Customer Reviews

Miro (Big Series Art)

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... all the times I hurried past Miró to get to Picasso and Kandinsky? I've been 'blessed' in my career with the opportunity to visit most of the world's great fine arts museums. I've blundered past dozens of paintings by Joan Miró (1893-1983), including possibly the majority of those reproduced in this large-format Taschen treasure. But it took just one thoughtful pause in front of his three "Dutch Interior" paintings, currently (October, 2010) on special exhibit at the Metropolitan in New York, to make an exuberant Miró fan out of me. Luckily, the Met has other excellent Miró paintings, as does New York's MoMA. the Met exhibit pairs the Dutch Interiors with the 17th C Dutch Master paintings that inspired them; don't miss it if you pass anywhere near the east side of Central Park in the near future.

I selected this book from the many that are available about Miró on the basis of the quality of reproductions of those three paintings. The colors are true, the printing is good enough so that canvas and paint textures can be perceived, and the large format is adequate to give an idea at least of the originals. I've also ordered a full-size art-print reproduction of Dutch Interior I, which I'll frame and hand near my desk. I'm completely happy with the visuals of this Taschen book.

The text doesn't thrill me as much. The notes on the prints and the essay on Miro's late works by Hajo Düchting are concisely informative and amusing, but the extended essay by Walter Erben is a disappointment -- too much Erben in it and too little Miró. I eventually lost my place in the text and just feasted on the reproductions. The single insight I got from Erben was the concept of Miró, especially early Miró, as a "rococo' painter.

Miró had a very long career. The earliest painting reproduced in this book dates from 1914, and the last from 1979. Over those decades, Miró went through as many phases as Picasso or Kandinsky, yet the 'personality' of his work remained distinctly his own. And despite a life spanning most of the ugliest, stupidest, cruelest century of human history, Miró's art is joyful, witty, brightly intelligent, and beauty-conscious.

A Miro book with plenty of pluses and minuses.
The first half of this book lays claim to the conversations between Miro and the author. Erben engaged Miro in numerous private discussions at the artist's house in Mallorca. With many interesting insights into his work. Indeed these discussions provide us a fascet of the artist beyond his art work. And the reader comes away from these lenthy conversations lokking at Miro's art with a new perspective.. It is done well.

But what is somewhat confusing is that the artwork reproductions which are interspersed on the pages have nothing to do with the discussion at hand. So the reader is following a discussion about one phase of the artist's life while viewing art from decades later. Yes there are notations on the page about the particular work. But somehow not fully satisfying. If I may be so bold; I would have arranged the conversations en-total at the beginning of the book and the plates all together in the second half of the book.

A BIG plus in this book is the quantity of late period reproductios. Dozens of reproductions from the 1960's & 1970's. Good color quality in large format. Very satisfying.

So all in,all it is a good book worth the amazon price.
But not THE Miro book.

I am enjoying this book as my best. I bough it as a reminder of Miro's work and found an outstanding journey to his house Calamajor and visits to his workshop by a very sensitive author. The quality of the book is excellent (as all Taschen's). Most of the pictures are accompanied by some stories that help to understand the artworks. Excellent price for this beautiful art-book.

This book about Miro is presented in an interview format and is a wonderful representation of the artist's life, not only in the words but in the reproductions as well.