Papers by Begoña Farré Torras
magazén: International Journal for Digital and Public Humanities, 2024
This paper critically considers digital curatorial practices, increasingly used both in commercia... more This paper critically considers digital curatorial practices, increasingly used both in commercial and museum settings, involving the animated mapped projection of digitised works of art. It draws attention to the problematic and common misuse of the term 'immersive' to designate such practices and examines their effectiveness for art historical knowledge sharing and meaning making. Through first-hand observation of a number of such exhibits, the paper considers the lessons that can be learned from them and how they would specifically apply to a corpus of twentieth-century frescoes that make up the study object of a research project on art historical digital curatorship.
Artl@s Bulletin, 2021
This paper explores the place of the Mediterranean as the main source of primitive references for... more This paper explores the place of the Mediterranean as the main source of primitive references for modern art in the noucentista art scene of Catalonia (Spain) in the early 20th century. It does so by focusing on the case of Joaquín Torres-García, a leading figure of the movement and advocate for the modernisation of mural painting. The discussion considers the noucentista conflation of the notions of classical and primitive, examines how it finds expression in Torres-García's controversial frescoes for the seat of the regional government, and posits its relevance to the Constructive Universalism pictorial idiom developed by the artist in the late 1920s. Résumé Cet article explore la place de la Méditerranée comme principale source de références primitives pour l'art moderne dans le milieu artistique noucentista de Catalogne (Espagne) au début du XXe siècle. Pour ce faire, l'article considère Joaquín Torres-García, figure proéminente du mouvement et défenseur de la modernisation de la peinture murale. La discussion décrit la fusion noucentista des notions du classique et du primitif, examine comment elle s'exprime dans les fresques controversées de Torres-García pour le siège du gouvernement régional, et envisage sa pertinence dans le langage pictural de l'Universalisme Constructif développé par l'artiste à la fin des années 1920.
Artl@s Bulletin, 2021
This paper explores the place of the Mediterranean as the main source of primitive references for... more This paper explores the place of the Mediterranean as the main source of primitive references for modern art in the noucentista art scene of Catalonia (Spain) in the early 20th century. It does so by focusing on the case of Joaquín Torres-García, a leading figure of the movement and advocate for the modernisation of mural painting. The discussion considers the noucentista conflation of the notions of classical and primitive, examines how it finds expression in Torres-García's controversial frescoes for the seat of the regional government, and posits its relevance to the Constructive Universalism pictorial idiom developed by the artist in the late 1920s. Cet article explore la place de la Méditerranée comme principale source de références primitives pour l'art moderne dans le milieu artistique noucentista de Catalogne (Espagne) au début du XXe siècle. Pour ce faire, l'article considère Joaquín Torres-García, figure proéminente du mouvement et défenseur de la modernisation de la peinture murale. La discussion décrit la fusion noucentista des notions du classique et du primitif, examine comment elle s'exprime dans les fresques controversées de Torres-García pour le siège du gouvernement régional, et envisage sa pertinence dans le langage pictural de l'Universalisme Constructif développé par l'artiste à la fin des années 1920.
Revista de História da Arte - Serie W, issue 9, is the result of the international conference Art... more Revista de História da Arte - Serie W, issue 9, is the result of the international conference Art in the Periphery - hommage to Foteini Vlachou, which took place between 14 and 16 March 2019, organized by the IHA and the IHC of NOVA FCSH. In addition to the thematic dossier, which brings together seven articles by authors participating in the conference, this publication also includes an essay by Béatrice Joyeux-Prunel and other relevant contributions. The diversity of the texts make this issue of RHA-W an important reference for reflecting on the idea of 'periphery', a key concept in Foteini Vlachou's work to think about Art History beyond the canon. The journal's title retrieves the subtitle of the research network created by Vlachou for the work on the periphery: Art in the Periphery - Life outside the canon.
This paper discusses the notion of modernism by relating it to three artistic movements – Moderni... more This paper discusses the notion of modernism by relating it to three artistic movements – Modernisme, Noucentisme and the Avant-garde – which developed in Catalonia between the 1880s and the early 1920s. From a common commitment to modernity these three movements produced, nonetheless, widely different aesthetic proposals. Notwithstanding their differences, this paper identifies common features in their artistic practices in order to contribute to the ongoing critical review of modernism. Thus, rather than a self-referential, medium-specific quest with abstraction as a natural endpoint, modernism is presented here as an open, interrogative artistic practice engaged in a debate in pursuit of 'the modern'. This understanding of modernism is then tested against the case of Xavier Nogués, an artist associated with Noucentisme, and his contribution to the artistic debate of his time through the necessarily figurative language of caricature.
