Javier Clavo

JAVIER CLAVO (Madrid, 1918 - 1994).
"Laura".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower left corner.
With label on the back of the Biosca Gallery.
Measurements: 35 x 27 cm; 47,5 x 56 cm (frame).

Painter, fresquista, engraver and sculptor of self-taught formation, Javier Clavo spent his youth painting and frequenting the Circle of Fine Arts of Madrid, that will become his authentic artistic school. He also learned from the works of Goya and El Greco, especially his brushstrokes and his use of color. In 1930 he held his first exhibition, at the Vizcaino Gallery in Valencia, and five years later his visit to a Picasso exhibition made such an impression on him that it would determine his work from that moment on. In 1951 he moved to Italy, where he learned with Saetti the technique of fresco and, later, in Ravenna, that of mosaic. As a fresco artist he looked to the masters of the Italian Quattrocento, and produced important works such as the ceiling panels of the Albéniz theater in Madrid. In the sixties he joined the Estampa Popular group, through which he placed his work at the service of social criticism. Throughout his career he exhibited at the Museo de Arte Moderno and the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid and in galleries in other cities such as Valencia, Zaragoza, Barcelona and San Sebastián. Four years before his death, in 1990, the Centro Cultural de la Villa de Madrid held an anthological exhibition dedicated to his work, and after his death others were held, such as the anthological exhibition organized by the Diputación Provincial de Córdoba in 1999 or the retrospective held by Caja Madrid in 2003. He is currently represented at the MNCA Reina Sofía, among other Spanish museums.