Casa Masó Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary

Exhibition on Masó's stained-glass windows and lecture series that sheds light on iconic Masó house through the visions of prestigious architects.

On 28 April 2012, Casa Masó opened its doors to visitors. To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the house-museum, the Rafael Masó Foundation has organised a series of events about the building and the architect's work, starting in March with the inauguration of a retrospective exhibition dedicated to the stained-glass designed by Rafael Masó.

The exhibition "A Noucentista Light: Masó's Stained Glass" reveals the unique contribution that Masó made to the art of stained-glass in Catalonia during the first three decades of the 20th century. In the words of Dr. Núria Gil, the exhibition curator, “in Masó's work, stained-glass is an integral part of his concept of home design and decoration, which, with its open-plan interiors dominated by austerity and geometry, represented a departure from the eclectic, cramped and motley interiors that had dominated bourgeois houses since the Elizabethan era.”

Masó's dedication to the art of glass began with lights in the church of Sant Feliu and the sign of his brother's pharmacy on Carrer Argenteria in 1908. The exhibition runs through the stained-glass windows of buildings, such as the Palau Salieti, the Farinera Teixidor, the Casa Ensesa, the Punxa and the Casa Corominas in Girona, and the Casa Masramon in Olot, the Casa Cendra d'Anglès, the Casa Casas in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, the parish church of Verges, and the Cooperativa La Económica de Palafrugell (now the public library), among others. Some of these stained-glass windows, hitherto unknown, have been photographed for the first time for the exhibition.

The exhibition features stained-glass windows of some of these buildings, original drawings and projects by Masó, historical and contemporary photographs, and a projection of images of the interiors of the buildings in order to appreciate the details of the windows, many of which are in private buildings. In addition, a stained-glass window acquired by the Foundation in 2019 and a painting by Masó for a stained-glass window received as a donation in 2020 will be exhibited for the first time. The tour gives us the opportunity to appreciate the stylistic evolution of Masó's stained glass windows, which were soon distinct from the modernist stained-glass windows and became characteristic of the aesthetics of Noucentism, at the same time displaying influences of movements such as Arts & Crafts, the Austrian and German Secession, and Art Deco.

The exhibition, which can be visited until 10 September, is complemented by guided tours led by the curator, on 7 April and 26 May. Núria Gil holds a doctorate in art history and is one of the leading specialists in Catalan stained-glass of the Art Nouveau and Noucentisme movements. On the occasion of the exhibition, the Foundation has also published a book that brings together the research that Dr. Gil has done in preparation for it.

To mark the tenth anniversary of the opening of Casa Masó, the Foundation has also scheduled a series of free guided tours of the house-museum on 28, 29 and 30 April. In May, Casa Masó will join the celebration of Museum Night (14 May), with a night tour of the museums in Girona, and International Museum Day (18 May), again with free guided tours of the house.

During April and May, there will also be a lectures series on “Architectural Stages: Casa Masó in 4 Events”, in which five prestigious architects invited by the Rafael Masó Foundation and the College of Architects of Catalonia will take part to offer their vision and interpretation of Casa Masó and the work of Rafael Masó. The guest architects are Xavier Monteys (21 April), Ramon Bosch and Bet Capdeferro (28 April), Josep Llinàs (5 May) and Maria Rubert de Ventós (12 May). The conferences will be held in the Rafael Masó room at the headquarters of the Architects' Association of Catalonia in Girona.

Publication date 11 March 2022