11th Barcelona Modernista Fair 2015

We are celebrating the 11th edition of the Modernista Fair on 5, 6 and 7 June, and this year 2015 it will be dedicated to the sculptor Josep Llimona i Bruguera (1864-1934) to mark the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of his birth in 2014.

Our magazine, which comes packed with discounts and promotions of various Modernista buildings, will reflect this celebration in an interview with Francesc Fontbona de Vallescar, PhD in History and expert in Catalan art.

At the Council’s District headquarters on Friday, you can enjoy a talk entitled “Josep Llimona, a life dedicated to sculpture (1864-1934)” by Natàlia Esquinas, an art historian specialising in this sculptor. A collection of photographs of Llimona’s works at Montjuïc Cemetery will be on display in our large marquee, as part of a collaboration between the photographer Helena Aguilar and Natàlia Esquinas, with photographs taken by a large-format camera or plates, similar to the photographic devices used in the early days of photography.

Other activities related to Llimona will be the puppet show Una nit en el museu (A night at the museum) for kids and kids at heart to learn more about this sculptor; the Mercat de la Concepció, which always joins the party, together with the traders’ association of the Dreta de l’Eixample, Coreixample, are offering the craft workshop “Sculptor Llimona” as well as a very tasty “Modernista cooking workshop” at the market’s central hall; the school Escolàpies Llúria is giving a clay sculpture workshop for children aged two to six, and Coreixample is staging another called “Modelling Modernisme”.

But the big novelty this year is the Automatàrium, a theatrical installation inspired by the recreational slot machines built at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Waiting for you in our large marquee are the fakir, strong man and bearded woman.

Terrassa Town Hall will be a first time visitor this year with one of the regular Modernista organisation stands, a city where the arrival of the railway in the last two decades of the 19th century led to the consolidation of a textile industry and unique industrial legacy, the work of Lluis Muncunill, Josep Maria Coll, Melcior Viñals and Antoni Pascual. Terrassa will also be promoting its own Modernista Fair, the most important in Catalonia. Other stands include that of the Torre Bellesguard, an unfinished building by Antoni Gaudí that opened its doors to the public two years ago; the Cerdanyola Art Museum, dedicated to the conservation, research and dissemination of the city’s artistic heritage, especially Modernista art, and the Turisme de Barcelona Consortium, which will be accompanied by the Colonia Güell and Santa Coloma de Cervelló Town Council, where the colony is located, an initiative of the businessman Eusebi Güell. Another novelty is that the Modernisme in Maresme stand (comprising Argentona, Canet de Mar and Mataró) will offer on Friday a demonstration of the craft of neula wafers on Friday, organised by masters neulers from 1895 Graupera.

Over the Fair’s three-day period, our large marquee will once again have two carriages from the Cemeteries of Barcelona hearse carriage collection, a screening of the documentary Modernisme et Société by the Réseau Art Nouveau Network, and the 3rd cavalcade of vintage vehicle, whose point of arrival and departure is in the marquee where they will be on display.

Do you want to see what a Modernista wedding was like? La Llanterna de Terrassa will re-enact one, but with a humorous touch. We will also have the 5th edition of the Modernista Bicycle Ride from the Museum of Catalan Modernisme, and Lluís Moya will repeat last year’s talk entitled “1900, the year of optimism” for those who could not attend the first time.

You can enjoy a guided tour of Palau Macaya, the work of Josep Puig i Cadafalch, organised by the Association of Neighbours and Friends of Passeig de Sant Joan and the Obra Social de la Fundació ”la Caixa”, as well as the route “Not everything is a façade, the heart of Modernisme”, organised by Coreixample.

As always, people dressed in period costume from the La Llanterna group and other groups or private visitors will be strolling through the Fair wearing their outfits, and we invite you to do the same. Come to the Fair dressed in period costume if possible and enjoy the activities!