Joan Miró

Galerie Lelong, Paris

Gallery Palaires, Palma de Mallorca

Acquired from the above in 1999

A. Jouffroy & J. Teixidor, Miró Sculptures,Paris, 1980, no. 119, p. 74

F. Basile, Joan Miró, Bologna, 1997, p. 229, illustration of another cast in color

Jacques Dupin, Miró, Paris, 2004, no. 401, illustration of another cast p. 374

Emilio Fernádez Miró & Pilar Ortega Chapel, Joan Miró, Sculptures : Catalogue raisonné, 1928-1982, Paris, 2006, no. 137, p. 146, illustration of another cast in color

Excellent condition. The bronze displays a uniform black patina and is structurally sound. No significant scratches or abrasions were noted on the surface.
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Working with found objects was a common practice among the Surrealists, and Miró seized upon this means of creative expression with fervor.  The act of creating beauty and investing new life into the inanimate had overtly divine connotations, especially when executed on a grand scale.  The present sculpture ─ its elegant swells, concaves and indentations ─  is a superb example of the aesthetic potential of Miró's endeavor.

Jacques Dupin explained Miró's approach to creating these sculptures: "These works began with Miró slipping out of his studio, unseen, only to return with an impromptu harvest of objects ─ his bounty ─ without value or use, but susceptible, in his view, of combinations and surprising metamorphoses.  all of these objects had been abandoned, thrown away or forgotten by nature and man alike, and Miró recognized them as his own....  For Miró, all paths were strewn with such marvelous nothings, all of life's refuse remained alive." (Jacques Dupin, op. cit., p. 374).

 

Miro cast this sculpture in bronze at the Susse foundry in Paris in an edition of six.  According to the catalogue raisonné, other casts of this work belong to the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles and Beverly Wilshire Properties, Los Angeles.