Antoni Clav

Born in Barcelona in 1913, Antoni Clav was first confronted by war in 1937. The theme of the warrior is found very early on in his art and is among the subjects that ensured him public recognition in Paris by 1958. In contact with the sculptures and African masks that he surrounded himself with in his ateliers, the figure of the warrior remained fundamental to Clavs work and haunted him his whole life. It was the artists favourite title and subject, and is an obsessive recurring image in Clavs sculptures, paintings, textile and wood assemblages through to the early 2000s. It is through the prism of the memory of African masks that this catalogue takes a new look at the art of Antoni Clav. Homage, admiration, appropriation, his connection to the arts of Africa is multiple. Clav takes up his artistic weaponry to assert his pictorial identity, which is one of absolute modernity, timeless and universal. Texts by: Franco Calarota, Illa Donwahi, Aude Hendgen, Sitor Senghor, Jos Corredor-Matheos Text in English and French.