Antoni Clavé

Antoni Clavé was a Spanish artist born in Barcelona in 1913. He died in Saint-Tropez, France, in 2005. He was a painter, printmaker, sculptor, stage designer, and costume designer. He studied at the Llotja in Barcelona with teachers such as Fèlix Mestres, Josep Mongrell, and Ángel Ferrant. At the end of the Spanish Civil War, he went into exile in France, first in Perpignan and later in Paris, where he became linked to the School of Paris.

His work went through different stages, from intimate realism to expressionism, symbolism, informalism, and experimental abstraction. He worked with painting, printmaking, collage, assemblage, crumpled paper, sculpture, and stage design. Texture, color, matter, and the mix between painting and sculpture are important in his works. He also worked for theater, ballet, and film. For his work on the film Hans Christian Andersen, he was nominated for two Oscars in 1953, in the categories of art direction and costume design.

His work is part of collections such as the Museo Reina Sofía, which holds 82 works by him; Tate; MoMA; MACBA; Afundación; the European Parliament; and The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. In 1978, the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris gave him a retrospective focused on his work from 1958 to 1978, and in 1984 the Spanish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale was dedicated to his work. Among his confirmed awards is the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts, given by Spain in 1984.

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