BARRAGÁN
Armando Salas Portugal Photographs Of The Architecture Of Luis Barragán
Isabelle Bleecker and Andrea E. Monfried
Isabelle Bleecker and Andrea E. Monfried: BARRAGAN: ARMANDO SALAS PORTUGAL PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE ARCHITECTURE OF LUIS BARRAGAN. New York: Rizzoli, 1992. First edition. Quarto. Embossed purple cloth titled in white. Photo illustrated dust jacket. Black endpapers. 167 pp. 62 color and 40 black and white photographs. Interior unmarked and very clean. Out-of-print. A fine hardcover book in a fine dustjacket. Rare thus.
9.25 x 12.25 scarce hardcover book with 167 pages and 62 color and 40 black and white photographs. Modernism is a global language. For many modernist architects, although their buildings were situated in a particular place, they didn’t necessarily reference that place conceptually or materially. One exception comes to mind—Walter Gropius’ house in Lincoln, MA employed clapboard siding of all things! And then there’s Barragan who is so obviously a modernist and yet incorporates Mexico’s rich cultural and historic history into his structures. Breathtaking photographs by Mr. Portugal!
Contents
- The Village of Yesteryear, Ernest H. Brooks II
- Luis Barragán: His Work Concepts, Reflections, and Personal Experience, Armando Salas Portugal
- Tribute, Ricardo Legorreta
- The Harmony of Space, Ignacio Diaz Morales
- Architecture and Photography: A Life’s Collaboration, Massimo Vignelli
- A short essay and plan drawing appears before each of the following sections:
- El Pedregal
- Two Houses on Avenida de las Fuentes
- Luis Barragan House
- Eduardo Prieto Lopez House
- Galvez House
- Capuchinas Sacramentarias del Purismo Corazon de Maria Chapel and Convent Restoration
- Satellite City Towers
- Las Arboledas
- Los Clubes
- Gilardi House
- San Cristobal Stable, Pools, and House
- Biographies
One of Mexico's greatest architects, Luis Ramiro Barragán Morfín (1902 – 1988) revolutionized modern architecture in the country with his use of bright colors reminiscent of the traditional architecture of Mexico, and with works such as his Casa Barragán, the Chapel of the Capuchinas, the Torres de Satélite, "Los Clubes" (Cuadra San Cristobal and Fuente de los Amantes), and the Casa Gilardi, among many others.
Barragán was born in Guadalajara, graduating as a civil engineer and architect. Two years later in 1925, he started on a journey of two years in Europe, where he was impressed by the beauty of the gardens of the cities he visited and the strong influence of Mediterranean and Muslim culture, and above all of the International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts. It was on this trip where his interest in landscape architecture began.
The atmosphere of the gardens marked what would be his architectural work, integrating straight and solid walls and courtyards open to the sky. With a career of over 30 built works, his combination of lively block colors and serene gardens earned him the Pritzker Prize in 1980, the Jalisco Award in 1985; finally, a year before his death Barragán received Mexico's National Architecture Award.
In recent years, the discussion around Barragán's work has been rekindled thanks to the bizarre circumstances surrounding his archive. In 1995, the archive was purchased by Rolf Fehlbaum, Chairman of the furniture company Vitra, as an engagement gift for his fiancé Federica Zanco. Since then, the archive has been largely off-limits to researchers as Zanco has attempted to organize and catalog the archive, but many have been angered by the lack of access. The situation came to a head in 2016, when artist Jill Magid presented Zanco with a diamond engagement ring made from the ashes of Luis Barragán himself, in the hope of persuading Zanco to provide researchers more access to her original engagement gift. [xlist_2018]