Artl@s Bulletin, 2021
This paper explores the place of the Mediterranean as the main source of primitive references for... more This paper explores the place of the Mediterranean as the main source of primitive references for modern art in the noucentista art scene of Catalonia (Spain) in the early 20th century. It does so by focusing on the case of Joaquín Torres-García, a leading figure of the movement and advocate for the modernisation of mural painting. The discussion considers the noucentista conflation of the notions of classical and primitive, examines how it finds expression in Torres-García's controversial frescoes for the seat of the regional government, and posits its relevance to the Constructive Universalism pictorial idiom developed by the artist in the late 1920s. Résumé Cet article explore la place de la Méditerranée comme principale source de références primitives pour l'art moderne dans le milieu artistique noucentista de Catalogne (Espagne) au début du XXe siècle. Pour ce faire, l'article considère Joaquín Torres-García, figure proéminente du mouvement et défenseur de la modernisation de la peinture murale. La discussion décrit la fusion noucentista des notions du classique et du primitif, examine comment elle s'exprime dans les fresques controversées de Torres-García pour le siège du gouvernement régional, et envisage sa pertinence dans le langage pictural de l'Universalisme Constructif développé par l'artiste à la fin des années 1920.
Noucentismes: el Noucentisme català en el context cultural europeu, 2020
Situar el Noucentisme en el context cultural de l’Europa del seu temps:
d’acord amb la intenció d... more Situar el Noucentisme en el context cultural de l’Europa del seu temps:
d’acord amb la intenció d’aquest Simposi, el que es proposa aquí és deixar de banda les qüestions d’estil, que més fàcilment distancien el Noucentisme de la producció artística coetània d’avantguarda, i abordar, en canvi, aquest moviment a través d’un problema teòric, el de la relació entre l’arquitectura i la pintura. A partir d’aquesta qüestió, en una primera part s’identifiquen paral·lelismes entre el Noucentisme i els moviments de caràcter constructivista arreu d’Europa. Seguidament, d’entre tots aquests moviments, es procedeix a una anàlisi comparativa entre el Noucentisme i la Bauhaus concretament centrada en la pintura mural.
This paper discusses the notion of modernism by relating it to three artistic movements – Moderni... more This paper discusses the notion of modernism by relating it to three artistic movements – Modernisme, Noucentisme and the Avant-garde – which developed in Catalonia between the 1880s and the early 1920s. From a common commitment to modernity these three movements produced, nonetheless, widely different aesthetic proposals. Notwithstanding their differences, this paper identifies common features in their artistic practices in order to contribute to the ongoing critical review of modernism. Thus, rather than a self-referential, medium-specific quest with abstraction as a natural endpoint, modernism is presented here as an open, interrogative artistic practice engaged in a debate in pursuit of ‘the modern’. This understanding of modernism is then tested against the case of Xavier Nogués, an artist associated with Noucentisme, and his contribution to the artistic debate of his time through the necessarily figurative language of caricature.
Portuguese Studies Review, Vol. 22, Issue 1, 2014
Revista Medievalista online, 2012
Books by Begoña Farré Torras
PhD Thesis by Begoña Farré Torras
This thesis examines modernist attitudes towards the past generally and towards the medieval past... more This thesis examines modernist attitudes towards the past generally and towards the medieval past in particular, by exploring the significance of gothic architecture and stained glass to the constructive pictorial enquiries of Joaquín Torres-García, František Kupka, Robert Delaunay, Otto Freundlich, Piet Mondrian, Theo van Doesburg and Josef Albers. Torres-García is taken as a case study given that his painted and written work shows an actual engagement with the medieval that has hitherto gone largely
unnoticed. The discussion thus traces Torres-García's complex and changing relationship with the gothic over time, and examines its place in his constructive pictorial practice. Close attention is given to two particular periods in Torres-García's career. Firstly, his transition from Noucentisme to the avant-garde in the mid-1910s in Barcelona, coinciding with his involvement in a stained glass project for a public building. This period is examined under the light of prevalent attitudes towards the medieval in classicist noucentista Barcelona, which are inferred through a comprehensive survey of local modernist magazines. A second period of interest is Torres-García's late-1920s formulation of Constructive Universalism, the distinct primitive-constructive idiom he characterised as "the style of a cathedral," coinciding with a time when he was closely associated with three of the artists also under study here, van Doesburg, Freundlich and Mondrian.
The discussion on these, as well as on Kupka, Delaunay and Albers, takes into consideration that, unlike Torres-García, they all developed their practice within a cultural context that celebrated the gothic. Their rapport with the gothic is analysed, when relevant, in the light of Worringer's theories on the subject. Additionally, several of these artists' interest in the pictorial constructive was concomitant with research into the sensorial properties of colour fragmentation and interaction. This area of pictorial enquiry, in which the study of stained glass proved especially useful, is also explored in the relevant cases.
