Modern Day Auction

Modern Day Auction

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 458. Le Coq.

Property from a Private Collection

Joan Miró

Le Coq

Auction Closed

May 17, 10:38 PM GMT

Estimate

250,000 - 350,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Property from a Private Collection

Joan Miró

1893 - 1983


Le Coq

inscribed Miró, numbered 2/8 and inscribed with the foundry mark Susse Fondeur Paris

bronze

height: 20⅞ in.

53 cm.

Conceived in 1970 and cast during the artist's lifetime, this work is number 2 from an edition numbered 0/8 to 8/8 plus 2 artist's proofs.

Galerie Maeght, Paris
Landau Fine Arts, Montreal
Private Collection, Montreal (acquired from the above in 1999)
Acquired by descent from the above by the present owner
Exh. Cat., Paris, Musée d'art moderne, Miró: cent sculptures, 1962-1978, 1978, no. 71, pp. 96 and 65, illustrations of another cast
Alain Jouffroy and Joan Teixidor, Miró Sculptures, Paris 1980, no. 176, p. 123, illustration of another cast 
Exh. Cat., Milan, Palazzo Dugnani, Miró Milano, Pittura, Scultura, Ceramica, Disegni, Sobretexims, Grafica, 1981, n.n., pp. 249 and 112, illustration of another cast 
Fundació Joan Miró, Obra de Joan Miró, Barcelona 1988, no. 1577, p. 431, illustration of another cast in color
Pere Gimferrer, The Roots of Miró, Barcelona 1993, no. 1256, p. 407, illustration of another cast
Exh. Cat., Malmö, Konsthal, Joan Miró, 1993, n.n., p. 152, illustration of another cast in color
Exh. Cat., Lausanne, Musée Olympique, Joan Miró: Á toute épreuve, 1994, no. 33, p. 90, illustration of another cast in color
Franco Basile, Joan Miró, Bologna 1997, p. 231, illustration of another cast in color
Emilio Fernández Miró and Pilar Ortega Chapel, Joan Miró, Sculptures. Catalogue raisonné1928-1982, Paris 2006, no. 198, p. 199, illustration of another cast in color
Paris, Galerie Maeght, Joan Miró – Sculptures, 1970, no. 11, p. 30

Miró's sculpture assemblages are among his most inventive works of art. These creations draw upon the artist's radical experimentations as a Surrealist in the 1930s, and also address issues of abstraction, figuration and conceptualism that were central concerns of artists working in post-war Europe and the United States. Repurposing utilitarian objects like forks, pipes and wire, the artist would devise fanciful artistic creations that allowed him to reinterpret the world around him. The present sculpture of a rooster is a brilliant example of Miró's artistic alchemy. This bronze was executed from a ceramic version of Le Coq, made by the artist in 1956. It was around this time that Miró's fellow Spaniard Picasso was equally fowl-minded in his approach to sculptural assemblages, creating his famous La Grue from similar "found" objects from his studio.