Joan Miró

Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York
Josep Lluís Sert, Boston
Thomas Ammann Fine Arts, Zurich
Dr Carlo F. Bilotti, New York
Sale: Christie's, New York, 3rd November 1993, lot 316
Purchased at the above sale by the late owner

New York, Pierre Matisse Gallery, Miró: oiseau solaire, oiseau lunaire, étincelles, 1967, illustrated in colour in the catalogue (titled Personnage et oiseau II and as oil and collage on paper)

Jacques Dupin & Ariane Lelong-Mainaud, Joan Miró, Catalogue Raisonne. Drawings, Paris, 2012, vol. III, no. 1831, illustrated in colour p. 104 (as dating from 17th July 1965)

Executed on thick white paper, not laid down, hinged to the mount on the reverse of the top two corners. There are artist's pinholes in all four corners and in the centre of the top edge. Apart from a horizontal repaired tear in the red area in the lower part of the right edge, this work is in very good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration, although the red and black are slightly softer in the original.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Personnage et oiseau dans la nuit II is a magnificent example of the collages that Miró created in 1965. By this time the artist had developed a unique poetic language, dominated by images of women, birds, stars, the moon, the sun, night and dusk. He first introduced the motif of a woman with a bird, in a realistic manner, in his paintings of 1917, but it was only after his celebrated Constellations series of 1941, in which women, birds and stars feature prominently, that this theme became the primary subject of his art. In the present composition Miró explored this iconography through the medium of collage, using negative spaces created by cut-out paper to arrive at this imagery. The central white shape, suggesting a highly abstracted human figure, is set against the black background, indicating the night sky filled with a moon and stars.

 

The present work first belonged to Miró’s New York dealer Pierre Matisse, who exhibited it in his gallery in 1967. It was subsequently acquired by the Catalan architect Josep Lluís Sert (1902-1983), whose circle of friends included not only Miró, but also Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall and a number of other modern artists. In the 1950s Sert designed Miró’s grand new studio in Palma de Mallorca, now Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró. Born, like Miró, in Barcelona, in 1937 Sert moved to Paris, where he designed the Spanish Pavilion for the World’s Fair of the same year. He invited his friends Miró, Picasso and Calder to contribute to the artistic content of the building, and Picasso’s Guernica quickly became the focal point of Sert’s pavilion. In 1939 he emigrated to the United States, where he held several prestigious teaching posts. During his time in America Sert continued to work on important architectural projects in Europe, including Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence and the Miró Foundation in Barcelona.