Lot 3237 - Z41 Impressionist & Modern Art - Friday, 02. December 2016, 02.00 PM
JOAN MIRÓ
(Montroig 1893–1983 Palma de Mallorca)
Untitled. 1930.
Pencil on paper.
Dated and signed on the reverse: 11.11.1930 Joan Miró.
46 x 62 cm.
Provenance:
- Galerie Berggruen, Paris.
- Waddington Galleries, London.
- Forum Fine Art-Jacqueline Krotoschin, Zurich.
- Private collection, Zurich.
Literature:
- Colombia, Victoria: Picasso-Miró. Miradas cruzadas, Electa, Madrid 1998 Pl. 82, p. 96.
- Dupin, Jacques/Lelong-Mainaud Ariane: Joan Miró. Catalogue raisonné: Drawings 1901-1937, Paris 2008, vol. I, no. 348, p. 170-171 (with ill.).
Miró saw through a fundamental change in style and temporary shift to the Surrealists in the 1920s. In this he was strongly influenced by Paul Klee’s works and the bold and organic forms of Hans Arp. Miró developed his own, somewhat naive and distinctive pictorial language, which is greatly imbued with symbols and figurative pictographs, and which make his painting so unique. Miró spent the summer and part of the autumn of 1930 in Spain in the town of Montroig. Here he created two contrasting series of works: one, a series of wooden sculptures and the other, a series of several pencil drawings, to which the present work on paper belongs. In a letter to his friend Sebastiá Gasch, Miró wrote: "I am working very hard, and it is a shame it won't be possible for me to show you all these sculptures... but on the other hand, you will see the very large series of drawings which will also be something very important". ( Joan Miró, Exh. Cat., New York, 1993, p. 328). The striking simplicity and purity of form are indicative not only of Miró’s talent in drawing, but also provide insight into the artistic genius. The surreal form is executed with a perfect stroke of the pencil and yet the effect of the drawing is light and carefree. The friendly face appears to smile at the viewer and reflects Miró’s wellbeing, having recently married his great love Pilar Juncosa. Often Miró chooses a restrained artistic approach in his works by reducing them to black forms and in this case concentrating on pencil. Many of the works in this series show female figures or couples. In the present work Miró’s popular and much-used symbols also reappear. The eye is a symbol of sexuality and desire, probably with reference to his wife. Equally the bird, which Miró sees as the mainspring of his creative potential. The lightness, which is lost in Miró’s later work with the outbreak of the Spanish civil war, lends our sheet a positive and carefree quality, which is characteristic of early Miró.
- Galerie Berggruen, Paris.
- Waddington Galleries, London.
- Forum Fine Art-Jacqueline Krotoschin, Zurich.
- Private collection, Zurich.
Literature:
- Colombia, Victoria: Picasso-Miró. Miradas cruzadas, Electa, Madrid 1998 Pl. 82, p. 96.
- Dupin, Jacques/Lelong-Mainaud Ariane: Joan Miró. Catalogue raisonné: Drawings 1901-1937, Paris 2008, vol. I, no. 348, p. 170-171 (with ill.).
Miró saw through a fundamental change in style and temporary shift to the Surrealists in the 1920s. In this he was strongly influenced by Paul Klee’s works and the bold and organic forms of Hans Arp. Miró developed his own, somewhat naive and distinctive pictorial language, which is greatly imbued with symbols and figurative pictographs, and which make his painting so unique. Miró spent the summer and part of the autumn of 1930 in Spain in the town of Montroig. Here he created two contrasting series of works: one, a series of wooden sculptures and the other, a series of several pencil drawings, to which the present work on paper belongs. In a letter to his friend Sebastiá Gasch, Miró wrote: "I am working very hard, and it is a shame it won't be possible for me to show you all these sculptures... but on the other hand, you will see the very large series of drawings which will also be something very important". ( Joan Miró, Exh. Cat., New York, 1993, p. 328). The striking simplicity and purity of form are indicative not only of Miró’s talent in drawing, but also provide insight into the artistic genius. The surreal form is executed with a perfect stroke of the pencil and yet the effect of the drawing is light and carefree. The friendly face appears to smile at the viewer and reflects Miró’s wellbeing, having recently married his great love Pilar Juncosa. Often Miró chooses a restrained artistic approach in his works by reducing them to black forms and in this case concentrating on pencil. Many of the works in this series show female figures or couples. In the present work Miró’s popular and much-used symbols also reappear. The eye is a symbol of sexuality and desire, probably with reference to his wife. Equally the bird, which Miró sees as the mainspring of his creative potential. The lightness, which is lost in Miró’s later work with the outbreak of the Spanish civil war, lends our sheet a positive and carefree quality, which is characteristic of early Miró.
CHF 60 000 / 90 000 | (€ 61 860 / 92 780)
Sold for CHF 108 500 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.