Joan Miro Selected Writings and Interviews

by Joan Miró

For nearly seven decades the ebullient art of Joan Miro (1893-1983), Spanish painter, sculptor, ceramist and mythmaker, has intrigued and enchanted art lovers worldwide. This collection of his writings presents a portrait of the artist in his own words. Miro's notebooks, letters, and interviews reveal the work and life of a brilliant artist revered for his uncanny expression of the subconscious. "Joan Miro" centres on Paris during the vibrant era between the wars, when Miro became the intimate of almost everyone in that scene - boxing with young Hemingway, working with Max Ernst on the Ballets Russes, drinking, painting and arguing with Picasso, Braque, Dubuffet, Matisse, Breton and many others. Miro engagingly recounts all of this, as well as stories of his exile during World War II. Miro's virtuosity encompassed drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics, poetry, stage sets, costumes, murals and tapestries; he vividly describes the creation of these artworks in these pages.

Genres: Art

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Joan Miró (Barcelona 1893 - Palma 1983). Nascut al Passatge del crédit, els seus paisatges emocionals, els que el formaran com a persona i artista, són sobretot Mont-roig, París, Mallorca i més tard Nova York i el Japó. Mont-roig, una petita població de la comarca del Baix Camp, serà el contrapunt de l’agitació intel·lectual que viu a París als anys vint al costat dels poetes surrealistes, i de l’estímul de l’expressionisme abstracte que descobreix a Nova York als anys quaranta. Més endavant, en plena Segona Guerra Mundial, Joan Miró deixarà l’exili a França i s’instal·larà a Palma, espai de refugi i de treball, on el seu amic Josep Lluís Sert dissenyarà el taller que sempre havia somiat. L’arrelament al paisatge de Mont-roig primer i al de Mallorca després serà determinant en la seva obra. El vincle amb la terra i l’interès pels objectes quotidians i per l’entorn natural seran el rerefons d’algunes de les seves investigacions tècniques i formals. Miró fuig de l’academicisme, a la cerca constant d’una obra global i pura, no adscrita a cap moviment determinat. Contingut en les maneres i en les manifestacions públiques, és a través del fet plàstic on Joan Miró mostra la seva rebel·lia i una gran sensibilitat pels esdeveniments polítics i socials que l’envolten. Aquest contrast de forces és el que el portarà a crear un llenguatge únic i personalíssim que el situa com un dels artistes més influents del segle XX.

Reviews

[Helena · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating read for anyone interested in Miró and related artists/art movements, and a must-read for any fan. Miró's to-the-point letters and beautiful poetry shed light to his whole life journey. In the form of letters, interviews, and excerpts from Miró's notes, the book moves from the artist's early struggles of finding his path all the way through the hunger-filled, feverish Paris years - and back again to wartime Spain and the later years of solitude, alongside with Miró's ever-developing views of art and philosophy, and coming into contact with other figures of his time - Picasso, Breton, Ernst, Leiris, and Hemingway, among countless others.

What is remarkable about this book is that it offers such a direct view to the artist's relentlessly high working ethic, and his method of producing painting - like a craftsman, never giving up, never doubting himself, striving for perfection and working with the subconscious in an extremely controlled way, abandoning (and later fiercely rejecting) ideas such as abstraction and partly even the surrealist movement. Miró's art, filled with mystery and mythology, seems so clearly to reflect his life circumstances alongside with the more intellectually-driven artistic development. He moves from the serious early works (influenced by fauvism and cubism) to soft pastels, and then later to the "assassination of painting," the ever-present celestial themes, and even influences of Dutch and Japanese art, in addition to the Catalan spirit, which he, through-out his career, often talked about in his interviews.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insight into Miro's life as he progressed in his work and his growth in his ideas. I thoroughly enjoyed it.