Sixty Works by Modern Masters - Flipbook - Page 47
Joan Miró
Joan Miró
Spanish, 1893 - 1983
Painting (Tête d’Homme), 1931
Oil and watercolour on Ingres paper
19 x 25¼ inches / 48.6 x 65.6 cm
Signed, titled indistinctly and dated on the reverse: Joan Miró, ‘Tête d’homme ..’ 8. 31
Joan Miró was fascinated by
the versatility of materials, and
experimented with many different
combinations of media throughout
his career. In the summer of 1931,
he embarked on a series of thirtytwo colourful works in which he
employed oil paint, diluted with
turpentine, on high-quality Ingres
paper. This method enabled Miró
to apply the oils in washes, so
as to endow the colours with a
striking luminosity that could not be
achieved on canvas.
The present work is an outstanding
example from the series, and was
formerly in the collection of Dada
poet Tristan Tzara.
Provenance
Tristan Tzara, Paris, by 1962
Anon. sale, Sotheby’s London, 2 July 1980, lot 342
Acquired at the above sale by the previous owner
Exhibited
Paris, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Joan Miró,
June-November 1962, no. 114
Literature
Jacques Dupin, Miró, Paris, 1961, no. 297, illustrated p. 508
Jacques Dupin, Joan Miró, Life and Work, London, 1962,
no. 297, illustrated p. 524
Jacques Dupin & Ariane Lelong-Mainaud, Joan Miró,
Catalogue raisonné of Paintings, vol. II, 1931-1941, Paris, 2000,
no. 382, illustrated p. 50
"The works must be conceived
with fire in the soul but executed
with clinical coolness."
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