Lot 29
  • 29

Joán Miró

Estimate
700,000 - 1,000,000 USD
Log in to view results
bidding is closed

Description

  • Joan Miró
  • L'Oiseau déploie son beau plumage
  • Signed Miró (lower right); dated 1952 and titled on the stretcher
  • Oil on canvas
  • 8 5/8 by 4 7/8 in.
  • 21.9 by 12.4 cm

Provenance

Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York

Dorothy and Marshall M. Reisman, New York (acquired from the above in 1957 and sold from the Estate: Christie's, New York, November 3, 2009, lot 13)

Acquired at the above sale

Literature

Jacques Dupin, Miró, New York, 1962, no. 797, illustrated p. 560

Jacques Dupin & Ariane Lelong-Mainaud, Joan Miró, Catalogue Raisonné, Paintings, vol. 3, Paris, 2001, no. 915, illustrated p. 192

Condition

In very good condition. Original canvas. Canvas is slightly dirty. There are two pinhead sized brown stains at the center of the right edge. Under UV light, no inpainting is apparent.
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

L'Oiseau déploie son beau plumage is a jewel-like example of Miró's work following World War II. In the early 1940s Miró had created his now famous Constellations series. This suite, combined with his one-man show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1941, a retrospective exhibition at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in 1945, and his first exhibition with Galerie Maeght in Paris in 1946, illustrate how rich this period was for Miró.

Women, stars, and birds formed a central part of what has been described as Miró's poetic or sign language. His interest in primitive art as well as art theory and anthropology contributed to his pictorial language. Sidra Stich expands on Miró's use of symbols: "In many of Miró's paintings created after the 'Constellation' series, the sign language is presented in a most direct and reduced form... In a statement to his friend, the poet Paul Eluard, Miró expressly declared that he considered such images as 'his alphabet of basic language.' Thus he himself established a 'language' context for such imagery and clarified a creative approach based on primal sign forms... Miró's personalization of a sign language gives his art its uniqueness and appeal... Ultimately it was his ability to combine both a playful and serious spirit, and to produce an imagery which is at once visually and mentally provocative, which establishes the excellence of his art" (S. Stich, Joan Miró: The Development of a Sign Language (exhibition catalogue), Washington University Gallery of Art, St. Louis & The David and Alfred Smart Gallery, The University of Chicago, Chicago, 1980, p. 58). 

In L'Oiseau déploie son beau plumage, none of the figures are fixed in space - movement and possibility proliferate the canvas. The mystical possibilities that are associated with Miro's finest works are presented here in precise detail.