Joan Miró

JOAN MIRÓ I FERRÀ (Barcelona, 1893 – Palma de Mallorca, 1983).
“Hommage a Joan Miró,” 1973.
Etching and carborundum print on paper, H.C. edition.
Signed and numbered by hand.
With a dry stamp from the printer J.J. Torralba and a transparency from the publisher Sala Gaspar.
Edition of 275 copies, all numbered H.C.
Published by Sala Gaspar.
Listed in the catalog raisonné, Jacques Dupin, “Miró the Printmaker, Vol. III: 1973–1975,” no. 868, p. 190.
Measurements: 68.5 x 49 cm (image size); 77 x 57 cm (paper size).

Created in 1973, this print was published by Sala Gaspar in Barcelona to mark the 80th anniversary of Joan Miró’s birth. It features an evocative composition that appears to be inspired by microscopic life. The white lines against the black background seem to take on a life of their own, creating an almost alien world. Flashes of blue and red burst forth in certain areas, heightening the sense of mystery.

Joan Miró trained in Barcelona, attending both the Escuela de la Lonja and the Academia Galí. As early as 1918, he held his first exhibition at the Galerías Dalmau in Barcelona. In 1920, he moved to Paris and met Picasso, Raynal, Max Jacob, Tzara, and the Dadaists. There, under the influence of Surrealist poets and painters, his style began to mature; he sought to translate Surrealist poetry into visual art, drawing on memory, fantasy, and the irrational. From this point on, his style began an evolution that led him toward more ethereal works, in which organic forms and figures were reduced to abstract points, lines, and patches of color. In 1924, he signed the first Surrealist manifesto, although the evolution of his work—which was far too complex—prevented him from being classified under any specific orthodoxy. His third exhibition in Paris, in 1928, marked his first major triumph: the Museum of Modern Art in New York acquired two of his works. He returned to Spain in 1941, and that same year the museum dedicated a retrospective to him, which marked his definitive international recognition. During the 1950s, he experimented with other artistic media, such as engraving, lithography, and ceramics. From 1956 until his death in 1983, he lived in Palma de Mallorca in a sort of self-imposed exile, even as his international fame grew. Throughout his life, he received numerous awards, including the Grand Prizes at the 1954 Venice Biennale and from the Guggenheim Foundation in 1959, the Carnegie Prize for Painting in 1966, the Gold Medals from the Generalitat of Catalonia (1978) and the Fine Arts Academy (1980), and he was awarded honorary doctorates by Harvard University and the University of Barcelona. Today, his works can be viewed at the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona, which opened in 1975, as well as in major contemporary art museums around the world, such as the Thyssen-Bornemisza, MoMA in New York, the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, the National Gallery in Washington, the MNAM in Paris, and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo.