Untitled from Black and Red Series (Série noire et rouge)
Joan Miró
Spanish, 1893–1983
1938
A two-color etching in which Miró distills his Surrealist imagination into a compact stage of playful biomorphic figures and spidery marks, using black and red to make dreamlike forms visible.
At first glance a frenetic choreography of tiny limbs, starbursts and organic blobs confronts you—the large black oval at right and bright red lines and dots puncture the white space, giving the scene a jittery, animated energy.
Executed in 1938, this print compresses Miró’s automatic-drawing language into the medium of etching, showing how a pared-down iconography and a bold two-color palette expanded Surrealist expression and the possibilities of modern printmaking during a tense historical moment.
Medium
One from a series of eight etchings
Dimensions
plate: 6 5/8 × 10 3/16" (16.9 × 25.8 cm); sheet: 12 5/8 × 17 3/4" (32 × 45.1 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Purchased with the Frances Keech Fund and funds given by Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro, Gilbert Kaplan, Jeanne C. Thayer, Reba and Dave Williams, Ann and Lee Fensterstock, Linda Barth Goldstein, Walter Bareiss, Mrs. Melville Wakeman Hall, Emily Rauh Pulitzer, and Mr. and Mrs. Herbert D. Schimmel
Accession
239.1996.6
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
