Miró, Joan, SERIE II, 1952-53 (Copy)

“Meeting Hayter was crucial to the development of Miró’s etching. It was with this refined artist, this skilful technician, this daring experimenter, that Miró was to be introduced to a whole other part of copperplate engraving, one that complements tool work with the inexhaustible range of techniques of material and color”.

“The powerful graphics [of Series I and II] – figures, animals, stars and signs – are profoundly altered from one state to the next by variations in color, inking and lighting. Miró obtains negative printing effects by varying the pressure of the press […]. His playful passion explores all the possibilities of etching. He plays with modulations, gradations and passages. Above all, he finds, with constant joy, the right place and intensity for each element of his writing”.

This print is the second of five etchings in Series II, printed in soft, harmonious tones of green, blue, yellow and red. There is a contrast, however, in the clean lines of the graphics, untouched by any coloring.