‘the sound of Barcelona: Francisco Simplicio’

23-25 November 2018

Lecture by: Diego Milanese, Luigi Locatto, Lucio Carbone

Guitars in exhibitions:

Enrique Garcia 1922 N.272 ex Domingo Prat

Francisco Simplicio 1926 N.66 rosewood back and sides

Francisco Simplicio 1926 N.68 flamed maple back and sides ex Rafael Valdiz

Francisco Simplicio 1927 N.156 ex Augustin Barrios

Francisco Simplicio 1929 N.231 back / sides in mahogany feather from

Cuba with tornavoz

Francisco Simplicio 1930 N.7 sperimental model

Francisco Simplicio 1931 N.316 model“ Esposition” ex Abel Fleury

Miguel Simplicio 1932 N.342 classical model

Casa Nunez, Buenos Aires – Inspired by Simplicio

Pietro Gallinotti, Solero 1957 – Inspired by Simplicio

Brochure of the event

Note to the exhibition:

The Catalan culture has always sought a dimension of its own, differentiating itself from the rest of the Iberian peninsula. Barcelona is a lively and culturally curious city where all the trends and artistic movements developed in the most important European capitals converge and are absorbed and revised according to the Catalan sensibility.

The strong economic and cultural growth that the city lives at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century leads to a real artistic and cultural renaissance that captures and completely overwhelms the whole city, deeply renewing it.

The art nouveau, originally born in France and Belgium, develops strongly in the Catalan capital, involving every artistic expression: from architecture to design, from painting to sculpture, becoming a distinguishing element of the city. The revival of the baroque classicism presented in a modern key is extraordinarily refined and reformulated with luxurious and sophisticated details. The search for beauty becomes the characteristic desired by the intellectual élite that gradually influences the taste of the entire population, also modifying the musical aesthetics.

In this context fits the work of the great Catalan luthier Simplicio, his guitars are the celebration of this artistic current, with a rich and elaborated aesthetics and with a dark and elegant sound.