Barcelone XXXI (M. 36)

Description

Barcelone XXXI (M. 36), by Joan Miro is an original Lithograph from the Barcelona Series. This print is signed and dated in the lower right, and numbered in the lower left from the edition of 5.  Mourlot 36.

Before 1920 the art of Joan Miro showed the latest stylish influences, including the brightly colored palette of the Fauvism, and the geometric forms of Cubism. Under the influence of the poets and writers of Montparnasse Miro developed a style unlike any other, with organic forms and flattened two-dimensional planes drawn with sharp lines. Generally thought of as a Surrealist due to Miro’s interest in automatism, Miro’s style was influenced in varying degrees by the Dada and Surrealist movements, as well as Catalan folk art, Spanish Romanesque church frescoes, and the primitivism of Paleolithic cave paintings. Miro’s forms took on a whimsical quality with playfully distorted animal & human forms, twisted organic shapes and boldly colored geometric constructions, set against flat neutral backgrounds, mostly painted using red, blue, green and yellow.

Joan Miro began working in the graphic print mediums thanks to friendships with the circle of poets and writers that he met in Paris by means of Andre Masson. Miro was asked to create various illustrations for their avant-garde illustrated books. The mediums of etching and lithography facilitated, to Miro’s delight, a greater distribution of his artwork, reaching a wider audience. During those years, Joan Miro created thousands of prints and over a hundred illustrated books.

Between 1948 and 1949 Joan Miro made frequent visits to Paris to work on printing lithographs, etchings, and aquatints at the Atelier Mourlot (lithographs), and at the Atelier Lacouriere (engravings). Joan Miro developed a close relationship with the printer Fernand Mourlot that resulted in the production of over one thousand different lithographic editions. Joan Miro attained an excellent technical mastery of printmaking techniques, particularly in the use of carborundum to create relief on the etching plate.