Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York
Mary & Leigh B. Block, Chicago
Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago
Private Collection
Howard Russeck Fine Art, Palm Beach

Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Joan Miró, 1974, no. 94, illustrated in the catalogue

Jacques Dupin & Ariane Lelong-Mainaud, Joan Miró, Catalogue Raisonné, Paintings, 1969-1975, vol. V, Paris, 2003, no. 1351, illustrated in color p. 27

This work is in very good condition. The canvas is not lined. Some very fine lines of craquelure to the red, yellow and black pigments in the lower register. A single minor scratch measuring 1 inch in length and a few minor areas of rubbing to the black pigment at center left. Under UV light: Some original pigments fluoresce but no inpainting is apparent.
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.
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With its bold, energetic brushstrokes and dense colors, the present work is typical of the expressiveness and spontaneity of Miró's late work in which figuration vies with abstraction. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Miró was primarily focused on reducing his distinctive pictorial language to its barest essentials. “Through this rarefaction and seeming lack of prudence,” explains his biographer Jacques Dupin, “the canvas’ pictorial energy was in fact magnified, and his painting strikingly reaffirmed. This process also seemed like a breath of fresh air, or an ecstatic present from which new signs, colors, and the full freedom of gesture surged forth. By limiting the colors of his palette, Miró’s enduring themes yielded works of various sizes, proportions, rhythms, and resonances” (Jacques Dupin, Miró, Barcelona, 1993, pp. 337-38).

The gestural quality and automatism of the present work undoubtedly reflect the influence of American post-war painting. Miró initially came in contact with the work of the American school of Abstract Expressionism in New York during the summer of 1947 while visiting Alexander Calder, Marcel Duchamp and Yves Tanguy. During this time he became acquainted with Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner, and later described the effect of seeing their work "as a blow to the solar plexus." This generation of younger artists had long heralded Miró as a source of inspiration to their explosive practice, yet after this visit it was Miró who drew inspiration from the nascent American school. He stated, "it showed me the liberties we can take, and how far we can go, beyond the limits. In a sense, it freed me" (quoted in Jacques Dupin, Miró, New York, 1993, p. 303).