An abstract watercolor and graphite drawing on off-white paper.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The drawing shows two abstract figures against a yellow background. The figure on the left has a small head with an irregular shape, and a bell-shaped body. It has a white arm on the right and red and black arm on the left. The figure on the left has an irregularly shaped head outlined in black, with red eyes and a black nose. The body is pear shaped being wider at the bottom and is black on the left, white on the right. Both figures stand on large irregularly shaped feet.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1964.58
People
Joan Miró, Spanish (Barcelona, Spain 1893 - 1983 Palma de Mallorca, Spain)
Title
Figures by the Sea
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1934
Culture
Spanish
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/296672

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Gouache and graphite on off-white wove paper
Dimensions
actual: 33.6 x 28 cm (13 1/4 x 11 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: gouache, l.r.: Miró
  • inscription: verso, brown ink, in artist's hand: Joan Miró / Octubre 1934. / "Figures devant il mar"

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Mr. and Mrs. Josep Lluis Sert, Cambridge, Massachusetts, gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1964.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Josep Lluís Sert
Copyright
© Successió Miró / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Accession Year
1964
Object Number
1964.58
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Boston Collects Modern Art, exh. cat., Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University (Waltham, MA, 1964), no. 77
  • Caroline A. Jones, Modern Art at Harvard: The Formation of the Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums (New York, NY and Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press, 1985). With an essay by John Coolidge and a preface by John M. Rosenfield. To accompany the inaugural exhibition at the Sackler Museum, Oct 21 1985 - Jan 5 1986, fig. 61
  • Modern Art at Harvard, exh. cat., Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc. (Tokyo, Japan, 1999), cat. no. 34, repr. (color)
  • Stephan Wolohojian and Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Harvard Art Museum/ Handbook, ed. Stephan Wolohojian, Harvard Art Museum (Cambridge, 2008), ill. p. 215

Exhibition History

  • Boston Collects Modern Art, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, 05/24/1964 - 06/14/1964
  • Modern Art at Harvard, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/21/1985 - 01/05/1986
  • The Body Politic: Surrealism on Both Sides of the Atlantic 1924 - 1947, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/21/1995 - 01/07/1996
  • Modern Art at Harvard, Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, 07/31/1999 - 09/26/1999; Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Kagawa, 10/09/1999 - 11/14/1999; Matsuzakaya Art Museum, Nagoya, 12/02/1999 - 12/27/1999; Oita City Museum, Oita, 01/06/2000 - 02/06/2000; Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki, Ibaraki, 02/11/2000 - 03/26/2000
  • Josep Lluís Sert: Architect to the Arts II, Sert Gallery, Cambridge, 09/13/2003 - 12/14/2003
  • Sert, Half a Century of Architecture 1928-1979, Fundació Joan Miró, 08038 Barcelona, 02/24/2005 - 06/12/2005
  • 32Q: 1310 Surrealism, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 04/29/2015

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu