胡安·米羅

Galerie Maeght, Paris (acquired from the artist)

Private Collection, France (sold: Christie's, London, July 2, 1998, lot 193)

Acquired at the above sale

Paris, Galerie Maeght & New York, Pierre Matisse Gallery, Miró, l'oiseau solaire, l'oiseau lunaire, étncelles, 1967, no. 3 (in Paris), illustrated in the catalogue

Belgium, Knokke-Heist, Casino of Knokke, Joan Miró, 1971, no. 49, illustrated in the catalogue

Osaka, Kintetsu Museum of Art; Hyogo, Amagasaki Cultural Center; Tokyo, Isetan Museum of Art; Chiba, Chiba Sogo Museum of Art & Hakone, Hakone Open Air Museum, Miró, 1991, no. 24, illustrated in the catalogue

Pere Gimferrer, Miró colpir sense nafrar, Barcelona, 1978, no. 186, illustrated in color p. 203

Rosa María Malet, Joan Miró, Barcelona, 1984, no. 84, illustrated in color

Jacques Dupin & Ariane Lelong-Mainaud, Joan Miró, Catalogue raisonné, Drawings, Vol. III: 1960-1972, Paris, 2012, no. 1944, illustrated in color p. 144

Very good condition. There are some horizontal creases to the sandpaper support at the lower part of the composition, mostly along the left side, and a shallow abrasion at the upper right, near the center. Under UV, the florescence to the egde of the black line appears to be caused by the artist's application of the medium to uneven areas of the sandpaper.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

A pendant to the work which he painted two days before (see previous lot), Femme et oiseaux II is a calligraphically powerful composition from 1967.  Miró's highly graphic rendering in these works gives only a vague sense of its titular subject, which is chiefly a vehicle for the artist's emphatic application of black paint.  The gesture is not unlike the tag of an urban graffiti artist, where the economized, bold mark is the unmistakable calling card of a complex artistic persona. For his support, Miró here selects a mechanically-produced sandpaper. The interaction of glossy black paint and rough-hewn paper creates a dramatic tension. Although he would begin using sandpaper as early as the 1930s, rarely would the support appear on such a monumental scale as in these works from 1967.

Jacques Dupin touches upon the artist's graphic emphasis in paintings from the 1960s: "In some cases, the artist stressed the power, the brutality of a summary, rough graphism, born of a single gesture and closely related to graffiti.  In other cases, a few economical, light lines serve as counterpoint to the free play of splashes and spots of color. Seemingly contradictory, both approaches reflect a mistrust of the sign, a desire to eliminate calculated, fixed forms from his vocabulary so as to gain in spontaneity, directness, and a purer revelation of the act of painting" (J. Dupin, Miró, New York, 2003, p. 303).

While its counterpart was sent by the artist to New York, Miró gave this work to his Paris based dealer Maeght.