XLVIIIè Curset

The work of the Catalan architect Josep Maria Jujol has been gaining significance in recent decades. Despite the gradual recovery of Catalan Modernism’s prestige, his figure had long remained on the margins of the established historiographic narrative, often regarded as minor or secondary, and always subordinated to the logic of Gaudí’s work. Today, however, the situation has changed radically: Jujol is increasingly valued for his connection with contemporary sensibilities and for the singularity of a body of work that still largely remains to be discovered.

Recently, the part of his documentary archive that had remained unpublished was donated to the College of Architects of Catalonia and deposited at its Tarragona headquarters. The discovery and study of this legacy -which includes buildings, furniture, objects, ephemeral architecture and artistic works - opens new perspectives. Researchers working on it confirm that this collection consolidates a reading of Jujol’s oeuvre with entirely unique codes, expressions and values. This research is one of the main motivations for dedicating this year’s Curset to him and will constitute a central element of the debate.

Jujol stands apart from most architects, including his contemporaries, because he was at once an architect, an artist and a craftsman. In many of his works, the true interest of Jujol’s contribution begins precisely where architects usually end their task: once the practical issues -organizational, constructive and functional- have been resolved. It is then that his buildings become canvases on which to unfold his creativity, working with materials and surfaces with freedom and intensity, transforming architecture into a total work of art. His contribution transcends the usual parameters of architecture and focuses on symbolic and expressive dimensions such as belonging, spirituality, play and sacralization, very often translated into figurative elements that boldly challenged ideas firmly established during modernity.

Architect Josep Llinàs defines this symbolic dimension under the concept of “Sunday actions”: interventions arising from a local culture linked to the territory, rural life and festive celebration, where creativity flows freely, unbound by the logic of daily work. This singularity allows us to understand Jujol’s work as an expression of spirituality and artistic freedom, inviting it to be interpreted and celebrated from a perspective different from the conventional.

This celebratory character means that many of his creations were conceived without the intention of lasting, unlike what architects typically seek in their buildings. For this reason, it is especially relevant to address the work of Josep Maria Jujol within the framework of a course devoted to heritage conservation. His production, fragile and ephemeral, often built with recycled materials, demands preservation strategies capable of respecting this sensitive nature, far removed from the conventional idea of permanence. At the same time, his architecture and his art form an indissoluble unity, since many of the plastic interventions were created by Jujol himself. This fusion grants him exceptional authorship and makes any subsequent intervention extraordinarily complex and delicate.

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