Objecthood: Joan Miro’s painted sculptures

Joan Miro, *Painting-Object,* 1950. Private collection ” Successi: Miro, 2015]

Contributed by sharon Butler / Last week “Miro and the Object,” curated by William Jeffett, opened at the Fundaci Joan Miro in Barcelona. The role of the object has never been fully considered in Miro’s work, and in light of the success of the Picasso sculpture show at MoMA, I thought readers might like to take a look at Miro’s early exploration in three dimensions. In his paintings, he was always interested in depicting isolated, abstracted objects, and beginning in the 1920s, he began incorporating actual objects in his collage and assemblage pieces. Miro famously declared that he wanted to assassinate painting, which was a radically different approach than Picasso ever contemplated.

Joan Miro, Object, 1931, oil, insulator, screw, burnt wood, sand and clockwork elements on wood, 27 x 13.5 x 6.8 cm. Private collection, Paris Successi Miro, 2015

Joan Miro, *Femme, 1946, Woman Sculpture-Object*. Bone, grindstone, iron and oil on potter’s clay, 51.7 x 23.3 x 19.7 cm. Fundacio Joan Miro, Barcelonao Successio Miro, 2015

Joan Miro, *Josep Llorens Artigas, Object,* 1956, Earthenware. 79 x 42 x 47 cm. Jules Maeght Collection, San Francisco Successi Miro, 2015

Joan Miro, *Projet pour un monument,* 1954, Project for a monument, Iron, leather, gouache and grease pencil on cement, 39.8 x 18.3 x 17.8 cm. Fundacio Joan Miro, Barcelona Successi Miro, 2015

“Miro and the Object,” Curated by William Jeffett. Fundacio Joan Miro, Barcelona, Spain. October 29 through January 17, 2016.

About the Author: Sharon Butler is a painter and the publisher of Two Coats of Paint.

——

Two Coats of Paint is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution – Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. To use content beyond the scope of this license, permission is required.