The Sagrada Familia

March 20, 2017
Art historian van Hensbergen (Gaudí: A Biography) crafts an admiring study of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí’s masterpiece, the Sagrada Família, tracing its evolution from local basilica to one of the world’s most recognizable structures. Weaving in stories of Gaudí’s work on other projects, van Hensbergen chronicles how the church represented its creator’s devotion to his Catholic faith and served as a Bible in stone, reflecting the blending of God, man, and nature as one. Working from the 1880s through to his death in 1926, Gaudí employed new technologies such as photography and modeling to maintain correct size and scale with remarkable accuracy even by today’s standards. The book also examines political and social upheavals in Spain over those years, including the Spanish Civil War and two world wars. These led to major destruction but failed to halt the construction of the basilica, which is ongoing. Van Hensbergen serves as an enthusiastic guide in this more than thorough account of one of the world’s most eccentric and stunning buildings.

March 1, 2017
The story behind one of the world's most unique buildings.The bold opening sentence of art historian van Hensbergen's (Guernica: The Biography of a Twentieth-century Icon, 2004, etc.) intoxicating book about one of the world's most "puzzling" and "quixotic" structures instantly engages: "Gaudi, possibly more than any other architect in history, has been totally misunderstood." The author writes that Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926), like his buildings, was often seen as "far too eccentric, too bizarre and in Catalonia--the land of Salvador Dali--almost too obviously surrealist and actually downright strange." To understand the method behind his architectural madness and his iconic Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family, it's necessary to understand Gaudi's profound Catholic faith. Van Hensbergen takes us on a tour of the building, pointing out its unique and distinctive features, from the roof's complex vaulting, like an "inverted egg box," to Gaudi's invention of the centenary arch, which miraculously holds up the roof without buttressing via inverted chainlike links. When finished, 18 towers will "crowd together and push up in unison like a family in stone." Gaudi drew on nature--snake skeletons, springtime shoots, and the gnarls and knots on oak trees--revealed through "the omnipresence of God's guiding hand"--to fashion the ornaments. They "had to speak." The idea for the basilica came from Joseph Maria Bocabella, a small-time Barcelona religious bookseller. Gaudi took over the commission in 1883 shortly after the first architect was let go. He finished the crypt in 1889, but his "next decision almost defies logic." He decided to focus on just one facade, meaning that he "would only ever see a fraction of the entire building finished within his own lifetime." They hope to finish the basilica by 2026, the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death. Van Hensbergen's rich, poetic prose is perfectly suited to describe this unprecedented work of art. An engrossing, vivid inquiry into a man and his magisterial creation.

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.