Joan Miró

Description

This exhibition features the work of pioneer European modernist Joan Miró, one of the most influential artists of the twentieth-century. Highlighting the artist’s exploration of printmaking towards the end of his career, this exhibition will showcase approximately sixty works. Born in 1893 in Barcelona, Spain, Miró spent time at his parents’ country house in the small town of Montroig. Elements of the natural world, in particular animals, the stars, sun, moon, and sea, eventually became an important part of his work. As a young man he studied art in Barcelona, and moved to Paris in 1920. There, he was introduced to Surrealism, a literary and artistic movement that embraced dreams, irrational associations, and the subconscious as a source for creative inspiration. Like the Surrealists, Miró was stimulated by memories, and often reinterpreted his childhood experiences through whimsical imagery. Andre Breton, author of the First Surrealist Manifesto, proclaimed Miró “the most Surrealist of us all,” yet the artist refused to identify himself with one particular movement. In fact, his work reveals a wide range of influences including Cubism, Spanish folk art, and Romanesque fresco paintings.
The original prints in this exhibition feature sharply drawn lines, curlicues, and geometric shapes, accentuated with bold primary colors such as blue, red, black, and yellow. Many of the works portray the natural world filtered through a Surrealist lens, depicting abstract birds, disembodied faces, and amoebic forms. Highlights include works from the portfolio L'Enfance d'Ubu, which is based on Alfred Jarry’s 1896 absurdist play, Ubu Roi. The French playwright Jarry was known for mocking bourgeois society with his greedy, stupid protagonist Père Ubu. The title of Miró’s portfolio suggests that his prints explore the character’s childhood, a time of innocence that fascinated Miró and the Surrealists. Along with L’Enfance d’Ubu, the exhibition features lithographs produced as exhibition posters and portfolio covers. Viewed as a whole, these works enable us to better understand Miró’s fascination with overarching themes such as memory, childhood, and nature, and reveal his innovative blending of precision and spontaneity, and the rational and irrational. Joan Miró: Fantastic Universe is presented by Blair-Murrah, the service organization that provides a wide range of historic, cultural, educational, and contemporary exhibitions to institutions throughout the world.

More Info

Link

http://www.sjmusart.org/content/exhibitions/upcoming/exhibit...