Antoni Clavé

Antoni Clavé was a master painter, printmaker, sculptor, stage designer, and costume designer, recognized as one of Spain's best-known and most celebrated artists.

Biography of Antoni Clavé

Antoni Clavé was born in Barcelona in 1913. At 13, in search of employment, he secured a position as an assistant in a textile shop specializing in girdles and corsets. Concurrently, he enrolled in evening classes at the annex to the Escuela de Artes y Oficios Artísticos y Bellas Artes. While apprenticing as a house painter with Tolosa, he found fascination in the manual aspects of the trade, including distemper, primer, glues, and, later, the intricacies of color mixing. Young Clavé developed skills in brushwork, drawing, lettering techniques, and faux wood.

In 1932, having won the second-place prize in a poster competition organized by the Caisse d'Epargne of Barcelona, Clavé decided to leave his position as a house painter. He joined Cinaes (Cinematografica Nacional Española) to create film posters for the exteriors of three Barcelona cinemas: Catalunya, Capitol, and Femina. Supporting himself through work in advertising and decoration, he engaged in avant-garde experimentation, employing techniques such as collages with various materials, rope, printed textiles, wavy cardboard, and newspaper.

In 1936, the Spanish War erupted. During this time, Clavé served as the sole provider for his family, caring for his hemiplegic mother since 1930. Mobilized in 1937, he departs for the Aragon front. His friend Joaquim Martí Bas successfully persuaded him to join the 31st Division Headquarters, where both men were tasked with creating propaganda posters to inspire the fighters. On January 26, 1939, Barcelona fell to Franco's army. Fleeing the bombings, the Catalan population crossed the border into France. Clavé arrived in France on January 29, initially held at Prats de Molló and later at the Haras internment camp in Perpignan. Shortly after, he was released and exhibited drawings, gouaches, and pencil portraits created during his internment.

On April 5, Clavé reached Paris without papers and with only a few francs from his Perpignan exhibition. Initially, he sustained himself by working as an illustrator for "Nouvelle Librairie Moderne" and drawing comics for periodicals such as Gavroche, Aventure, and Jumbo. Through connections with other Spanish painters in exile in Paris, he was introduced to Picasso.

By June 1940, the Germans were near Paris. Clavé attempted to leave for Venezuela, but the German tanks cut off the roadways, forcing him to turn back. In 1941, he established his first studio in Montparnasse at 45, rue Boissonnade. His son Jacques was born in 1942, and his mother moved to Paris. This marked an intimate and introspective period in his work influenced by Bonnard and Vuillard. The next year, he created lithographs for Prosper Mérimée’s Lettres d’Espagne. The artist became fully involved in the social and artistic activities of the "École espagnole de Paris" led by Picasso. Picasso, showing interest in Clavé's work, attended his exhibition at the Henri Joly Gallery in June 1944, marking the beginning of a long and sincere friendship.

In 1946, the exhibition "Art of the Spanish Republic, School of Artists of Paris," initiated by Picasso, Paul Éluard, and Jean Cassou, took place in Prague. Clavé and his exiled comrades, including Borès, Viñes, Peinado, Dominguez, Florès, Lobo, and Fenosa, traveled to Prague for the event. Despite these group exhibitions, Clavé still couldn't make a living from his painting. He began working on commissions for set decoration and costumes for ballets: Los Caprichos for the Ballets des Champs-Élysées (Paris, 1946), Carmen for the Ballets de Paris Roland Petit (Paris, 1949), and Ballabile for Sadler’s Wells Ballet (Covent Garden, London, 1950).

His work was also featured in illustrated books, including Carmen by Prosper Mérimée in 1946, Voltaire’s Candide in 1948, and Gargantua by Rabelais in 1950. This work inspired new subjects and series such as The King of Cards, Figures of the Middle Ages, and Warriors.

During 1950-53, his contributions to the theater played a vital role in his artistic endeavors: La maison de Bernarda Alba by Federico Garcia Lorca, Festival de Biarritz and the Théâtre de l’Œuvre, Paris, 1951; Revenge, Ballet by Ruth Page, Chicago Opera Ballet, 1951; Don Perlimplin, by Federico García Lorca, Festival du XXe siècle, Paris, 1952; Les Noces de Figaro, by Mozart, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, 1952; Deuil en 24 heures, Ballets de Roland Petit, Paris, 1953. In 1954, Clavé decided to leave theater design to fully focus on his painting, concluding with the set and costumes for La Peur, a ballet by Roland Petit.

The artist received the UNESCO Prize for Engraving at the XXVIII Venice Biennale in 1956, and his paintings were exhibited for the first time at the Sala Gaspar in Barcelona the same year. The initial tapestry paintings were created in 1957. Jean Cassou signed the catalog for Clavé's exhibition at Galerie Beyeler in Basel. Representing France at the 4th Biennale Sao Paulo in 1957, Clavé was awarded the Matarazzo Prize for painting, sharing the honor with Ben Nicholson for Great Britain and Giorgio Morandi for Italy.

In 1958, the Galerie Creuzevault in Paris organized Antoni Clavé's first major exhibition. He was honored with the Kamakura Prize at the Print Biennial in Tokyo. A significant Clavé exhibition took place at the Picasso Museum in Antibes.

In 1963, Clavé created several tapestry assemblages, which were exhibited the following year at the Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao. He embarked on a series of large-scale canvases, accompanied by lithographs and etchings, all centered around the theme "Hommage à Domenikos Théotokopoulos."

In 1965, the artist relocated to the South of France. Subsequent years witnessed a proliferation of exhibitions: Galerie Creuzevault, Paris, 1968; Gallery Chozo Yoshii, Tokyo, 1969; Sala Gaspar, Barcelona, 1970; Galerie Vision Nouvelle, Paris, 1971; Palais de la Méditerranée, Nice, 1971.

The Mainichi Shimbun daily newspaper organized a major exhibition of his works at the Matsuzakaya Gallery in Tokyo. Clavé traveled to Japan and, on his return to Paris, stopped in New York, where he was inspired by the graffiti on the streets and subways, which influenced his painting.

In 1975, Clavé began a series of engravings illustrating La Gloire des Rois by Saint John Perse. The artist also initiated work on trompe l’œil with creased paper. 

The 1980s marked a period of recognition for Antoni Clavé in his homeland, featuring numerous exhibitions. In 1982, he created a 9 x 3 meter mural for Barajas airport in Madrid. In 1984, the Spanish pavilion at the Venice Biennale was dedicated to Clavé, featuring 125 works, including paintings, sculptures, maquettes, and theater costume projects. This exhibition provided an overview of his oeuvre, complemented by 150 lithographs and prints/engravings at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Madrid.

In 1990, the monumental (14 meters high) sculpture commissioned by Barcelona’s city council to commemorate the centennial of the Universal Exhibition of 1888 was installed in the Parc de la Ciutadella. The works inspired by Clavé's trip to America were presented in an exhibition titled "Vu à New York" at the Basel Art Fair and in Paris by Patrice Trigano.

The artist passed away at the age of 92 in 2005 in Saint-Tropez.