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.