The focus on the constructive as a common denominator to the practice of all these artists, and a common motivator of their engagement with the cathedral, implies a largely formal approach to the issue at hand. This, nevertheless, takes into consideration that these artists' rapport with the gothic was mediated by contemporary discourses surrounding the Middle Ages and their legacy. As such, the analysis necessarily considers the ideological factors (political leanings, identitary issues, religious backgrounds) that came into play in each artist's relationship with the medieval. This, ultimately, serves to address the problem of how these forward-looking artists found a legitimate place in their modernist practice for references sourced in the medieval past.
MA Dissertation by Begoña Farré Torras
This dissertation focuses on a rare 15th century commemorative programme that has thus far receiv... more This dissertation focuses on a rare 15th century commemorative programme that has thus far received little scholarly attention: the collective monument erected in the Founder’s Chapel, at the Monastery of Santa Maria da Vitória, Batalha, to house the remains of four Avis princes, members of what would become known as ‘the Illustrious Generation’. A patron is proposed for the commission of this erudite monument - the princes’ eldest brother, king Duarte I - arguing its integration into a broader propaganda programme to glorify the memory of the Avis dynasty founder, king João I.
The dissertation then proceeds to discuss various features of the monument that represented important novelties in Portugal, such as its pseudo-architectural character, its use of sophisticated heraldry and personal badges, the apparent absence of religious iconography on the tombs and, importantly, the collective nature of the programme, key to its interpretation.
Using a semiotic approach, a discussion is also offered on the way the various formal, iconographic and conceptual novelties of the princes’ monument impacted on the 15th century monumental landscape in Portugal.
Finally, the monument and the chapel housing it are looked at through the prism of the various readings that successive generations of viewers have projected onto it, from the time of its creation to the turn of the 20th century, in order to offer a more comprehensive understanding of the object as it stands today.
Conference papers by Begoña Farré Torras
Editing by Begoña Farré Torras
Revista de História da Arte - Serie W, issue 9, is the result of the international conference A... more Revista de História da Arte - Serie W, issue 9, is the result of the international conference Art in the Periphery - hommage to Foteini Vlachou, which took place between 14 and 16 March 2019, organized by the IHA and the IHC of NOVA FCSH. In addition to the thematic dossier, which brings together seven articles by authors participating in the conference, this publication also includes an essay by Béatrice Joyeux-Prunel and other relevant contributions. The diversity of the texts make this issue of RHA-W an important reference for reflecting on the idea of 'periphery', a key concept in Foteini Vlachou's work to think about Art History beyond the canon. The journal's title retrieves the subtitle of the research network created by Vlachou for the work on the periphery: Art in the Periphery - Life outside the canon.
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Papers by Begoña Farré Torras
d’acord amb la intenció d’aquest Simposi, el que es proposa aquí és deixar de banda les qüestions d’estil, que més fàcilment distancien el Noucentisme de la producció artística coetània d’avantguarda, i abordar, en canvi, aquest moviment a través d’un problema teòric, el de la relació entre l’arquitectura i la pintura. A partir d’aquesta qüestió, en una primera part s’identifiquen paral·lelismes entre el Noucentisme i els moviments de caràcter constructivista arreu d’Europa. Seguidament, d’entre tots aquests moviments, es procedeix a una anàlisi comparativa entre el Noucentisme i la Bauhaus concretament centrada en la pintura mural.
Books by Begoña Farré Torras
PhD Thesis by Begoña Farré Torras
unnoticed. The discussion thus traces Torres-García's complex and changing relationship with the gothic over time, and examines its place in his constructive pictorial practice. Close attention is given to two particular periods in Torres-García's career. Firstly, his transition from Noucentisme to the avant-garde in the mid-1910s in Barcelona, coinciding with his involvement in a stained glass project for a public building. This period is examined under the light of prevalent attitudes towards the medieval in classicist noucentista Barcelona, which are inferred through a comprehensive survey of local modernist magazines. A second period of interest is Torres-García's late-1920s formulation of Constructive Universalism, the distinct primitive-constructive idiom he characterised as "the style of a cathedral," coinciding with a time when he was closely associated with three of the artists also under study here, van Doesburg, Freundlich and Mondrian.
The discussion on these, as well as on Kupka, Delaunay and Albers, takes into consideration that, unlike Torres-García, they all developed their practice within a cultural context that celebrated the gothic. Their rapport with the gothic is analysed, when relevant, in the light of Worringer's theories on the subject. Additionally, several of these artists' interest in the pictorial constructive was concomitant with research into the sensorial properties of colour fragmentation and interaction. This area of pictorial enquiry, in which the study of stained glass proved especially useful, is also explored in the relevant cases.
