A great exhibition to do justice to Antoni Clavé

BarcelonaAntoni Clavé (1913-2005) went into exile in France in 1939 in one of the Assault Guards' trucks, and never returned to Catalonia. However, he never stopped being "the kid from Valldonzella Street." This is how Núria Ridameya, the deputy director of the Joan Gaspar gallery, who represented Clavé in Barcelona, ​​​​on the occasion of the great exhibition that the Palau Martorell is dedicated to him from this Friday until November 16, coinciding with the twentieth anniversary of the death of the Barcelona artist.

Clavé was credited with a legendary poster of Hitler, Franco, and Mussolini dropping bombs from a balloon with the slogan "Sent from Heaven," so he thought twice before returning to Barcelona during the Franco regime. "He would come to El Masnou occasionally to spend a short summer, but he didn't return until he had papers and was somewhat certain that he wouldn't go to prison," says Ridameya, who explains that it was Clavé who introduced Picasso to the Gaspars. "Clavé met Picasso when he arrived in Paris in 1939, and their friendship deepened around 1944. Clavé was 31 years old, and his life changed because Picasso gave him a lot of confidence and allowed him to believe that he could make a living as an artist in Spain at a particularly difficult time," Antoni Clavé Archives in Paris and curator of the exhibition with Josep Fèlix Bentz, co-founder of the Palau Martorell and president of the Real Círculo Artístico.

When democracy returned, he received some recognition, including representing Spain in the Spanish pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 1984, one of whose major works can be seen in the main hall of the Palau Martorell. "Clavé had a very good relationship with Pasqual Maragall, who went to see him in Sant Tropetz, and when the project for the Antoni Clavé Room at the Palau de la Generalitat came up, we accompanied him to see the then Minister of Culture, Francesc Guitart. This entire space with this wonderful work was practically a donation," says Ridameya.

"He lived in Paris, but his heart really was set on Barcelona. And on Barça," emphasizes Ridameya. Regarding Clavé, the gallery owner recalls that he sent her a shirt signed by Luis Figo, who had bought a painting from him at another gallery, and when Clavé found out, he sent her a dedicated catalog. Furthermore, the way Clavé came to know the Gaspar family was curious: he contacted them not on his own, but because he was looking for a gallery for his mother, the self-taught painter Maria Sanmartí, to whom the Palau Foundation dedicated an exhibition last year.

However, Clavé's legacy had been somewhat forgotten. His last major exhibition in Barcelona was at La Pedrera in 1997, and when Ferran Mascarell was the Minister of Culture, he did not move forward with the project for a major Clavé exhibition at the MNAC sponsored by the artist's family. Thus, the exhibition at the Palau Martorell, entitled I nailed it with capital letters, is an act of justice. After La Pedrera, this is once again a private initiative, by the Joan Gaspar gallery and the Clavé Archives in Paris, although it has the support of the Department of the Presidency and the Department of Justice and Democratic Quality of the Generalitat (Catalan Government), Barcelona City Council, and the Barcelona Provincial Council. "Clavé is a figure who has been essential to understanding the history of 20th-century art internationally," says Bentz. "The city of Barcelona owed Clavé a debt, and too many years had passed since the last major exhibition. Now we have been able to settle this debt and put it where it belongs," he explains.

An exhibition with two venues

The exhibition includes some 85 works, some of which have left their owners' homes for the first time. It continues at the Royal Artistic Circle, of which Clavé was a member since 1934, where sculptures and works on paper can be seen. The tour is organized chronologically and geographically into five sections corresponding to Barcelona, ​​Paris, Venice, Japan, and the United States. And at the heart of the ground floor, outside the sections, are three works that Clavé made to pay homage to Picasso, El Greco, and Antoni Gaudí, respectively, with the circus painting. Roulette, a version ofThe knight with his hand on his chest (a painting that obsessed him) and a tapestry made with a mosaic of fabrics evocative of the fragile Gaudí style.

On the ground floor, the tour continues with paintings of Parisian kings and warriors. "It's worth noting that, although he excelled in France, his collectors were Catalan," says Hendgen. Upstairs, you can see the monumental paintings he made specifically for the Venice Biennale and those he made for Barça. Also on display are paintings from Japan, where he explored the play between fullness and emptiness and the use of hankos, that is, personalized wooden stamps. "These works are very interesting because they show Clavé as an artist who accepts the challenge of continually reinventing himself," explains the curator. And of the New York paintings in the final two galleries, she emphasizes "the youth and dynamism" of an artist who, despite being nearly 80 years old, absorbed what he saw on the streets and introduced elements of urban art into his work. In this space, the monumental triptych owned by Barcelona City Council can be seen for the second time outside the city hall. The central section recalls the 14-meter-high sculpture by Clavé in Barcelona's Ciutadella Park. Admission to the Palau Martorell includes both venues and the possibility of visiting the Antoni Clavé Room at the Palacio de la Generalitat on certain dates, upon prior registration.

The Clavé man of the stage

Clavé's relationship with the Gaspars took shape, within the same lineage of gallery owners, first at the Sala Gaspar and later at the Joan Gaspar Gallery. Coinciding with this exhibition, the Joan Gaspar Gallery has opened another exhibition on the work that Clavé carried out in the world of the performing arts and cinema during a very brief period in his career, between 1946 and 1953, which he later abandoned to dedicate himself to painting. Nevertheless, he also triumphed in this field, and was nominated for an Oscar for the sets and costumes ofThe magnificent Andersen, directed by Charles Vidor. "He was a revolutionary," says Ridameya.

One of the highlights of the gallery exhibition is a play corresponding to the second act of Don Perlimplin, and you can also see 19 figurines corresponding to productions among which is this same work, The whims, Carmen, Ballabile, The Marriage of Figaro and Duel in 24 ivies. Poster projects and the curtain design for the ballet are also on display. Carmen, as well as several figurines and sketches of the stage designs for this same ballet, and The Marriage of Figaro and Duel in 24 ivies. You can also watch recordings of some of these shows.