Antoni Clavé was a Catalan master painter, printmaker, sculptor, stage designer and costume designer.

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Clavé was one of Spain's best known and most celebrated artists. His work evolved from a baroque, ornamental style to a pure, minimal aesthetic. In his later years, his work is completely abstract, employing expressive lines and exploring the boundaries of collage, object trove, shading, texture and color. He was trained at the School of Fine Arts, Barcelona, where he was taught by Angel Ferrant and Felix Mestres. With his works being influenced by artists such as Bonnard, Vuillard, and Roualt. He is best known for his lyrical abstractions, works which combine paint with collage.

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Clavé fought in the Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War and served as draughtsman for the Republican government. In 1939 he arrived in Paris as a refugee and started to work as an illustrator. In France, he got to know Pablo Picasso, who exerted a great influence on Clavé’s style of painting.

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In his early work, he painted many household scenes, children, puppet-like women, clowns, and harlequins.

 

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