Description
Artist: Joan Miro
Medium: Lithograph Limited Edition
Title: Series 1, Red and Green
Size: 26" x 39.5"
Year: 1961
Edition: Limited HC hors commerce impression aside from the edition of 75
Literature: Mourlot, 278
Condition: Perfect condition with no flaws to speak of.
Includes: Print, new framing, gallery certificate of authenticity.
First to meet our bottom line will take this gorgeous piece home.
Although he started his experiments in lithography already in 1929, it was only after the Second World War that Joan Miro further developed this printmaking technique. In the late 1940s, he returned to live in Barcelona and made regular trips to Paris, primarily to explore printing techniques at the Mourlot Studios and Atelier Lacouriere. Mourlot Studios was one of the most renowned Parisian printmaking ateliers at the time, dedicated to high quality prints, a place where the original art poster was born. A close friendship Miro formed with Fernand Mourlot had effect on his production of prints, and the Spanish artist made over one thousand different editions of lithographs over the years.
The piece on offer here is entitled “Series 1, Red and Green”, indicating its affiliation with a particular series made in 1961 in Mourlot Studios. Mostly abstract, which reflects the artist’s free thinking of the era, this particular lithograph explores contrasting colors depicted with free forms, against a clear, achromatic focal point. Texture of the paper supports the coloristic experiment, while the piece remains one of the rare testimonies of Miro’s experimental genius.
About Joan Miro
Closely connected to the original Surrealist movement, Joan Miro is today revered for his unique pictorial vocabulary and invigorating originality of style in both painting and printmaking.
Born in Spain in 1893 in a family of craftsmen, Miro was almost predetermined to become an artist. His initial artistic education in Barcelona preceded the big move to Paris the 26-year-old artist undertook in 1919. Life in Paris was difficult for artists at the time, but these hard times might have influenced the young painter’s imagination and pushed him towards invention of the visual language known to wide audiences today.
It was in Paris, where Joan Miro befriended Andre Breton, hence the association with the Surrealist group, even though the artist never officially joined the group. He had staged a solo exhibition in the early 1920s and had participated in group displays, but success seemed to have omitted Miro in his early years. Nevertheless, his career started to flourish during the 1930s, introducing a prolific period that lasted until his death.
Playful, filled with movement and color, linear, even childish are some of the first associations arisen from contemplation of Joan Miro’s art. Right from the beginning, he abandoned the traditions of painting and started creating works driven with pure energy and “fire of the soul”, all executed with great care and perfectionism. A pioneer of Automatism, Miro explored the depths of human mind through art, using color and form to describe imaginary shapes he invented. His compositions are delicate, elaborate and filled with various abstract and associative elements, featuring motifs such as eyes, insectoid creatures, birds, and the frail moon. Miro’s poetic style is highly recognizable and praised throughout the history of art and it had notable influence on Abstract Expressionism and the Color Field Painting in the post-war period.
Joan Miro died in Palma de Mallorca, Spain in 1983.