- Naked Woman Climbing a Staircase
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Naked Woman Climbing a Staircase French: Femme nue montant l'escalier, Catalan: Dona nua pujant l'escala 
Artist Joan Miró Year 1937 Type Drawing Dimensions 78 cm × 55.8 cm (31 in × 22.0 in) Location Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona Naked Woman Climbing a Staircase (originally in French Femme nue montant l'escalier) is a drawing done with pencil and charcoal on card made by Joan Miró in 1937. It is part of the permanent collection of the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona.[1]
Contents
History
Eadweard Muybridge's Woman Walking Downstairs in The Human Figure in Motion, 1887, work which in turn inspired Marcel Duchamp.
Miró painted Naked Woman Climbing a Staircase during the Spanish Civil War. He was living in Paris and he started to attend life drawing classes at the school of the Grande Chaumiere. Miró returned to constructing the human figure to represent the drama that was then taking place in Catalonia. This feeling can be made out in the shapes used to draw this tortured nude woman climbing a staircase.[2] Other works of this period include Still Life with Old Shoe and Aidez l'Espagne.[3]
Description
Nude Descending a Staircase, by Marcel DuchampAccording to the Joan Miró Foundation, "Miró's despondency brought about by the moral tragedy of the war can be seen in the violent metamorphosis of the figure, in her heavy limbs and in the effort involved in climbing."[4] At the top right is a kind of window or box where light rays can be seen entering the room. The woman is using her right arm to try to grab a ladder – this was a symbol that Miró used in several of his works to represent evasion or escape. The external genitals of the woman are similar to those of the woman in Man and Woman in Front of a Pile of Excrement as they are exaggerated in size.[5] This work is said to be related to Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, made by Marcel Duchamp, although here the woman is ascending. The distortion and effort of the figure are interpreted as mirroring the Spanish Civil War.[4] Interestingly Duchamp's painting was not wholly original; it alluded to the earlier photographs by Eadweard Muybridge[6] which were amongst the first to record animal locomotion. Miró first saw this work by Duchamp in 1912, during the Cubist art exhibition held at the Dalmau Gallery (Galeries Dalmau) in Barcelona.[7][8]
Muybridge's idea of a woman on a staircase caught the imagination of not only Duchamp and Miró but also Miró's contemporary Salvador Dali who created a homage to Duchamp's painting. His model was also shown ascending the stairs[9] like Miró's subject.
Exhibitions
Start End Exhibition Place City Ref 1964 1964 Tate Gallery London [10] 1964 1964 Kunsthaus Zürich Zurich [11] 20 September 1978 22 January 1979 Dessins de Miró Centre Georges Pompidou París [12] 1 June 1980 31 October 1980 Palacio de Velázquez Madrid 21 November 1986 1 February 1987 Kunsthaus Zürich Zurich [13] 14 February 1987 20 April 1987 Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf [14] 24 November 1988 15 January 1999 Impactes. Joan Miró 1929–1941 Fundació Joan Miró Barcelona [15] 3 February 1989 23 April 1989 Joan Miró: Paintings & Drawings 1929–1941 Whitechapel Gallery London [16] 4 July 1990 14 October 1990 Maeght Foundation Saint-Paul de Vence [17] 20 April 1993 30 August 1993 Fundació Joan Miró Barcelona [18] 6 October 1993 11 January 1994 Museum of Modern Art New York [19] 11 February 1995 17 April 1995 Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf 12 May 1995 16 July 1995 Kunsthalle Wien Viena 28 July 1995 22 October 1995 Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea de Verona Verona 26 February 1996 5 May 1996 CCCB Barcelona 7 June 1997 11 November 1997 Miró, ceci est la couleur de mes rêves Fondation Pierre Gianadda Martigny [20] 15 May 1998 30 August 1998 Joan Miró. Creator of new worlds Moderna Museet Stockholm [21] 18 September 1998 10 January 1999 Joan Miró. Creator of new worlds Louisiana Museum of Modern Art Humlebaek [22] 4 July 2000 5 November 2000 Maeght Foundation Saint-Paul de Vence 23 October 2001 27 January 2002 Rèquiem per les escales CCCB Barcelona [23] 6 March 2002 24 June 2002 La Révolution surréaliste Centre Georges Pompidou París [24] 20 July 2002 24 November 2002 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen Düsseldorf 25 November 2004 6 February 2005 Joan Miró. Arquitectura d'un llibre Fundació Joan Miró Barcelona [25] 25 October 2007 27 January 2008 Joan Miró. 1956–1983 Sentiment, emoció i gest Fundació Joan Miró Barcelona [26] 14 April 2011 11 September 2011 Miró. Tate London [27] 15 October 2011 18 March 2011 Miró i l'escala de l'evasió. Tate, Fundació Joan Miró London & Barcelona [28] 6 May 2012 12 August 2012 National Gallery of Art Washington [28] 2011 exhibition
The exbibition L'escala de l'evasió that opened in October 2011 was supported by access to Wikipedia using QRpedia codes that allowed access to visitors in Catalan, English and several other languages.[29]
Notes
- ^ "Information about the work at the museum site". 2011. http://80.25.201.238:8081/cdm-fons-fjm/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/fons-fjm&CISOPTR=6927&CISOBOX=1&REC=2.
- ^ Works by Joan Miró. Joan Miró Foundation. 1988. Ediciones Polígrafa.
- ^ "The Tate Modern discovers the most political Miró" (in Spanish). Diario de Mallorca. 2011. http://ocio.diariodemallorca.es/planes/noticias/nws-13103-la-tate-modern-descubre-miro-mas-politico.html.
- ^ a b "A New Approach To Joan Miró". Joan Miró Foundation. p. 41. http://www.fundaciomiro-bcn.org/imgdin/spdossier/0010.pdf. Retrieved 2011-11-05.
- ^ Clavero 2010, p.72-73
- ^ Tomkins, Calvin (1996). Duchamp: A Biography. U.S.: Henry Holt and Company, Inc. ISBN 0-8050-5789-7
- ^ (in Catalan) Surrealisme a Catalunya, 1924–1936: de l'amic de les arts llogicofobisme. Polígrafa. 1988-08-01. pp. p.17. ISBN 978-84-343-0539-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=KqZDAAAACAAJ. Retrieved 2011-11-05.
- ^ Rosa Maria Malet; Joan Miró (1993). Joan Miró. Edicions 62. pp. p.19. ISBN 978-84-297-3568-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=o7e_jwEACAAJ. Retrieved 2011-11-05.
- ^ Judovitz et al, Dalia (2010). Drawing on art: Duchamp and company. Minnesota Press. pp. 147. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rt-BCXnPokUC&dq=stairs+duchamp+dali&source=gbs_navlinks_s. Retrieved 2011-11-05.
- ^ Jacques Dupin; Joan Mirâo; Ariane Lelong-Mainaud (2002). