Joan Miró
Femme et oiseaux dans la nuit
1967
India ink, gouache and watercolour over pencil on watercolour laid paper 20.3 x 15.1 cm Framed under glass. Signed ‚Miró‘ with black India ink lower left. On the verso, signed, dated, titled, and dedicated with ballpoint pen '29/VIII/67 Femme et oiseaux dans la nuit Pour mon ami Will Grohmann avec tous mes meilleurs voeux à l'occasion de son 80 anniversaire Miró'. - In fine condition and with vibrant colours.
Will Grohmann held Joan Miró in just the same esteem and honoured him the way he did Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee. Grohmann's collection contained several works by the artist including this work which in its bright dancing, musical forms and symbols is a highly typical example of Miró's iconic universe of pictorial symbols. Evidently as a gift for Grohmann's 80th birthday Miró wrote a dedication to his dear friend that takes up much of the rear of this attractive work: “Pour mon ami Will Grohmann avec tous mes meilleurs voeux à l'occasion de son 80 anniversaire.” (For my friend Will Grohmann with all my best wishes on the occasion of his 80th birthday).
It would seem that Grohmann had first become familiar with Joan Miró some 30 years earlier in connection with the exhibition “Joan Miró. Dernières oeuvres, tableaux du début”, which was held 1934 in the Parisian gallery “Cahiers d'art” and about which the critic published an accompanying essay. In connection with a trip to Prague Miró visited Grohmann just one year later in Dresden. As is documented by an abundant and highly personal correspondence a close friendship developed between the artist and art critic over the following decades. Just how high the esteem was in which Grohmann held the artistic work of Miró is evidenced by a letter dating from 1949: “Having seen more or less everything that was produced in the last ten years I have absolutely no reservations in assuring you that of all those artists who succeeded Picasso and Klee you were the greatest experience and I would like to congratulate you with all my heart for your success.” (Will Grohmann to Joan Miró, letter dated 15 September 1949, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart/Archive Will Grohmann, quoted from: exhib. cat. Im Netzwerk der Moderne, Dresden 2012-3, catalogue volume p. 232).
Catalogue Raisonné
Not recorded by Dupin/Lelong-Mainaud
Provenance
Will Grohmann Collection, Berlin; family collection since
Exhibitions
Dresden 2012/2013 (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau), Im Netzwerk der Moderne. Kirchner, Braque, Kandinsky, Klee, Richter, Bacon, Altenbourg und ihr Kritiker Will Grohmann, cat. no.101, with illus. p. 235 (catalogue volume)