Wright Auction

Speaking of the Wind Collection generally, but this Joan Miró patinated bronze, Figure, 1981 / 1983, in particular, Jerry Wind explains, "Every one of the pieces here was bought because we loved the piece. It spoke to us. It had a meaning to us." Jerry had long admired the work of Miró, but Miró's prints were too commonplace and his canvases too expensive for the most part. On May 10, 2007, Dina and Jerry Wind acquired the present lot at Christie's Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale. Jerry recalls being struck immediately by the Miró bronze, which, although it stands slightly under two feet high, makes a powerful impression. Despite the abstract nature of the sculpture, Jerry saw a distinct female form that possessed a mirthful air. His wife Dina was likewise smitten by Figure. And so they bid on and won the work at auction. Jerry's advice to collectors is to make a similar, intimate connection with pieces.

Miró explored a diverse array of styles and mediums throughout his prolific career, including painting, drawing, printmaking, ceramics, and sculpture. Known for his experimental approach, Miró developed an idiosyncratic visual language characterized by imaginative forms that reflected his personal and poetic universe. Despite his early focus on painting, Miró delved into sculpture increasingly later in his career, creating over three hundred bronzes from the late 1960s until his death. Inspired by Surrealism, Miró initially experimented with combining everyday objects in his peinture-objets, seeking to redefine the conventions of painting. His transition to freestanding sculpture after World War II marked a significant turning point, with Miró celebrating the natural world and his Catalan heritage through fantastical, biomorphic figures. His innovative use of found objects, combined with clay modeling, resulted in suggestive sculptures that further solidified his legacy as a pioneering artist.

In the final few years of Miró's life, he focused primarily on sculpture. Using a 1967 maquette as his guide, Miró created a thirty-nine-foot high work fashioned from steel, wire mesh, concrete, bronze, and ceramic tile, initially entitled The Sun, the Moon and One Star (but later referred to as Miró's Chicago). This bold public art installation was completed on April 21, 1981 and unveiled in The Loop in downtown Chicago, due south of the Daley Center, not far from another large public sculpture, the Chicago Picasso. The original maquette of Miró's Chicago is held at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Simultaneously, Miró was producing a range of smaller sculptures, including Figure, which is now being offered at auction via Unbound: The Dina & Jerry Wind Collection. Following Miró's passing in 1983, an exhibition dedicated to the sculpture of his final years was staged by Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York in 1987, with the title, Miró: The Last Bronzes 1981-1983. The present lot was part of that noteworthy, posthumous presentation of Miró sculpture.