Antoni Clavé

Acquired directly from the artist by the parents of the present owner
Thence by descent to the present owner

The authenticity of this work has kindly been confirmed by Nathalie Clavé

"The sharpest feature of Clavé’s personality was defined in 1949. The incorporation of line-colour, acting in perfect harmony, freed the artist from a tightly imposed discipline. In a maximum effort of liberation, the surface becomes volume and the transparencies change to outlines which give the effect of space. His palette becomes a kaleidoscope and his syncopated forms are split up by a rose window." (Jean Cassou, Antoni Clavé, Barcelona 1960, p. 23)

The present work was acquired in Paris in 1949 directly from the artist and importantly presages his acclaimed work of the 1950’s depicting musicians. Clavé was passionate about music and his breakthrough artistic success followed his initial stage designs for the Ballet de Paris during the late 1940’s, notably Carmen in 1949. The harlequin costume beautifully rendered in the present work appears regularly in his stage designs from this period and Harlequin with Guitar can be seen as a descendent from his early experiences of the vibrant Parisian arts-scene, and his lifelong passion for music.

Clavé combines the Spanish instinct of his childhood with the colourist finesse of his French influences, particularly Edouard Vuillard and Pierre Bonnard. Harlequin with Guitar is endorsed by the artist’s passionate opera of arresting tones and forms, seemingly detached from the figurative whole as they delight the viewer in their plastic drama.

Strumming the guitar and gazing beyond the viewer into space, the geometric ensemble of forms combine to create a figure of outstanding poise and elegance, rendered by Clavé’s bold line and pronounced juxtaposition of strong colours. "He achieved acclaim by his subtle balancing of shapes in colours that are often delicate, but more often sumptuously fervent – passionate as medieval stained glass – as he exploits, within the allotted space of the canvas, harmonic and rhythmic relationships. Clavé becomes synonymous with colour. There are the pure and velvety blacks, in which the composition is often embedded, as shapes, strongly lit or dark, enshrouded by a starless night. Small patches of white are often the focal point. The flaming reds, romantic blues, poisonous greens are of a strength and luminosity that pulls the beholder into the vortex of the maelstrom" (Dr. Alfred Werner in Exhibition Catalogue, New York, Weintraub Gallery, Clavé, 1974)