Miro (Great Modern Masters) [Hardcover]

Joan Miro (Author), Jose Maria Faerna (Author, Editor), Elsa Haas (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Great Modern Masters

One of a series of monographs introducing the work of 20th-century artists, this text is devoted to the life and career of the Surrealist Joan Miro. Born in Barcelona, Miro became enthralled by the work of the Cubist and Fauvist artists, who influenced his early style. His free-form abstractions draw on fantasy, dream and myth, and many have been characterized as attempts at psychic automatism, or direct transmission from the subconscious. After 1930 he developed his lyrical mature style, distinguished by playful justaposition of freely-flowing lines and brightly-coloured abstract or organic forms. During World War II Miro created a series of works known as "The Constellations" in response to the disasters of war. Later he produced a series of monumental works, including murals for hotels and universities, and a huge ceramic mural for the UNESCO building in Paris. His other work includes a large body of lithographs, a medium especially suited to his simplified forms. Illustrated with more than 70 of his works, this book offers an overview of Joan Miro's prolific career.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This title in the Modern Masters series focuses on the work of Joan Miro, one of the painters most often associated with surrealism. Miro studied art in his native Barcelona before joining the Paris art scene in the 1920s. Fantasy, dreams, and myths played an important role in Miro's early works, many of which are included in the more than 70 full-color reproductions of paintings, sculptures, and tapestries in this collection. This is a fine introduction to the monumental works of one of the foremost artists of the 20th century.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Spanish

Product Details

• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Abradale/Abrams (August 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810946890
• ISBN-13: 978-0810946897
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,848,518 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A concise and enjoyable introduction to the Catalan painter, June 30, 2010

By 

Christopher Culver - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Joan Miro: 1893-1983 (Basic Art) (Paperback)

Taschen's "Basic Art" is a series of short, full-colour introductions to various artists that all weigh in at only 96 pages. These are an excellent way to discover painters you don't know about yet, and I've enjoyed working my way through the series. This volume on Joan Miro features a text by Janis Mink.

Mink charts Miro's stylistic evolution in a clear fashion, often mentioning relationships with other artists and writers of the day that influenced his work. The break from realism to fanciful representation is elucidated, and Mink really inspires a passion for deciphering Miro's language of symbols. Nonetheless, I felt that Mink's text had two weakness. The first is that it often makes reference to paintings that, perhaps for reasons of copyright, could not be reproduced within the book. Entries in the "Basic Art" series are usually entirely self-contained, but Mink would force the reader to seek out another introduction to Miro to understand her writing. The second weakness is that Mink does not say anything about Miro's relationship with the Spanish state in the postwar era, something that would surely interest many readers who know of Miro as "the Catalan national painter".

Nonetheless, these are essentially minor quibbles. If you want a quick introduction to Joan Miro, this is a good bet.

17 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Miro the beuty, January 18, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Joan Miro: 1893-1983 (Basic Art) (Paperback)

This book is one that shows how Miro and maybye how people felt in that time period,which he lived so long.He made many beutyfull pictures and some that were just nonsense.I like his paintings so much i belive this book and him have inspiered me to be an artist one day.I am not very good but miro did not paint good but it was what he felt and that made him care and that is all that really matters.