N08790

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Lot 344
  • 344

Joan Miró

Estimate
120,000 - 180,000 USD
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Description

  • Joan Miró
  • Figure
  • Inscribed Miró, numbered 4/4 and stamped with the foundry mark Clementi Cire Perdue
  • Bronze
  • Height: 27 1/4 in.
  • 69.2 cm

Provenance

Galerie Maeght, Paris
Lillian Heidenberg Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above

Literature

Sculptures de Miró, céramiques de Miró et Llorens Artigas (exhibition catalogue), Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, 1973, no. 105, illustration of another cast p. 83
Alain Jouffroy & Joan Teixidor, Miró Sculptures, Paris, 1974, no. 156, illustration of another cast p. 112
Miró: Cent Sculptures, 1962-1978 (exhibition catalogue), Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris, 1978, no. 59, illustration of another cast p. 59
Miró in Montreal (exhibition catalogue), The Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, 1986, no. 63, illustration of another cast pp. 126 & 251
Joan Miró: Métamorphoses des formes (exhibition catalogue), Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, 2001, no. 97, illustration of another cast p. 139
Emilio Fernández Miró & Pilar Ortega Chapel, Joan Miró, Sculptures.  Catalogue raisonné, 1928-1982, Paris, 2006, no. 185, illustrations of another cast p. 186

Condition

Crisp cast, in very good condition with a pleasant variegated brown/green patina. There is some minor surface dirt and a tiny patina loss just below figure’s left arm (the jug’s handle). There are tiny losses to the patina, on the jug just above the spout. Tiny spot of oxidization to upper right of figure’s left eye. Minor surface dirt, nicks and scratches, but otherwise fine.
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.

Catalogue Note

The majority of Miró's late sculptures are assemblages of found objects which the artist 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', Miró in America (exhibition catalogue), Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1982, p. 111). 

 

The present work illustrates Miró's capacity to eschew convention and create a truly unique composition out of individually mundane objects including a jug, two disks and a small decorative metal element, probably for hanging curtains. The touch of the artist's hand lingers in the incised facial features, as well as the whimsical inclusion of an étoile, reminiscent of Miró's celebrated Constellation series (see fig. 1). The recognizable nature of the component parts instills the work with seldom visible vestiges of the creative process.  As a result, Figure 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.

 

Figure is a particularly rare form, no example of which has appeared at auction for several decades, and the present cast boasts an exceptionally rich and vibrant green and brown patina.

 

Fig. 1 Another view of the present work.