Joan MIRO

Stencil, 1959

Publisher : Pierre Matisse (New York)

Printer : Mourlot (Paris)

Catalog : [Cramer p. 166]

Image dimensions : 43.30 cm. x 35.70 cm. (17.05 in. x 14.06 in.)

Paper dimensions : 43.30 cm. x 35.70 cm. (17.05 in. x 14.06 in.)

Signed on the plate
Certificate of authenticity
Very good condition

According to Miro, signed on the plate
on the reverse: “L'oiseau migrateur,” Palma de majorque, May 26, 1941

This beautiful plate, was extract from the mythical series of Constellations, composed of 23 gouaches on paper painted by Miro in 1940 and 1941 in Varangeville-sur-Mer (Normandy) and Palma de Mallorca (balearic islands), two places where the artist fled Paris and the war. A mythical series because Miro, contrary to his habit, cut himself off from the world and refocused on his inner life, listening to a lot of classical music and resourcing himself. The result is breathtaking in its balance, rhythm and dynamics. The series is one of the most sought-after works by collectors. The MoMA in NYC owns the complete series.
Miro worked with gouache on paper because of the lack of materials during the war, but also because he liked this technique, which he felt encouraged spontaneity.
He prepares the background by soaking it in petrol, which allows a dilution effect to evoke the infinity of the sky, which will fascinate him all his life. Then, the improvisation of the characters, here, acrobatic dancers, whose flight and dynamics are felt.
Pierre Matisse, son of the painter, was Miro's gallery owner in the United States from 1932. He is at the origin of this project of diffusion of the Constellations. Project carried out in the Ateliers Mourlot, under the direction of Daniel Jacomet, irreproachable with the technique. The role of Pierre Matisse in this adventure of passage was the subject of a beautiful exhibition in Nice in 2021: "Pierre Matisse, an art dealer in New York".

Ref : LCD8181