- 204
Joan Miró
Estimate
300,000 - 500,000 USD
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Description
- Joan Miró
- Chez le roi de pologne: Ubu Roi Plate III
- Signed Miró. (lower right)
- Gouache and watercolor over blackstone lithograph on paper
- 16 7/8 by 25 1/8 in.
- 42.9 by 63.8 cm
Provenance
Tériade, Paris
Perls Galleries, New York
Brett Mitchell Collection, Lyndhurst, Ohio
Lillian Heidenberg Fine Art, New York
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, November 13, 1997, lot 482A
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner
Perls Galleries, New York
Brett Mitchell Collection, Lyndhurst, Ohio
Lillian Heidenberg Fine Art, New York
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, November 13, 1997, lot 482A
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner
Exhibited
San Francisco, Weinstein Gallery, Surrealism: New Worlds, 2011, illustrated in the catalogue
Condition
Work is in excellent condition. Executed on cream wove paper, hinged to a mat at three places along the top edge on the verso. Artist's pinholes at all four corners at at center of each side. Left and right edges are deckled. Perimeter of sheet is slightly time darkened but colors are bright and fresh. A few scattered pindot studio stains across surface.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
This unique work, a gouache over printed blackstone, was one of a series of paintings made by Miró around 1954 in anticipation of a new edition of the celebrated Alfred Jarry play "Ubu Roi," to be published by Tériade, the noted editor of Verve magazine. Tériade aptly chose Miró to illustrate the text as Miró, one of the original Surrealists, would have been very familiar with the text and its profound influence on his circle.
Jarry's character of Ubu Roi (Pere Ubu) was the modernist anti-hero. Cruel and coarse, acting always outside the rules of polite society, Ubu ingratiates himself into the court of the King of Poland, eventually killing his host. It is Ubu's entry into the Polish Court that is illustrated in this present work. The absurdist pathways of this character fascinated the Surrealists who saw, rightly, a prescient reflection of their current society and its political players. Specifically for Miró, his depiction of Ubu Roi was a thinly veiled critique of the Franco regime in his native Spain.
Although these works were made in the early 1950s, they were not publicly shown until the early 1980s. An exhibition of the entire series took place at Perls Gallery in New York in 1982. John Russell, writing in the New York Times, effused: "The radiance of the color, the energy of the drawing and the freedom of the invention make these paintings a joy to look at if we have never heard of Alfred Jarry and regard General Franco as a fabulous monster, long forgotten" (John Russell, "Critics' Choices," The New York Times, April 11, 1982, sec. 2A, p. 3).
Jarry's character of Ubu Roi (Pere Ubu) was the modernist anti-hero. Cruel and coarse, acting always outside the rules of polite society, Ubu ingratiates himself into the court of the King of Poland, eventually killing his host. It is Ubu's entry into the Polish Court that is illustrated in this present work. The absurdist pathways of this character fascinated the Surrealists who saw, rightly, a prescient reflection of their current society and its political players. Specifically for Miró, his depiction of Ubu Roi was a thinly veiled critique of the Franco regime in his native Spain.
Although these works were made in the early 1950s, they were not publicly shown until the early 1980s. An exhibition of the entire series took place at Perls Gallery in New York in 1982. John Russell, writing in the New York Times, effused: "The radiance of the color, the energy of the drawing and the freedom of the invention make these paintings a joy to look at if we have never heard of Alfred Jarry and regard General Franco as a fabulous monster, long forgotten" (John Russell, "Critics' Choices," The New York Times, April 11, 1982, sec. 2A, p. 3).