Mati Klarwein

Painter whose works were used on many album covers. Miles Davis' 'Bitches Brew' and 'Live-Evil', Santana's 'Abraxas', Eric Dolphy's 'Iron Man', Earth, Wind & Fire's 'Last Days and Time', The Last Poets' 'This Is Madness', Jon Hassell's 'Fourth World', Per Tjernberg's 'Universal Riddim', and many more.

Klarwein was born in 1932, in Hamburg, Germany. His family was Jewish and they fled to Israel when he was two years old after the rise of Hitler. In 1948 his family moved to Paris, Where he attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts & studied with Fernand Leger. He traveled to Saint-Tropez and met Ernst Fuchs, who would have a profound influence on him. Leaving France in the 1950s, Klarwein traveled widely and lived in many different countries, including Tibet, India, Bali, North Africa, Turkey and the Americas. He eventually settled in New York City in the early 1960s.

Most of Klarwein’s work is inspired by surrealism and pop culture, but also reflects his interest in non-Western deities, psychedelic, symbolism, and landscapes.

Klarwein added “Abdul” (which means “servant” in Arabic) to his name in the late 1950s. He had a theory that if every Israeli had an Arab name & vice versa, there will be peace. As a result, on some releases his name appears Abdul Mati.

Klarwein is still best known for his art of the 1960s and 1970s, with its clear links to surrealism. He died of cancer on March 7th, 2002 in Deià, on the island of Majorca, Spain.