PROPERTY OF A NEW YORK COLLECTOR
Lot 33
JOAN MIRÓ(1893-1983)Figure
6 December 2022, 14:00 EST
New YorkUS$100,000 - US$150,000
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Preeya Franklin
Senior Specialist
Flannery Gallagher
Cataloguer
Emily Wilson
Specialist/Head of Sale
JOAN MIRÓ (1893-1983)
Figure
signed, numbered and stamped with the foundry mark 'Miró 2 Clementi Cire Perdue' (on the back)
bronze with brown and green patina
25 13/16 in (65.5 cm) (length)
Conceived and cast in 1972. This bronze version in an edition of 2 plus 1 nominative cast
signed, numbered and stamped with the foundry mark 'Miró 2 Clementi Cire Perdue' (on the back)
bronze with brown and green patina
25 13/16 in (65.5 cm) (length)
Conceived and cast in 1972. This bronze version in an edition of 2 plus 1 nominative cast
Footnotes
Provenance
Galerie Adrien Maeght, Paris.
The Pace Gallery, New York, no. 11181.
Michael Ovitz Collection, Beverly Hills (acquired from the above in 1985); his sale,
Christie's, New York, November 7, 2002, lot 338.
Keny Galleries, Columbus (acquired at the above sale).
Alvin J. Myerberg Collection, Baltimore.
Thence by descent; their sale, Brunk Auctions, Asheville, March 10 - 11, 2012, lot 360.
Acquired by the present owner in 2012.
Exhibited
New York, The Pace Gallery, Miró Sculpture, April 27 – June 9, 1984.
Literature
Musée national d'art moderne & Fondation Maeght (eds.), Miró, cent sculptures 1962–1978, exh. cat., Paris, 1978 (another cast illustrated p. 71).
A. Jouffroy & J. Teixidor, Miró Sculptures, Paris, 1980, no. 221 (another cast illustrated p. 153).
J-L Prat, Joan Mirò, Le metamorfosi della forma, exh. cat., Florence, 1999 (another cast illustrated p. 131).
Fondation Maeght (ed.), Joan Miró: Métamorphoses des formes, Collection de la Fondation Maeght, exh. cat., Saint-Paul, 2001 (another cast illustrated p. 82).
E.F. Miró & P.O. Chapel, Joan Miró, Sculptures. Catalogue Raisonné, 1928 - 1982, Paris, 2006, no. 282 (plaster version illustrated p. 270).
Exh. cat., Miró Sculpteur, Paris, 2011 (another cast illustrated p. 69).
Both conceived and cast in 1972, this whimsical sculpture combines the Surrealist objet trouvé practice with the traditional material of bronze. With a tea kettle for a body and three shoes protruding from its side and head, Figure is an enigmatic and charming example of Joan Miró's bronze sculptures. The head of the figure is affixed to the top of the tea kettle, one side with a complex textured surface, the other with receding and bulging facial features. One eye is a simple hole while the other pops out; multiple forms are attached to the face, and the mouth is open in an expression of comical surprise. Miró's paintings are often composed of floating creatures and forms, and his sculptures offer a similar aesthetic in a directly concrete manner, bringing his hybridized figures into our physical reality. Fully exploring the medium, Miró plays with all three dimensions, creating contrasts of space and texture in a variety of concave and convex forms. Casting ephemeral found objects into bronze sculptures, he also elevates prosaic items in a formal and permanent material, a monument to the beauty and absurdity encountered in daily life. The nominative cast from this edition is held in the permanent collection of Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul.