Table Of ContentCONSIDERING
AND INTERPRETING
LEISURE
Pastimes, entertainments,
hobbies and addictions
in the Barcelona of 1900
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CONTENTS
Introduction
A macro-philosophical reflection on the society of leisure, consumption,
spectacle and knowledge (Gonçal Mayos and Teresa-M. Sala)
Leisure spaces in the Barcelona of 1900 (Teresa-M. Sala)
Antecedents
Leisure, a macro-philosophical genealogy (Gonçal Mayos)
Pastimes and parties in the times of the Baron of Maldà (Rosa Creixell)
Hobbies and amusements
The city of toys (Pere Capellà Simó)
Picture card collecting (Fàtima López Pérez)
Dressing leisure (Cristina Rodríguez Samaniego)
Entertainment and spectacle
The affirmation of the body in early modern stage language (Carmina
Salvatierra Capdevila)
Topography of Barcelona theatre: 1860-1900 (Enric Ciurans)
Music, leisure and sociability in modernist in Barcelona of 1900 (Jaume
Carbonell i Guberna)
Pleasure and work
Visiting exhibitions. The first galleries and art spaces in Barcelona (1850-
1910) (Ricard Bru and Isabel Fabregat)
“Relax and have your picture taken”: photography, between fun and
obligation (M. Santos García Felguera and Núria F. Rius)
Addictions
The quest for artificial paradise: images of morphinomania (Irene Gras)
Leisure and relaxation
Park Güell, from urban project for the wealthy to leisure space for local
residents (Mireia Freixa and Mar Leniz)
Summer holidays and relaxation in the crown of Barcelona. The Busquets
estate in Vallvidrera, a unique example (Teresa-M. Sala)
Appendices
Theatre in the dining room (Antoni Galmés Martí)
In the Shade of a Scrawny Pine (Antoni Galmés Martí)
INTRODUCTION
Collection: Biblioteca de Catalunya
A macro-philosophical reflection on the society of
leisure, consumption, spectacle and knowledge
Gonçal Mayos and Teresa-M. Sala
The creation of a large quantity of disposable time
apart from necessary labour time for society generally
and each of its members (i.e. room for the
development of the individuals’ full productive forces,
hence those of society also), this creation of not-labour
time appears in the stage of capital, as of all earlier
ones, as not-labour time, as free time, for a few […] the
true realm of freedom, which, however, can blossom
forth only with this realm of necessity as its basis. The
shortening of the working-day is its basic prerequisite.
K. M , Grundrisse and Capital, Vol. III (1894)
ARX
The entertainment industry refines and multiplies the
varieties of reactive behaviour among the masses. In
this way, it makes them ripe for the workings of
advertising.
W. B , The Arcades Project (G 16, 7)
ENJAMIN
Considering and interpreting leisure in industrialization and modern society
implies a series of reflections and approaches relating to its social aspects. It
becomes evident that phenomena as diverse as conspicuous leisure,
consumption, standards of living, matters of taste, dress as a means of
expression, exemption from industrial work, conservatism and higher
knowledge as an expression of culture were fundamental elements of
capitalist society in the late 19th century. A useful guide is the counterpoint
between The Theory of the Leisure Class 1 by Thornstein Veblen (1899) and
The Right to Be Lazy2 (1880 and 1883) by Paul Lafargue.
Work, laziness and leisure
Veblen constructs a theory of the leisure class saying, in terms of cultural
evolutionism, that the appearance of this class coincides with the
emergence of ownership and that it is a key factor in the economy. Taking
everyday life as his point of departure, he divides society into three classes:
the “predatory” or “idle”, the “working” and the “technical”. He develops a
forceful denunciation of the ideological-economist tendency that granted
free time to a single social group (naturally, the most powerful elite) and
liberated its members from work and production. Veblen recalls mutatis
mutandis the first physiocratic economic system,3 which awarded the
aristocracy the social function of using or consuming what their compatriots
produced, without having to participate in any way in its production.
In contrast, in The Right to Be Lazy, Paul Lafargue condemns the
consequences of the modern industrial “ideology of work”. In a visionary
and anticipatory way, he advocates the fight for a different society based on
personal and social enrichment, with the cultivation of body and mind, in
which leisure allows and provides for humanity to be free from overwork.
According to Lafargue, capitalist morality is a lamentable parody of Christian
morality and, therefore, is based on duty and sacrifice, stifling the possibility
of enjoying the natural instincts and anathematizing the body of the worker.
Labour without respite or mercy reduces the worker’s capacities to a
minimum and condemns him to the role of a machine. Thus, Lafargue
proposed that people work less: he believed that three hours a day would
be enough to guarantee basic needs and claimed the right to be lazy, as a
counter to the right to work. He thought that this would also bring an end to
the industrial crises of the overproduction of capitalism, saying (Lafargue,
2011, p. 85), “The machine is the saviour of humanity, the god who shall
redeem man from the sordidae artes and from working for hire, the god
who shall give him leisure and liberty”.4 It is certainly a hope both beautiful
and old, perhaps the oldest example coming from the middle of the first
