Gaudí, Mies and shared authorship

The question of authorship is a topic that seems very specialized, but it has a lot to do with the conceptions of contemporary society. Who was, really, the author of a work of art or architecture? And what does the right of authorship imply? In Barcelona, we have two popular and significant examples of this controversy: the Sagrada Família and the German Pavilion of Barcelona in Montjuïc.Regarding the authorship of the Sagrada Família, we must start from the recent contribution made by the College of Architects for Gaudí Year: the Gaudí Constellation; an interactive digital tool that vindicates the importance of the great quality of the architects, artists, artisans, and industrialists who collaborated on Gaudí's works, a collaborative architecture that completely refutes the idea that he was a solitary genius. It was quite the opposite, a skilled leader of competent and creative teams. The result of teamwork in Gaudí's work is clearly evident in the Palau Güell and La Pedrera or Casa Milà-Segimon: the qualities and innovations were achieved with the best architects (such as Josep Maria Jujol and Joan Rubí i Bellver); the ceramics by Pujol i Bausis, manufactured in La Rajoleta; the furniture by F. Vidal y Compañía; the wrought iron by Germans Badia i Miarnau, and by Mañach; the iron structures by Tallers Torras, Ferreteria i Construccions; the contributions of painters such as Iu Pasqual, Aleix Clapés, Javier Nogués and Teresa Lostau; and the intervention of qualified glassmakers, cabinetmakers, and flooring manufacturers. This is how quality, texture, light, reflections, decoration, and furnishings were achieved; which does not detract from Gaudí's merit, but rather places him in a creative context, qualified by great architects, artisans, artists, and industrialists. A phenomenon that not only characterizes Modernism, but also the will of Catalan society. Unlike what William Morris advocated and the Arts and Crafts movement put into practice, rejecting mass production, in Catalonia the values of craftsmanship were enhanced with the possibilities of industrial production.

It is still maintained, in some elitist and hypercritical circles, the rejection of the Sagrada Família due to the question of authorship, for not having left Gaudí enough plans and models to define the project. It revives the myth of authorship and the solitary genius. According to this, no one would have the right to continue his personal work and it would have been a mistake that for a hundred years, with some interruption, a work that was only begun when he died in 1926 has been completed. But Gaudí not only proclaimed the value of teamwork and the contributions of all his collaborators, but he was also aware that it would take decades for architects, engineers, sculptors, artists, and workers to finish his work, and he knew that new materials, technologies, and means of representation would appear that would make his dream possible. It is true that we can continue to especially value the part that Gaudí directed and debate the quality and taste of certain details of the current work, but the proportion of the space, the complex structure of the columns that open like trees and turn like constellations, the richness of the interior light, its synthesis of the arts, the crowning of the towers, all that has been achieved, make it a unique work, a spiritual expression that impacts and captivates every human being. And the other controversial topic, regarding the issue of authorship, is the German Pavilion in Barcelona, which is not only Mies van der Rohe's pavilion, but also Lilly Reich's. It is very recently that her crucial intervention has been recognized, which can be seen in the configuration of a sequence of semi-open spaces, with the prominence of chairs and textiles. The architect Laura Martínez de Guereñu has demonstrated in a recently documented book the entire crucial intervention of Lilly Reich, who directed the project and the realization of all the pavilions that represented German industry and craftsmanship at the 1929 International Exposition. Let's not forget, therefore, that neither of them had the title of architect and that the pavilion is a work totally designed and carried out by both of them. Ultimately, it is a debate that shows who has caught up and understands authorship as an evolutionary and discursive concept, not as a closed and romanticist myth; who accepts the creative reality of teamwork, especially in architecture, and who seeks to make visible the contribution of women artists, designers, and architects. It is an epistemological change in historiography that the establishment finds hard to accept: they are not brilliant male heroes, but teams, with valuable contributions from women architects and collaborators. Therefore, long live the collective work of the Sagrada Família and long live the Mies van der Rohe/Lilly Reich Pavilion!