''The Caress of a Bird'' (correctly ''La Caresse d'un oiseau'') is a 1967 sculpture by

Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , , ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan painter, sculptor and ceramicist born in Barcelona. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona i ...

made at his studio in

Palma de Mallorca Palma (; ; also known as ''Palma de Mallorca'', officially between 1983–88, 2006–08, and 2012–16) is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situate ...

. It is part of the permanent collection of the Miró Foundation in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

History

The origins of this sculpture are in the early object-sculptures the artist made in

Mont-roig del Camp Mont-roig del Camp () is a town and municipality in the comarca of Baix Camp in Catalonia. It is in the middle of its comarca, between the Serra de Colldejou and the Mediterranean Sea. It includes two populated places: the historic town of Mont-ro ...

with found objects. The objects found were gathered at his workshop and then shaped into the artist's new world. At first, the objects were not placed in the right place; once the creation started there was a rigorous evaluation of their position by the artist. During the

second world war World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Miró was alone in his ancestral home and landscape in Mont-roig del Camp. He was excluded from his artistic peers and the influence of art galleries, museums and exhibitions. He extracted natural forms and elements into a new artistic language of found object art.

Joan Prats Joan Prats (Barcelona, 1891 - Barcelona, 1970 ) was a Catalan art promoter and a close friend of Joan Miró. Life Joan Prats was born in 1891 to a family who sold hats. He was trained as an artist in the Llotja School, where he first met Joan M ...

, Miró's lifelong friend and collaborator said: "When I take a stone, it is just a stone. When Miró grabs a stone, it is a Miró." In the mid 60s it was realised that the original sculpture was deteriorating and it was re-created in bronze by founders in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. Miró himself supervised the texture and controlled patina which he considered to be very important.

Description

In this humorous sculpture Joan Miró uses easy to identify objects that serve as the basis of the design. Erben 2004: p.181 The sculpture is over tall and over wide, but is only deep. It is constructed from bronze, disguised by the use of bright paint. The found objects now cast in bronze include an outhouse seat and an ironing board for the body and legs with a pair of miniature soccer balls at the back that represent the female buttocks. The head is a donkey's straw hat whilst the turtle shell represents the female genitals. The sculpture has been compared to a "totem of female sexuality".

References

*Clavero, J. George Foundation. Guide to the Foundation. Barcelona: Ediciones Polígrafa, 2010. DL B.10.061.2010. . *Erben, Walter. ''Miró''.

Taschen Taschen is a luxury art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany. As of January 2017, Taschen is co-managed by Benedikt and his eldest daughter, Marlene Taschen. History The company began as Taschen Comics, pu ...

Publishing, 1/03/2004. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Caress of a Bird Sculptures by Joan Miró 1967 sculptures Modernist sculpture Outdoor sculptures in Catalonia