As usual, art comes to teach one about new delights at the most unexpected moments.
I was exhibiting as a finalist last weekend in a show generously sponsored by Artists of Mallorca in a beautiful Modernist museum, Can Prunera, in Soller, a mountain town in Mallorca. Can Prunera had just reopened after restorations and was thus looking at its splendiferous best.
At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, Soller, which faces north towards France and was then separated from the rest of the island by mountain barriers only traversed by arduous serpentine tracks, was enjoying a prosperous export trade of oranges, olives and other agricultural products with France. Many Soller inhabitants moved to France or had close family and business ties there. Thus it was inevitable that some of this wealth was invested back into beautiful homes in Soller itself. Many were constructed in the fashionable Modernist or Art Nouveau style that Antoni Gaudi and others had brought to Mallorca from mainland Spain and France.
Can Prunera is a wonderful example of this Modernist architecture, marrying naturalism, sensuous curves and asymmetry with a felicitous sense of proportion in ceilings, doors, the curving staircase to the four floors and the general layout of rooms. Built in 1909-11 by Joan Magraner Oliver (alias Joan Prunera), a prosperous fruit merchant trading in France, the house was eventually purchased and restored in 2006 by the Railway Foundation, which runs the private, historic railway connecting Palma to Soller since 1912, still with its period carriages.
A main room in Can Prunera, Soller, Mallorca (photo J. Cook)
A smaller salon, Can Prunera, Soller (photo J. Cook)
The staircase leading up from the ground floor, Can Prunera, Soller (photo J. Cook)
Sharp-eyed readers may already have guessed what is the art underfoot that so delighted me in Can Prunera. The tiles!
Cement or hydraulic tiles were invented in Catalonia about 1850, and in southern France, around Viviers - hardly surprising that they soon appeared in both regions given their long-term historical links. These tiles became hugely popular because they are cheaper than traditional glazed floor tiles, very durable and easier to make. One of their merits is that they require no firing; they are instead made in handmade moulds, using a combination of dehydrated, finely ground Portland cement and a coarser layer of sand and cement, with the pigments - ideally mineral-based - pressed into the tile surfaces according to the delineated pattern. Hydraulic pressure amalgamates the ensemble; hand-powered presses produce less even tiles, whilst more industrial, electrically-powered presses produce higher-quality tiles.
A French wire mould, c. 1920, for a hydraulic tile. (Image courtesy of Wikipedia)
Pigment being poured into a tile mould (Image courtesy of Lotusse 1877, interview with Damien Huguet)
The heyday of these very widely used tiles was between the end of the nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries - more or less the same period as the Modernist fashion in Spain and France. They lent themselves to naturalistic and/or geometrical designs that complemented the Art Nouveau decor.
Can Prunera is, as I discovered, a marvellous example of the exuberant possibilities of these hydraulic tiles that one finds frequently in older (and now modern) homes in Mallorca. (Luckily there are still small companies that marry artisan skills and skilful world-wide marketing to remain successful tile-makers in Mallorca.)
Take a look at the astonishingly complex and joyous art I found underfoot all through Can Prunera, art that competed compellingly with the lovely art hanging on many of the museum’s walls.
Can Prunera hydraulic tiles (photo J. Cook)
Can Prunera hydraulic tiles. The harder the tile, the shinier it will become with time, as seen with the glare in the photo (photo J. Cook)
Can Prunera hydraulic tiles (photo J. Cook)
Can Prunera hydraulic tiles (photo J. Cook)
Can Prunera hydraulic tiles (photo J. Cook)
Can Prunera hydraulic tiles (photo J. Cook)
As I wandered, entranced and delighted at the inventiveness of the tile designs, I could not help thinking that Joan Prunera must have had a huge amount of fun selecting the tile designs for each room. I could imagine him later enjoying their different effects as he walked on his exuberant art underfoot.