Antoni Clavé

ANTONI CLAVÉ I SANMARTÍ (Barcelona, 1913 – Saint-Tropez, France, 2005).
“Signes,” 1976.
Carborundum embossed engraving. Copy 20/170.
Signed and numbered in pencil.
Measurements: 35 x 28 cm (print); 65 x 50 x 1 cm (paper).
Created around 1976, this work reflects the visual language developed by the artist beginning in the 1950s, characterized by the incorporation of signs, graphic elements, and symbolic forms that evoke a personal and enigmatic script. The piece stands out for the material richness and visual depth provided by the paper’s reliefs, a technique Clavé frequently employed to explore the tactile possibilities of printmaking. The abstract symbols, textures, and interplay between incised areas and raised surfaces reveal his interest in technical experimentation and in creating compositions imbued with poetic suggestion. This work is part of a limited edition and serves as a representative example of Clavé’s printmaking during the 1970s, a period in which his work achieved widespread international recognition.
Antoni Clavé is considered one of the most important figures in 20th-century Spanish art. Printmaking occupies a central place in his body of work. Clavé viewed printmaking not as a mere reproduction of his paintings, but as an autonomous artistic medium that allowed him to explore new expressive possibilities. From the mid-20th century onward, he worked intensively with techniques such as etching, drypoint, lithography, graphic collage, and embossing. In 1984, the Spanish government recognized his artistic merit by exhibiting more than one hundred of his works in the Spanish pavilion at the Venice Biennale. That same year, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Generalitat of Catalonia. Clavé’s work can be found, among many other institutions, in the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, the Tate Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, the British Museum in London, the Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, and the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid.