Don Servando et l’autre – Focus 9

Don Servando et l’autre – Focus 9

With Don Servando et l’autre the spectator enters directly into Clavé’s universe: his mid 70s figuration was getting round constraints, the composition experienced imbalances, technique and matter cast off the artistic codes then in place and there was no attempt to...

Tela arrugada – Focus 8

Tela arrugada – Focus 8

Between 1974 and 1976 Clavé illustrated a book for bibliophiles, “La Gloire des rois” by Saint-John Perse. For this exceptional publication, Clavé worked on a pure rag Arches Velin, and combined pure embossing and illusionist trompe l'œil with a peculiar material...

L’homme sans visage – Focus 7

L’homme sans visage – Focus 7

« Ce qui m’intéressait, c’était ce personnage avec la main sur la poitrine que j’avais vu au Prado, j’en avais fait tout jeune une copie d’après une reproduction. Ce n’est pas le Greco lui même que j’ai peint, c’est le fantôme de ce tableau là. J’en ai fait une série...

Le guerrier, la femme, l’enfant – Focus 6

Le guerrier, la femme, l’enfant – Focus 6

The theme of the warrior was in use from 1958. After having dominated paintings and prints, Clavé’s warriors acquired substance and shape. Alone or in group, on one level or on a chariot, as a sculpture in the round or in a bas-relief, during the year 1960 alone, no...

Guerrier noir – Focus 5

Guerrier noir – Focus 5

Kings and warriors brought Antoni Clavé fame. The theme had already appeared in his paintings from 1955-56, and contributed to the growth of his international recognition from 1958. The Guerrier noir dates precisely from this year. The composition is focused on the...

Sea, sun & watermelon – Focus 4

Sea, sun & watermelon – Focus 4

Trois personnages aux pastèques mixes two themes that were of importance to Clavé in the 50’s: a scene taken from everyday life and a still life with watermelons. The vacationers are soaking up the pleasures of summer. The slices of the red fruit enable Clavé to take...

Carmen Acte IV – Focus 3

Carmen Acte IV – Focus 3

Carmen was the first exclusive collaboration between Antoni Clavé and Roland Petit. The latter had previously danced in Los Caprichos in 1946, for which décors had been created by Clavé. Two years later Roland Petit launched his own ballet company, the “Ballets Roland...

L’Étoile – Focus 2

L’Étoile – Focus 2

In 1943 Paris was at war, and Antoni Clavé, a spanish republican in exile was living off of the money earned from illustrations he’d created for Bibliophilia’s books : Lettres d’Espagne and Carmen by Mérimée, and as above Paris âges et visages, anthology of poems...

El signo de la muerte – Focus 1

El signo de la muerte – Focus 1

In 1934 at only 21 years old, Clavé was starting to earn a living from jobs in advertising, more specifically as a poster designer for cinemas in Barcelona. At the time, there were no "official" posters released in all the movie theatres in which the film would be...