Miró molded this sculpture directly with his hands, forgoing prepartory drawings. The object’s lunar-shaped face has stylistic and thematic similarities with Miró’s other cosmically themed works. In 1966, Miró reworked this sculpture and cast it as a monumental bronze. While Miró first began to make small bronzes in 1944, his interest in sculpture began when he was just nineteen and a student at the Escola d’Art in Barcelona. One of his instructors there would blindfold him and ask the young artist to draw objects only using his sense of touch.
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Marking: Stamped (under left leg): V Gimeno Fundit = Barna
the artist (1946–47; probably in 1947 to Matisse); Pierre Matisse, New York (probably 1947; possibly sold or given in 1947 to Patricia Kane Matta); Patricia Kane Matta, later Patricia Matisse, New York (possibly 1947–d. 1972; possibly acquired earlier than 1947 from Galerie Maeght, Paris); her widower, Pierre Matisse, New York (1972–d. 1989); his widow, Maria-Gaetana Matisse, née von Spreti, New York (1989–d. 2001); Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Foundation (2002; gift to MMA)
New York. Pierre Matisse Gallery. "Joan Miró," May 13–June 7, 1947, no. 29 [probably this cast].
Minneapolis. Walker Art Center. "Miró Sculptures," October 3–November 28, 1971, no. 1 [probably this cast].
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Miró Sculptures," February 2–March 12, 1972, no. 1.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Miró Sculptures," April 15–May 28, 1972, no. 1.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection," May 18, 2004–June 26, 2005, no catalogue (checklist no. 48; dated 1944) [on view through January 2005].
Museo Picasso Málaga. "La Colección Pierre y Maria-Gaetana Matisse en The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva York," March 26–June 24, 2007, no. 49.
Sabine Rewald in "Selections from the Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 61 (Spring 2004), pp. 44–45, ill.
Emilio Fernández Miró and Pilar Ortega Chapel. Joan Miró, Sculptures: Catalogue raisonné, 1928–1982. Paris, 2006, pp. 48–49, no. 31, ill.
Sabine Rewald. The American Matisse: The Dealer, His Artists, His Collection. The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection. New York, 2009, pp. 126–27, 165, ill. (color).
Jack Halberstam in Shanay Jhaveri et al. Alex Da Corte: As Long as the Sun Lasts. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2021, pp. 27–29, fig. 14.
Joan Miró (Spanish, Barcelona 1893–1983 Palma de Mallorca)
1938
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