Modernism in Catalonia: Art, Literature, and Theater
Modernism in Catalonia (1892-1911)
Modernism was a European cultural movement of the late nineteenth century. It attempted to include all the arts in social life and modernize European and Catalan culture (1892-1911).
Milestones of Modernism
The emergence of Modernism coincided with socioeconomic changes that modernized Catalonia, such as L’Exposició Universal (1888). Groups of young intellectuals, arising mainly from the bourgeois family, clashed with their class because they did not accept secession in the areas of power, and with its ideals of progress and freedom. It had two distinct phases:
- From 1892 to 1900: Formation of trends and the fight to end the status uniformity of the bourgeois. Intellectuals, artists, and literary figures gathered around the Modernist celebrations of Sitges. Journals such as L’Avenç (1889-1893), Catalònia (1898-1900), Quatre Gats, and Pèl & Ploma were established.
- From 1900 to 1911: Modernism in literature and art was consolidated and admitted as a consumer product for the new industrial and wealthy bourgeois.
Ideological Currents
Two prevailing currents existed:
- Regeneracionisme: Opposed to bourgeois conservatism, it adopted a cosmopolitan view of culture and tried to regenerate art from the uncultivated masses. The most important artists were Jaime Brossa and Ignasi Iglesias.
- Aestheticism: Rusiñol is a poster child, with the head decided to turn its back on the conflict in society and take art as a unique individual salvation possible. They consider art as a religion, a sacred manifestation. It reflects concern for the role of the individual, and especially the artist, in a bourgeois society seen as frivolous and superficial to be transformed.
Modernist Poetry
It represents the evolution with respect to the encarcarement of the Renaissance. It sought to renew versification and subject matter. Maragall was namely the full month of Modernism, both in theory and Modernism as poetic.
The Modernist Novel and Narrative
The model for the novel came into a realist crisis throughout Europe. The Catalan narrators chose to cultivate the following models:
Symbolist Novel: Focused on rural stories presenting dramas in mountain settings. The theme was rural, determining the language; it wanted to reflect the speech of peasants, fishermen, etc. Featured Authors: Raimon Casellas; Els sots feréstecs (1901), Víctor Català; Solitud (1905), La vida i la mort d’en Jordi Fraginals (1912).
Decadent Novel: They pass from description to suggestion. Since neither sought to reflect objective reality as the realist novel but the inside. Authors: Prudenci Bertrana; Josafat (1906).
Consumerist Novel: It represented the disintegration of the novel into independent stories bound only by the subject. Author: Santiago Rusiñol; L’auca del senyor Esteve.
Modernist Theater
Underwent a profound renewal and became the genre characteristic of Modernism. The Symbolist aesthetic tendency prevailed, the author is James Rusiñol representation month. Another trend is the regeneration, vitality and naturalist (Joseph adaptations).