Robert Harvey: An American artist in the Axarquía

Calle Roberto Harvey in Macharaviaya is named after the American artist who called the small Axarquía village home for many years until his death in May 2004.

Although his name was Robert Harvey, somewhere along the line it was decided to give the long, winding street that starts in the centre of the village and winds out to the southeast, the Spanish version of the name, Roberto.

The exhibition space at Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria primary school in nearby Benagalbón is also named after Harvey. The school website explains that the space was, "named in honour of the great person, great artist and great friend of the school."

There's also a Malaga-based artists' association called 'Asociación de Amigos de Robert Harvey - Huerta Del Angel', who have been organising events to celebrate the centenary of the artist's birth - he was born on 16 September 1924 in Lexington, North Carolina.

In fact there is currently an exhibition at the village's Museo de los Gálvez featuring work from Harvey's own private collection. The exhibition runs until 29 September.

Through this association and indeed the people who knew him in Macharaviaya, Harvey's legacy is still very much alive in the province. For the last 16 years a meeting has been held in Macharaviaya every June, during which works by Malaga artists are exhibited and then auctioned.

Robert Harvey always maintained a deep connection to Macharaviaya where he used his art as a tool to document everyday life and capture the essence of the village.

His work has been published in internationally renowned magazines and exhibited in prestigious art galleries around the world, earning him the recognition and respect of his peers and critics far beyond his beloved Macharaviaya.