and gate were executed by his assistant Sugranes (plate 72, plate 73).
1904 House plans for Luis Graner, 40 calle nueva de Santa Eulalia, Barcelona.  Only the fence and foundations were begun, and they have disappeared.  His sketches are in Rafols 1929, pp. 171-72.  A bridge over the adjacent Pomeret gully was to have been constructed with inclined supports like the Park Guell viaducts.  The drawings for it were lost in Gaudi's workshop in 1936.
1904 Project for the Primer Misterio Glorioso of the Rosary groups on the mountain at Montserrat.  Gaudi's drawing for this survives only in a poor newspaper photograph of uncertain date. (fig. 17)  Only one sculpture was carried out under Gaudi's direction.  His work there is described in Templo XCI (Feb. 1956).
1904-14 Interior reform of the Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca. [73] Unfinished.  The type of change made by Gaudi in order to restore the interior to its original medieval condition and to make possible a more open, modern liturgy includes the following:  Moved choir and its accompanying furniture from the nave to the sanctuary; freed altar by removing various retablo elements to side walls of the building; replaced episcopal chair in full view of congregation; designed a hanging baldachin of iron and a series of iron lighting fixtures, hanging and attached, throughout the interior; opened windows that had been blocked and designed stained glass for them; [111] designed a number of sculptures and relocated others; prepared models for the royal tombs (fig. 18).
1905? Pulpits for the parochial church in Blanes (near Gerona) (plate 74). [112]
1905-07 Remodeling of building at 43 Paseo de Gracia, Barcelona, for the Batllo family.  Popularly called "Casa de los huesos."  All exterior surfaces were redesigned:  front and rear facades, roof and light well.  However, the only interiors which he seems to have decorated were the ground floor, principal floor, and attic (plate 8, plate 75, plate 76, plate 77, plate 78 plate 79, plate 80, plate 81, plate 82, plate 83, plate 84, plate 85, plate 104).
1905-10 Building for Dona Rosario Segimon de Mila (called "La Pedrera") at 92 Paseo de Gracia (corner of calle Provenza).  Although demolition work began in 1905, Gaudi's plans were not ready until February of 1906.  These plans bore only the vaguest relation to the final appearance of the building (cf. plate 86, plate 87).  Construction proceeded slowly owing to many changes in plan and infractions of the building code.  Following a dispute with the proprietor in 1909, Gaudi seems to have left the termination of the work, i.e., interior and exterior decoration, to his assistant Jose M. Jujol.  A number of Gaudi's ideas, such as the Madonna statue on the roof and the tiling of the patio walls, were not carried out.  The patio walls were painted in imitation of tapestries under the direction of Alejo Clapes (fig. 6, fig. 7a, fig. 7b; Plate 6, plate 86, plate 87, plate 88, plate 89, plate 90, plate 91, plate 92, plate 93, plate 94).

In 1954 the garret was made into a series of modern duplex apartments by the architect F. J. Barba Corsini, and a number of smaller chimneys were added to the group on the roof.  This modification is illustrated in Cuadernos de Arquitectura no. 22 (1955).  Measured drawings of three of Gaudi's floors were published in Cuadernos no. 26 (1956).

1908 Various projects for restoration of the Barrio Gotico of Barcelona.  These were sketched in on photographs and postcards.  Of a monument to Jaime el Conquistador he seems to have executed only some painted phrases on old walls in the calle Tapineria (fig. 19). [113]
1909 School building of the Sagrada Familia (fig. 8, plate 95). [76]
1910 Exhibition of models, photographs and drawings of Gaudi's work in the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris.  This was the most important exhibition of his work during his lifetime. [114]
c. 1910 Gaudi begins to withdraw from all commissions except the Church of the Sagrada Famlia (see chronology of his subsequent works there under "1884"). [13]
1922 Congreso de Arquitectos de Espana (Madrid) adopts a motion praising the architect Gaudi.
1926 June 7:  Gaudi is struck by a trolley car near the Plaza de Tetuan while on his way from Sagrada Familia to worship at the church of S. Felipe Neri in the old quarter of Barcelona.
1926 June 10:  Gaudi dies in the Hospital of Santa Cruz.  He was buried on the 12th in the crypt of the Sagrada Famlia.

