A painter, printmaker, illustrator, stage designer and poster maker, Clavé’s sheer versatility and his incursions in cinema and theatre made him extremely hard to classify as an artist. Firmly believing that talent is as important as skill, for him matter, technique and language were one indivisible whole.

After meeting Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) in 1944 in Paris the two became close friends. However, Picasso’s influence was not to affect Clavé’s technique or style as much as his attitude. As in the case of the master from Malaga, searching for and exploring new materials and techniques was a constant in Clavé’s practice.

In the 1980s, the artist created a series of works under the generic title A don Pablo in tribute to Picasso. In this specific case, Clavé uses to construct a quasi-abstract still life with subtle references to guitars, harking back to Picasso’s cubist period. Thus, in this work, is both technique and theme.

Papers, textiles, a fragment of a print... all those elements are glued on a canvas, manipulated and altered to give shape to this superb composition. This work contains not only drawing, and painting but also printmaking, a medium in which Clavé excelled.

The pared-down, restrained palette of black, red, blue and earthy tones on view here is a constant across his oeuvre.