Antoni Clavé

ANTONI CLAVÉ (Barcelona, 1913 - Saint-Tropez, France, 2005).
"Peinture", 1964.
Mixed media on canvas.
Signed.
Measurements: 55 × 76 cm.; 78 × 96 cm. with frame.

Work made in 1964, moment in which Antoni Clavé enters fully into a material and abstract language, moving away from the more recognizable figuration of his previous years. The composition is built by superimpositions of planes, glazes, stains and graphic signs, generating a dense and enigmatic surface, where the image seems to emerge by sedimentation.

The palette, dominated by earths, blacks and grays, is enlivened by green and white accents that introduce visual tension and depth. This suggestive work participates in Clavé's informalist universe, in which the pictorial matter, the gesture and the trace acquire an essential protagonism. The composition functions as a space of resonances, fragments and latent presences.

Antoni Clavé was one of the fundamental figures of Catalan art in the second half of the 20th century. Trained in Barcelona and settled in Paris after the Civil War, he developed an extensive career as a painter, engraver, sculptor and set designer. His work evolved from an expressive figuration towards languages close to informalism and material abstraction. He is represented in institutions such as the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, the MNAC, the MACBA, the British Museum and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.