MIRO JOAN: (1893-1983) An extremely rare example of one of Miro´ s most iconic designs

MIRO JOAN: (1893-1983) An extremely rare example of one of Miro´ s most iconic designs

MIRO JOAN: (1893-1983) Spanish painter. A fine and extremely rare signed pochoir in colours on wove paper, with lithographic inscription at the base, approximately 24.5 x 32 cm, being one of just sixty Hors Commerce examples of Miro´s famous stencil print entitled Aidez l´Espagne (1937; ´Help Spain´), the brightly coloured design (incorporating the strong red and yellow colours of the Spanish and Catalan flags) depicting a Catalan peasant farmer wearing a barretina and with his right fist raised in a loyalist salute, framed above and below by the two words that form the motto, an exhortation to the citizens of neighbouring countries to support the government of the Spanish Republic, then immersed in the Civil War. The French printed text to the lower border states ´Dans la lutte actuelle, je vois du cote fasciste des forces depassees, et de l´autre cote des gens, avec d´immenses ressources creatives qui donneront a l´Espagne un elan qui etourdira le monde´ (Translation: ´In this present battle I see on the fascist side just the outdated forces, and on the other side, the people whose immense creative resources which will give Spain a power which will astonish the whole world´). Marked H.C. and signed (´Miro´) by the artist in pencil at the base. VG

Aidez l´Espagne was created by Miro in 1937 at the request of the art critic, collector, writer and publisher Christian Zervos with the idea that it could be issued as a one franc postage stamp to raise funds to finance the government of the Spanish Republic. Although Miro was not a deeply political artist, the project was carried out as part of the preparation and setup of the Spanish Republic pavilion for the 1937 Paris International Exposition, for which Miro also contributed his mural The Reaper (also known as The Catalan Peasant in Revolt).

Miro´s striking graphic work was never issued as a postage stamp, but instead was published in two editions, of which the present signed Hors Commerce (´out of trade´) example is by far the rarer of the two. The other, unsigned edition, was published in numbers 4-5 of the Cahiers d´Art magazine, also in 1937, and is documented in the Catalogue Raisonné: Miró Recorder (1928-1960) by Jacques Dupin (p.40, No.17).