Le passage du l'oiseau divin - Pl. XXII from "Constellations" suite (after Miro)

 

Joan Miro

  1893 - 1983 (biography)

1959  

pochoir, after the 1941 gouache 

17 x 14" image and paper size 

unsigned, as issued 

unnumbered; from a total edition of 350 

lithographically reproduced titling, signature, and date of original gouache on verso reads: "Joan Miro / Le passage de l'oisseau divin / Montroig / 12/IX/1941" 

Cramer 58; Musee d'art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1974, cat. 436, p. 111 

velin d'Arches 

published 

Pierre Matisse, New York 

IVHL101 

$5,000.00 

'Miro left Paris in 1939 for Varengeville-sur-Mer in Normandy, and it was here an important new body of work was formed – a series of twenty-three gouaches, which became known as the Constellations. They are amongst the artist’s most intricately constructed works, exploring ideas linked to regenerative processes located within nature. Heavily influenced by the turmoil of World War II, his work seems to reflect upon the fragile, transitory quality of existence. Each Constellation piece depicts a moment in time, a microcosm of life: captured in weightless, suspended animation. In 1945, the Constellations were smuggled out of Europe for a Pierre Matisse exhibit in NYC. In 1959, under the direction of pochoir master Daniel Jacomet, 22 of the original 23 gouache Constellations were made into 350 pochoir suites. Andre Breton was immediately inspired by the series and wrote accompanying poems – what would become his final poetic works. Breton is most known for co-founding Surrealism and writing the Surrealist Manifesto in 1924 in which he defines the movement as “pure psychic automatism.”'

-from Denis Bloch Fine Art, Beverly Hills, CA (denisbloch.com)