What do you see? A Miró Giveaway and Contest Updates from Yale ARTbooks
Contest update #1:
Congratulations to Janet R., Laura D., and Beth Z., who were the first three people to correctly respond to our Carrie Mae Weems quiz (answer to the quiz question: Ms. Weems got her first camera in 1973, as a 20th birthday gift).
Contest update #2:
If you’ve been putting off submitting your entry to our Building Seagram by Phyllis Lambert contest and book giveaway, delay no longer! We’ve extended the deadline to next week.
Contest update #3:
A new one! Inspired by a new exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum, Miró: The Experience of Seeing, which presents nearly 50 paintings and sculptures that are little known to audiences in the United States. These late-career works represent the culmination of the artist’s life-long development of an innovative and highly personal visual language. The exhibition will make its way to the Nasher Museum of Art in September of this year before traveling to the Denver Art Museum in 2015.
We are honored to have on our Spring 2014 list the book that accompanies the exhibition. In the mature work depicted in the book, Miró showcased a dynamic, new, and aesthetic vision of language, of a wholly new shape and form. This resulted in an exploration of new artistic territory as well, giving rise to the striking sculptures that anchor this selection of works.
Considering Miró’s enduring fascination with and exploration of language, shapes, and symbols, we want to give you a chance to describe your own experience of seeing for a chance to win a free copy of this new publication. To enter, answer the question “What do you see?” in response to the Miró image below. Submit your answers to yaleartbooks@gmail.com by March 31st. We’ll randomly select two of the responses, post both of them on our blog, and mail the author of each a copy of the book.
Woman, Bird and Star (Homage to Picasso), February 15, 1966 / April 3-8, 1973, Joan Miró, Spanish, 1893-1983, oil on canvas, 96 7/16 x 66 15/16 in., Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. © Successió Miró / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris 2014
I have long been charmed and intrigued by the prolific works of Joan Miro. He lived through challenging political times and circumstances. His early works date from 1917 and he worked continually until his death in 2003. His paintings encourage us, the viewers, to contemplate their own existence within the cosmos.
He is not above painting lizards, which one can imagine scampered in and out of his studio, due to their frequent appearance in his works.
His lithograph, “Le Lezard aux plumes d’or,” owned by the Bibliotheque d’Art et d’Archeologie in Paris, presents a lizard that seems to harass the artist. Here the artist presents another of his visitors, a pleasantly plump being who finds him or herself in the company of another small creature, namely a bird. The chance harmony that results is a part of the charm of viewing this painting.