The Caress of a Bird
Encyclopedia
The Caress of a Bird is a 1967 sculpture by Joan Miró
made at his studio in Palma de Mallorca
. It is part of the permanent collection of the Miró Foundation
in Barcelona
.
with found object
s. 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 the their position by the artist. During the second world war, 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 art
. Joan Prats
, Miró's lifelong friend and collaborator said: "When I take a stone, it is just a stone. When I grab 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
. Miró himself supervised the texture and controlled patina which he considered to be very important.
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".
Joan Miró
Joan Miró i Ferrà was a Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona.Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride...
made at his studio in Palma de Mallorca
Palma de Mallorca
Palma is the major city and port on the island of Majorca and capital city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. The names Ciutat de Mallorca and Ciutat were used before the War of the Spanish Succession and are still used by people in Majorca. However, the official name...
. It is part of the permanent collection of the Miró Foundation
Fundació Joan Miró
The ' is a museum of modern art honoring Joan Miró and located on the hill called Montjuïc in Barcelona, Catalonia.-History:...
in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
.
History
The origins of this sculpture are in the early object-sculptures the artist made in Mont-roig del CampMont-roig del Camp
Mont-roig del Camp is a town and municipality in the comarca of Baix Camp, Catalonia, Spain. It is in the middle of its comarca, between the Serra de Colldejou and the Mediterranean...
with found object
Found object
A found object, in an artistic sense, indicates the use of an object which has not been designed for an artistic purpose, but which exists for another purpose already. Found objects may exist either as utilitarian, manufactured items, or things which occur in nature...
s. 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 the their position by the artist. During the second world war, 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 art
Found art
The term found art—more commonly found object or readymade—describes art created from undisguised, but often modified, objects that are not normally considered art, often because they already have a non-art function...
. Joan Prats
Joan Prats
Joan Prats was a Catalan art promoter and a close friend of Joan Miro-Life:Joan Prats was born in 1891 to a family who sold hats...
, Miró's lifelong friend and collaborator said: "When I take a stone, it is just a stone. When I grab 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
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. 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. The sculpture is over 3 metres (9.8 ft) tall and over 1 metres (3.3 ft) wide, but is only 38 cm (15 in) 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".