Barcelona Japonisme

I've cribbed the title of this post from one of my favorite art blogs - Japonisme. Lotus Green fills her posts with a mix of the visual, the written word and on occasion the aural - all with connections to the influence of Japan on the artistic world.

Architecturally Barcelona is one of the great cities of the world. Certainly in the historic centre you can't walk a block without being struck by the beautiful, the exotic or the just downright unusual. A stroll down the Rambla - note to self, next trip to Barcelona is weekdays only - reveals the beauties of building after building. Saturday morning - before the crowds became to numerous - revealed this rather fanciful take on things Nipponese.
Though it is now a banking outlet our guess is that at one point this was the home of an umbrella maker. Whoever the architect may have been there's a slight chance he may have confused Japanese and Chinese in the odd detail.The facade is a strange mixture of wooden umbrellas, painted panels of stylized Japanese figures, scraffiti cranes and stained glass. And a combination of floodlights and back lighting makes sure that the building does not go unnoticed at night.

27 marzo - San Ruperto