The focus on the constructive as a common denominator to the practice of all these artists, and a common motivator of their engagement with the cathedral, implies a largely formal approach to the issue at hand. This, nevertheless, takes into consideration that these artists' rapport with the gothic was mediated by contemporary discourses surrounding the Middle Ages and their legacy. As such, the analysis necessarily considers the ideological factors (political leanings, identitary issues, religious backgrounds) that came into play in each artist's relationship with the medieval. This, ultimately, serves to address the problem of how these forward-looking artists found a legitimate place in their modernist practice for references sourced in the medieval past.
MA Dissertation by Begoña Farré Torras
The dissertation then proceeds to discuss various features of the monument that represented important novelties in Portugal, such as its pseudo-architectural character, its use of sophisticated heraldry and personal badges, the apparent absence of religious iconography on the tombs and, importantly, the collective nature of the programme, key to its interpretation.
Using a semiotic approach, a discussion is also offered on the way the various formal, iconographic and conceptual novelties of the princes’ monument impacted on the 15th century monumental landscape in Portugal.
Finally, the monument and the chapel housing it are looked at through the prism of the various readings that successive generations of viewers have projected onto it, from the time of its creation to the turn of the 20th century, in order to offer a more comprehensive understanding of the object as it stands today.
Conference papers by Begoña Farré Torras
Editing by Begoña Farré Torras
d’acord amb la intenció d’aquest Simposi, el que es proposa aquí és deixar de banda les qüestions d’estil, que més fàcilment distancien el Noucentisme de la producció artística coetània d’avantguarda, i abordar, en canvi, aquest moviment a través d’un problema teòric, el de la relació entre l’arquitectura i la pintura. A partir d’aquesta qüestió, en una primera part s’identifiquen paral·lelismes entre el Noucentisme i els moviments de caràcter constructivista arreu d’Europa. Seguidament, d’entre tots aquests moviments, es procedeix a una anàlisi comparativa entre el Noucentisme i la Bauhaus concretament centrada en la pintura mural.
unnoticed. The discussion thus traces Torres-García's complex and changing relationship with the gothic over time, and examines its place in his constructive pictorial practice. Close attention is given to two particular periods in Torres-García's career. Firstly, his transition from Noucentisme to the avant-garde in the mid-1910s in Barcelona, coinciding with his involvement in a stained glass project for a public building. This period is examined under the light of prevalent attitudes towards the medieval in classicist noucentista Barcelona, which are inferred through a comprehensive survey of local modernist magazines. A second period of interest is Torres-García's late-1920s formulation of Constructive Universalism, the distinct primitive-constructive idiom he characterised as "the style of a cathedral," coinciding with a time when he was closely associated with three of the artists also under study here, van Doesburg, Freundlich and Mondrian.
The discussion on these, as well as on Kupka, Delaunay and Albers, takes into consideration that, unlike Torres-García, they all developed their practice within a cultural context that celebrated the gothic. Their rapport with the gothic is analysed, when relevant, in the light of Worringer's theories on the subject. Additionally, several of these artists' interest in the pictorial constructive was concomitant with research into the sensorial properties of colour fragmentation and interaction. This area of pictorial enquiry, in which the study of stained glass proved especially useful, is also explored in the relevant cases.
The focus on the constructive as a common denominator to the practice of all these artists, and a common motivator of their engagement with the cathedral, implies a largely formal approach to the issue at hand. This, nevertheless, takes into consideration that these artists' rapport with the gothic was mediated by contemporary discourses surrounding the Middle Ages and their legacy. As such, the analysis necessarily considers the ideological factors (political leanings, identitary issues, religious backgrounds) that came into play in each artist's relationship with the medieval. This, ultimately, serves to address the problem of how these forward-looking artists found a legitimate place in their modernist practice for references sourced in the medieval past.
The dissertation then proceeds to discuss various features of the monument that represented important novelties in Portugal, such as its pseudo-architectural character, its use of sophisticated heraldry and personal badges, the apparent absence of religious iconography on the tombs and, importantly, the collective nature of the programme, key to its interpretation.
Using a semiotic approach, a discussion is also offered on the way the various formal, iconographic and conceptual novelties of the princes’ monument impacted on the 15th century monumental landscape in Portugal.
Finally, the monument and the chapel housing it are looked at through the prism of the various readings that successive generations of viewers have projected onto it, from the time of its creation to the turn of the 20th century, in order to offer a more comprehensive understanding of the object as it stands today.