3rd Modernista Fair 2007 with 4th Street Trade Festival

This year 2007, the third edition of the Barcelona Modernista Fair is coming soon in the same location as last year, Carrer Girona between València and Diagonal.

And as a major new addition this year, a large marquee will be set up in Carrer Girona between Diagonal and Mallorca to display a good sample of period motor vehicles, with such spectacular models as the Citroën Rosalía taxi, from Barcelona’s Metropolitan Taxi Institute; a Hispano-Suiza bus, from the Sagalés company; a Hispano-Suiza saloon, from the collection of the Melcior Colet Foundation; the Genoveva, a Delhaye lorry from Barcelona’s Fire Prevention, Extinction and Rescue Service (SPEIS), and a Ford from a private collector. Visit this large marquee area and delight in seeing some of these motoring gems.

The Municipal Institute of Urban Landscape will not only be present with its Barcelona Modernisme Route stall in the Fair’s stall area, but also with a stop dedicated to this Route (http://www.artnouveau.eu/en/index.php) as a new addition this year. The Institute is a non-profit association comprising local government and non-government entities that have joined together with a common cause to develop useful and efficient mechanisms in order to promote and protect Art Nouveau heritage internationally.

Casa Asia-Palau Baró de Quadras will be present once again and the Esplugues de Llobregat City Council will also be there to promote its heritage and the work of its Can Tinturé and La Rajoleta museums. This year we will also be visited by an Art Nouveau city in Europe, Aveiro, where a colonial bourgeoisie dedicated to trade and industry left a large number of Art Nouveau works, a style otherwise known as Arte Nova in Portugal. There will also be a Route stop at the Pobla de Lillet Town Hall, which is home to the Artigas garden, attributed to Antoni Gaudí; Colonia Güell; Caixa Sabadell, representing its Modernista buildings, and ProEixample, a municipal company set up to restore the inner courtyards of Barcelona’s city blocks.

There will additionally be two cultural itineraries and a talk entitled “Professionals or Amateurs: Women Artists during Modernisme” by Mireia Freixa, professor of Art History at the University of Barcelona, to be held at the Gran Hotel Havana. The Fair’s magazine this year features an interview with the architect and director of the Gaudí Chair, Joan Bassegoda Nonell, as well as an article on the Art Nouveau European Route.

Moreover, there will be stalls with the giant figures of the Sagrada Família, the children’s workshop “Vesteix-te d’època” (Dress in period costume), the show Bernat y el museu encantat (Bernat and the enchanted museum), a photographic competition on Modernisme in the Eixample, and a Modernista pianola will visit us for the first time. To add to the atmosphere, we will also enjoy the fun antics of actors dressed in period costumes who will be strolling through the streets of the Fair.

Visitors will also be able to see an exhibition of original Art Nouveau posters at the main offices of the Eixample District until 1 June, with the collaboration of Marc Martí. And at the Mercat de la Concepció on Saturday, there will be a prize-giving ceremony and raffle of hampers for the treasure hunt based on the exhibition of advertising poster reproductions entitled Los comercios y sus productos al Modernismo (Shops and Their Products during Modernisme), an exhibition staged by the Mercat de la Concepció Association of Retail Traders, with the collaboration of Postermil, which can be seen at the market from 12 to 19 May.

So come and enjoy the Modernista Fair once again this year!