José Luis Rey Vila’s powerful sketches of street battles and wearied soldiers brought the conflict to the world. A new show in Barcelona celebrates his overlooked legacy
Pablo Picasso may be the artist most famously associated with the Spanish civil war, but as the rifles fired in revolutionary Catalonia, it was those on the frontlines who first captured the conflict. One of the most important was José Luis Rey Vila, whose sketches brought the rhythms of war to life in bold, blocky lines with splashes of intense colour.