Biography
Josep Maria Jujol was born in Tarragona on September 16th, 1879. In 1888 he moved to Barcelona with his family and in 1897 he began his studies at the School of Architecture, which he concluded in 1906. With 22 Years old, he entered the studio of architect Antoni Maria Gallissà and later collaborated with architects Josep Font i Gumà and Antoni Gaudí. He was a professor at the School of Architecture of Barcelona and municipal architect of Sant Joan Despí since 1926. He died in Barcelona on May 1, 1949.
Josep Maria Jujol’s work is characterized for its plurality of records. He built all kinds of architectural typologies and worked in numerous Catalan towns. He is considered a total artist as he projects and details the finishings, he is a sculptor, a cartoonist and a watercolorist. Thus, besides an architect, he was also a decorator, designer of furniture, bottles, ceramic pavements, religious images, sepulchral tombstones, banners, painter and sculptor.
The architectural work of Jujol is characterized for the simplicity of its media contrasted with its originality. He was an architect closely linked to the forms of nature and the landscape of the territory where he performed his works. The quality of his work becomes out of all conventionalism.
Jujol made numerous solo works (Can Negre, Torre de la Creu, Teatre Metropol, Casa Bofarull, Casa Camprubí …) and, at the same time, his influence is very present in his collaborations with architects of the era, in Gaudí buildings such as La Pedrera, Park Güell, Casa Batlló, Sagrada Família or Colònia Güell.