Author: Xavier Castanyer i Angelet
Publisher: Publications de l’Abadia de Montserrat
Date of publication: 23/08/2022
Topic: History, Art and Architecture, Biographies and Memoirs
Collection: Texts and Studies of Catalan Culture
ISBN: 978-84-9191-236-1
Pages: 280

On sale at the Museum

Synopsis:

Josep Aragay i Blanchar (Barcelona, 1889 – Breda, 1973) was an illustrator, painter and ceramist, but also an outstanding theorist of Noucentisme, publishing articles, conferences, essays and art critiques. Though he may not have been a prolific author in the literary world, some of his works, such as “Contemporary Catalan painting. Its heritage and legacy” (1916) and, most notably, “The Nationalism of Art” (1920) became seminal texts that were always surrounded by controversy.

Aragay published in several newspapers and magazines, including Vell i Nou, La Revista, La Publicitat, La Veu de Catalunya and Mirador, with the aim of spreading the ethical and aesthetic values of Classicism throughout Catalonia. He also strove to challenge artists from the previous generation (Modernists, Romantics and academics) and avant-garde painters (Futurists and Cubists), making him one of the most combative writers of the Noucentisme movement.

Xavier Castanyer has retrieved around thirty “combative” texts published between 1915 and 1934, which he has then analysed and put into context within the general framework of contemporary Catalan art and the Noucentisme period in particular. The articles are included in the second part of the book with the aim of giving readers an insight into Aragay’s theoretical work.

Reviews

Vàzquez, Eva: “Aragay’s takes the floor”. Article in Catalan in El Punt Avui, 9th October 2022:
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Aragay, Ignasi: “Aragay is the man who is most right in Catalonia”. Article in Catalan in Ara, 12th November 2022.
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Àgora (newsletter for local residents, Breda), nº 48, October 2022:
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