- MIRO, Joan
(1893—1983)
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Painter
- Joan Miro was a Spanish Surrealist painter, who lived for some
time in the US. He went to Paris in 1919, but before then he had already met
Picasso — a fellow-Catalan — in Barcelona. In 1925 he took part in the First
Surrealist Exhibition, and, with Dali, was recognized as the leading Spanish
Surrealist. His work tended to become abstract, although he said: 'For me a
form is never something abstract; it is always a sign of something. It is always
a man, a bird, or something else. For me painting is never form for form's
sake.' During World War 11 he returned to Spain; in 1940 he began experimenting with clay, and in 1944 he began making ceramics, which resulted in huge
wall-decorations for the UNESCO building in Paris and Harvard University.
He also worked with bronze in 1940, but did not use the material seriously
until the 1960s, for such quirky abstractions as an obelisk with a pitchfork on
top (1963) and a box pierced by a spoon, called a 'wind-clock' (1967). He
designed the ballet Jeux d'Enfants in 1932.
There are works in several US
museums and in Edinburgh (NGMA, s. and d. 1924), London (Tate), Paris
(Mus. d'Art Mod.), and Washington (NG: a large tapestry), and there are Miro
Foundations in Barcelona and Palma (Majorca), where he lived.
A selection of
his writings on art was published in English in 1987.
- Source: The Penguin Dictionary of Art and Artists (Penguin Reference Books)
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