PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR
Lot 39
JOAN MIRÓ(1893-1983)Le Banquet
6 December 2022, 14:00 EST
New YorkUS$180,000 - US$220,000
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Preeya Franklin
Senior Specialist
Flannery Gallagher
Cataloguer
Emily Wilson
Specialist/Head of Sale
JOAN MIRÓ (1893-1983)
Le Banquet
signed 'Miró.' (lower right); signed again and dated 'Miró. 23/9/54.' (verso)
watercolor over blackstone lithograph on paper
16 5/8 x 25 7/16 in (42.2 x 64.6 cm)
Executed on September 23, 1954
signed 'Miró.' (lower right); signed again and dated 'Miró. 23/9/54.' (verso)
watercolor over blackstone lithograph on paper
16 5/8 x 25 7/16 in (42.2 x 64.6 cm)
Executed on September 23, 1954
Footnotes
The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by ADOM.
Provenance
Michel Tériade Collection, Paris (acquired in 1966).
Private collection, Florida (acquired from the above; their sale, Sotheby's, New York, November 11, 1999, lot 369).
Howard Russeck Fine Art, Palm Beach (acquired at the above sale).
Private collection, New York (acquired from the above in 1999; their sale, Sotheby's, New York, November 7, 2013, lot 332).
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.
Literature
A. Jarry, Ubu Roi, Paris, 1966 (illustrated).
Exh. cat., Miró, L'Oeuvre graphique, Paris & Lisbon, 1974 (a printed color proof illustrated p. 122).
J. Texidor, Joan Miró: Lithographs, vol. III, 1964-1969, Paris, 1977 (the printed black and white and color proofs illustrated p. 89).
P. Cramer, Joan Miró: The Illustrated Books Catalogue Raisonné, Geneva, 1989 (a printed color proof illustrated p. 277).
Exh. cat., Ubu cent ans de règne, Paris, 1989 (a printed color proof illustrated p. 42).
"Since his childhood, Miró had been fascinated by Ubu Roi, and the entirety of Jarry's work. This was a site where Miró felt at home, where he could rediscover himself and bring Jarry's characters to life – in their roles within accusatory farces – through a great number of drawings and sketches"
- Jacques Dupin quoted in Miró, New York, 1993, p. 426.
The present work is one of a set of thirteen hand-colored presentation proofs which Joan Miró executed in 1954 to illustrate Alfred Jarry's play Ubu Roi. The set was published by Michel Tériade in 1966 and immediately entered Tériade's private collection. The play Ubu Roi was written in the late nineteenth century and was a source of fascination for many Surrealists; it is recognized as one of the first theatrical Symbolist farces, taunting both art and civilization. Miró's illustrations were largely inspired by the play's script; his whimsical motifs and fantastical colors used in the present work appear more like stage backdrops than drawings. As described by Patrick Cramer, "Here, contrary to his usual practice, the artist illustrated the text as if he were staging the play, following it to the very letter" (P. Cramer in Joan Miró: The Illustrated Books Catalogue Raisonné, Geneva, 1989, p. 11).