Joan Miró

L'Etrangere

1958

Miró developed his engaging vocabulary of signs and symbols after absorbing the principles of Surrealist painters and poets in Paris during the 1920s. His interest in new techniques and his orderly creative process, led him to become a prolific printmaker. During the 1950s, encouraged by his Paris art dealer Aimé Maeght, Miro began experimenting with color lithography and went on to explore the medium throughout his artistic career.
L'Etrangere (The Foreign Woman), printed in bright green, red, yellow and black, and outlined with a thick black line, directly relates to the lithograph Altamira. Both were created using the same black stone, printed vertically for L'Etrangere and horizontally for Altamira. And both bear an the same date and affectionate pencil dedication in the lower right margin from Miró to his close friend, Josep Luis Sert. Sert was the renowned Catalan architect, who designed the Miro foundation in Barcelona, the Fondation Maeght in Saint Paul de Vence and the Spanish pavilion for the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris, where Picasso’s Guernica was first exhibited. The lengthy handwritten inscription from Miro to Sert is an important and unique detail enhancing the lithograph's value and historical significance. Moreover, this impression of L'Etrangere was one of Miro's personal proofs aside from the numbered edition of 75. These facts, coupled with the lithograph's appealing and colorful imagery, make it a desirable and rare example of his work from the 1950s.

Lithograph, printed in color on Arches paper
Paper size: 26 x 20 ¼ inches
An artist’s proof aside from the edition of 75
Signed and dated “Miró 8/VII/58” in pencil in the lower right
Bearing dedication in Catalan by the artist to Josep Luis Sert:
“per mon oncle Josep Lluis/amb tot l’afecte,” in pencil in the lower right
(for my uncle Josep Luis/with affection)
Printed and published by Maeght, Paris
Reference: Mourlot 252
Framed in a yellow gold leaf frame