Posthumous Honors, Expositions, etc:

1926 (December) Memorial lectures on Gaudi and his work in the Cercle Artistic de Sant Lluc, and in the Escuelas de la Sagrada Familia of Barcelona.
1927 (June) Memorial exhibition of photographs and models of Gaudi's work in the Sala pares of Barcelona. [115]
1952 Centenary celebration of Gaudi's birth.
1952 (January) The "Amigos de Gaudi" founded as a section of the old Cercle Artistic de Sant Lluc.
1952 (September) The City of Barcelona declares all Gaudi's buildings classified as historical monuments.
1952-53 International photographic and essay competitions on Gaudi held by the "Amigos de Gaudi."  Essay prize awarded to Dr. Nikolaus Pevsner of England. [116]
1953 (March) Acts in honor of Gaudi by the Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Cataluna y Baleares.
1956 (January) Chair of Architecture "Antoni Gaudi" created in the Escuela Superior de Arquitectura of the Universidad de Barcelona.
1956 (June) Exhibition of photographs, models, furniture and metalwork of Gaudi in the Salon del Tinell in Barcelona, organized by "Amigos de Gaudi."
1957 (December) Exhibitions of Gaudi's work open simultaneously in an architectural studio in Milan and in the Museum of Modern Art of New York.
1959 Spanish government sends Gaudi display to the Fifth International Biennial Exhibition in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

The following works of Gaudi, some of them important, have disappeared, leaving no traces or photographs to indicate their character:

1878 Announcing apparatus, Mataro
1879 Farmacia Gibert, Barcelona
1879-81 Works in Colegio de Jesus-Maria, San Andres de Palomar (Barcelona)
1884 Banner for "La Obrera Mataronense," Mataro
1887 Pavilion of Compania Trasatlantica in Cadiz Exposition
1900 Pilgrimage Banner, Reus (preparatory sketch of a detail illustrated in Rafols 1929, p. 72).
1901-02 Alterations to Castelldosrius houses, Barcelona
1904 Cinema Sala Merce, Barcelona

The following works or projects, vaguely referred to by Rafols and others, have not survived in illustrations:

no date Studies for a mirador (look-out balcony) at Montserrat
no date Elements of a chapel at Vallgorguina (NE of Barcelona)
no date Suggestions for a railroad station for Barcelona
no date Altar at Cervera (west of Barcelona)
no date Studies for a funerary chapel
no date Furniture for own house (including dining table of 1885)
no date Designs for decorations in relief to be manufactured by Casa Miralles of Barcelona, some being used in the former Restaurant Torino, Barcelona, of 1902.
no date Chasuble of metal-thread and pearls for Padre Juan Roquet-Jalmar y Oms of Gerona
1877 Drawings entered in competition sponsored by Ateneo Barcelones
1878 Project for a flower stand
1880-81 Drawings entered in competition for San Sebastian casino
1882 Projected church in Villaricos (Almeria)
1884 Projected altar in Tarragona
1887 Projected reform of Salon de Ciento, Barcelona
1893 Catafalque for funeral of Bishop Grau of Astorga
1895 Projected tomb for Guell family at Montserrat
1900 Remembrance of his first mass for Mosen Norberto Font y Sague (some studies for this, in Reus Museum, are illustrated in Rafols 1929, p. 140)
1908-10 Projected chapel for Colegio de Santa Teresa de Jesus in Barcelona (see chronology 1889-94).
1922 Offer of a shrine to the church of the Virgin in Rancagua, Chile. [117]
1923 Studies for chapel and schools for the Colonia Calvet in Torello (north of Vich)
1924 Pulpit for Valencia

Also Rafols (1929, p. 271) lists works by assistants in which Gaudi intervened and Cirici Modernista (pp. 203-4) illustrates his effect on Juan Busquets' furniture. [118]

 (From "Antonio Gaudi," by George R. Collins, George Braziller, Inc., New York, 1960)

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