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Detail of one of Joan Miró's illustration plates for the book Il était une petite pie, by Lise Hirtz

Joan Miró's first book as an illustrator

The foundation that bears his name is organising an exhibition on the painter's first contact with the world of illustration through André Breton and Paul Eluard.

Until 29 October, Fundació Joan Miró's archive is hosting the exhibition Il était une petite pie, curated by Teresa Montaner and Elena Escolar. This is the second exhibition in the Opening the Archive cycle, through which the Fundació wishes to share the wealth of its collection of drawings, as well as the documentary heritage it conserves and researches.

Il était une petite pie. 7 chansons et 3 chansons pour Hyacinthe, by Lise Hirtz, is Joan Miró's first artist's book. Hirtz, a writer with links to the surrealist circle, brings together in this collection of poems a series of simple rhyming compositions conceived as children's songs. "My work is like a poem set to music by a painter," said the author.

And Joan Miró, who had received the commission through André Breton and Paul Eluard, illustrated them with eight pochoirs, a printing technique that consists of generating, from a specific drawing, several openwork stencils that make it possible to apply the pigments successively and obtain short print runs with results close to those of a manual treatment.

The book was published by Éditions Jeanne Bucher in Paris in 1928, and the text, typography and pochoirs were printed by Saudé. A year later, the composer Georges Auric, to whom the collection is dedicated, set five of these poems to music.

With this collaborative experience, Joan Miró went beyond the limits of painting and for the first time came into direct contact with poetry, experimenting with image and word.

The exhibition Il était une petite pie in the Foundation's octagonal tower - in a space integrated into the visit to the artist's collection - coincides with the temporary exhibition Imaginary Friends, which aims to introduce audiences of all ages, especially children, to the imaginative and creative possibilities of contemporary art.

Tickets to visit the permanent collection and the current temporary exhibitions cost 14 euros - 7 if you have a reduced ticket - and can be purchased in advance at this link.

Publication date: Friday, 26 May 2023
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