Joan Miró - Femme et Oiseau Devant la Lune

Joan Miró (1893-1983) Femme et Oiseau Devant la Lune Woman and Bird in Front of the Moon from the Laurels Number One portfolio Etching with aquatint on wove paper, 1947 From the edition of 300 (+ 5 artist proofs) Signed, numbered and dated in pencil, lower margin Printed by Atelier 17, New York Published by Laurel Gallery, New York Plate: 4.375 x 5.875 in. Sheet: 8.875 x 9.875 in Ref: Dupin 51; Cramer 10 Executed in etching and aquatint rather than the lithographic medium more commonly associated with Miró's later prints, "Femme et Oiseau devant la Lune" shows the artist working in a sparer, more purely linear register: dense, incised black lines against the pale ground of the sheet build up an interlocking figure composed of a rounded, embryonic form, a small looping bird-like shape, and a radiating star-burst mark standing in for the moon of the title. The etched line carries a rawness and immediacy — closer in feeling to drawing than to the buoyant color fields of Miró's lithographs — that reflects both the intimacy of the etching medium and the particular moment of the print's making, as Miró worked to translate his private visual language into new technical means during his American sojourn.