Motor of Modernity. Grup R. Architecture, art and design
10/02/2014.
MACBA [BCN] Spain. 05/02-24/06/2014
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
The Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) presents Motor of Modernity. Grup R. Architecture, Art and Design, an exhibition that examines the impact of this group’s activities in the consolidation of modernity in Catalan architecture, art and design after the Civil War. The buildings designed by members of Grup R. have now become valuable examples of the modern architectural heritage. This exhibition reinstates an episode that is crucial to understanding the tensions between modernity and the avant-garde in Spain from the second half of the twentieth century up until today.
Oriol Bohigas; Josep Ma. Martorell Casa Guardiola. Argentona, Barcelona 1954-1955. Photography Francesc Català-Roca. Image courtesy of MACBA. Click above to see larger image.
R group members showing their work during the 1st exhibition 1952. Photography Francesc Català-Roca. Click above to see larger image.
MACBA. Motor of Modernity. Grup R. Architecture, art and design. Click above to see larger image.
MACBA. Motor of Modernity. Grup R. Architecture, art and design. Click above to see larger image.
Exhibition R Grup “Industria y Arquitectura” Laietanes Galleries, 1954 Disseny Ricard Giralt Miracle. Image courtesy of MACBA.
Although the theory raised by the exhibition, part of a blurred temporary assumption, because it speaks about the dark Madrid, on 40's, to compare it with the innovative 50's Barcelona, the reality is a little different, as already known and seen in the exhibition Sota and Fisac in Madrid. The forties was dark for all, and in the 50s, in both cities, new generations grow an to regain a vision, accomplishments and approaches near European modernity.
Grup R was formed in Barcelona in 1951. According to their statutes, the aim of the group was ‘the study and diffusion of the problems of contemporary art, especially architecture’. Under the letter R, for cultural and architectural Renovation and Recuperation, the members of the group belonged to two generations of architects: those who studied prior to the Civil War and those who studied afterwards. Two generations marked by GATCPAC as their main reference, by concepts inherited from the magazine AC, and by the sophisticated ideas championed by the magazine D’ací d’allà. They were also united by a common interest in promoting international modernist architecture and its subsequent critique, in response to the poor architectural landscape of the earlier years of the Franco regime.
The exhibition retraces the ideas and works of this group of architects whose actions contributed to the consolidation of a vernacular form of modern aesthetics under the Franco regime. Their constructions, prime examples to this day of the modern architectural heritage, and above all the exhibitions and debates they organised, nourished and internationalised Catalan culture at a politically dark, yet creatively dynamic moment. The exhibition wishes to bring to the fore an episode that is central to the understanding of the tensions between modernity and the avant-garde in our country from mid-twentieth century to the present.
Grup R was formed by: Oriol Bohigas, Josep Antoni Coderch, Joaquim Gili, Josep M. Martorell, Antoni de Moragas, Josep Pratmarsó, Josep M. Sostres and Manuel Valls. In 1955 they were joined by Guillermo Girádez, Josep Antoni Balcells, Manuel Ribas and Joaquim Bassó, while Coderch and Valls left the group. Finally, in 1958, Pau Monguió and Francesc Vayreda also joined.
During their trajectory, Grup R collaborated with the graphic artists Ricard Giralt Miracle and Joan Josep Tharrats, and the photographer Francesc Català-Roca.
Venue.- Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA). Barcelona. Spain.
Dates.- 05 Feb. - 24 Jun. 2014.
Curator.- Fernando Marzá. Organisation and production.- Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA).
