Joan Miró

Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York
Acquavella Galleries, New York
Private Collection, Caracas
Private Collection, United States (acquired from the above)

Munich, Haus der Kunst, Joan Miró, 1969, no. 209, another cast exhibited
New York, Pierre Matisse Gallery, Miró: Sculpture in Bronze and Ceramic, 1967-1969, and Recent Etchings and Lithographs, 1970, no. 21, illustrated in the catalogue

Miró (exhibition catalogue), Antic Hospital de la Santa Creu, Barcelona, 1968, no. 207, illustration of another cast p. 74
Recent Etchings and Lithographs (exhibition catalogue), Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, 1970, no. 21, illustration of another cast
Roland Penrose, Miró, London, 1970, no. 112, illustration of another cast p. 148
James J. Sweeney, Francesc Català-Roca, Joaquim Gomis & Joan Prats, Joan Miró, Barcelona, 1970, color illustration of another cast p. 195
Miró Sculptures (exhibition catalogue), Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland & The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 1971-72, no. 62, illustration of another cast
Joan Miró: Das Plastische Werk (exhibition catalogue), Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich, 1972, no. 49, illustration of another cast
Jacques Dupin, Miró Escultor, Barcelona, 1972, illustration of another cast p. 128
Sculptures de Miró, céramiques de Miró et Llorens Artigas (exhibition catalogue), Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, 1973, no. 67, illustration of another cast p. 70
Pintura, escultura i sobreteixims de Miró a la Fundació (exhibition catalogue), Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, 1975, no. 199, illustration of another cast
Joan Miró (exhibition catalogue), Musée national d’art moderne, Paris, 1978, no. 29, illustration of another cast p. 26
Alain Jouffroy & Joan Teixidor, Miró Sculptures, Paris, 1980, no. 92, illustration of another cast p. 48
Miró escultor (exhibition catalogue), Sala de Exposiciones del Centro de Servicios de la Caja de Pensiones "la Caixa," Barcelona, 1980, no. 11, illustration of another cast
Hommage à Joan Miró (exhibition catalogue), Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, 1984, no. 117, illustration of another cast
Miró: scuptures and prints (exhibition catalogue), The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1984, no. 16, illustration of another cast p. 20
The Touch of Dreams: Joan Miró ceramics and bronzes, 1949-1980 (exhibition catalogue), Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, Norwich, 1985, no. 15, illustration of another cast p. 53
Joan Miró (exhibition catalogue), Musée des beaux-arts de Montreal, Montreal, 1986, no. 26, illustration of another cast pp. 93 & 224
Miró escultor (exhibition catalogue), Centro Reina Sofia, Madrid, 1986-87, no. 14, illustration of another cast p. 57
Miró der Bildhauer (exhibition catalogue), Museum Ludwig, Cologne, 1987, no. 14, illustration of another cast p. 67
Miró en las colecciones del estado (exhibition catalogue), Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, 1987, no. 69, illustration of another cast p. 84
Hubertus Gassner, Miró: Gemälde, Plastiken, Zeichnungen und Graphik: Werke aus den Kunstsammlungen des spanischen Staates (exhibition catalogue), Schirn-Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, 1988, no. 69, illustration of another cast p. 100
Fundació Joan Miró, Obra de Joan Miró, Barcelona, 1988, no. 1493, illustration of another cast p. 406
Peter A Ade, Joan Miró, Skulpturen (exhibition catalogue), Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturestiftung, Munich, 1990, no. 26, illustration of another cast
L’avantguarda de l’escultura catalane (exhibition catalogue), Llonga, Palma, 1990, no. 6, illustration of another cast p. 75
Joan Miró (exhibition catalogue), Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1994, no. 20, illustration of another cast p. 303
Rosa Maria Malet, Miró matière et couleur (exhibition catalogue), Musée Olympique, Lausanne, 1994, no. 17, illustration of another cast p. 74
Jean-Louis Prat, Miró (exhibition catalogue), Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Martigny, 1997, no. 17, illustration of another cast p. 179
Joan Miró: Le metamorfosi della forma, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 1999, illustration of another cast p. 142
Jean-Louis Prat, Miró: metamorphoses des formes: collection de la Fondation Maeght (exhibition catalogue), Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, 2001, no. 45, illustration of another cast pp. 95 & 223
Helene Smuts, The Magical Universe of Joan Miró: paintings, works on paper and scuptures (1942-1978), lithographs and etchings, paintings and poetry (1930-1976) (exhibition catalogue), Standard Bank Centre Art Gallery, Johannesburg, 2002, illustration of another cast p. 63
Timea Türk, Joan Miró: 1893-1983; a Madridi Centro de Arte Reina Sofía Nemzeti Múzeum gyüjteményéböl (exhibition catalogue), Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest, 2004, no. 1, illustration of another cast p. 81
Emilio Fernández Miró & Pilar Ortega Chapel, Joan Miró, Sculptures. Catalogue raisonné 1928-1982, Paris, 2006, no. 115, illustration of another cast p. 127

Work is in excellent condition. Textured and variegated green and brown patina. Surface is clean. Work is screwed to a wooden base on the underside.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Many of Miró's late sculptures are assemblages of found objects which he cast in bronze. According to Duncan Macmillan, "From these transformed objects, Miró produces personnages, women, birds, and combinations of all three. These new creations are invested with the mysterious animation of the artist's touch and yet retain an unbreakable link with the ordinary. They become a metaphor for the infinite variety and absolute peculiarity of human individuality" ("Miró's Public Art," in Miró in America (exhibition catalogue), The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1982, p. 111). 

The present work is unusual in that the bronze was cast from a unique ceramic which the artist executed entirely by hand, and it illustrates Miró’s capacity to break with convention and create a truly unique composition. The touch of the artist’s hand lingers on the rough, disproportionate and asymmetrical figure, instilling the work with seldom visible vestiges of the creative process. As a result, Femme is more than merely a final product of artistic vision; it is imbued with a character belonging to the realm somewhere between conception and execution. Like much of the artist’s work, the composition departs from representation and reality in an attempt to stimulate the imagination.

It is also worth noting that this is one of only three casts of this bronze remaining in private hands. Of the other three examples in public collections, one is now displayed at the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona, the second at the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul and the third at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid.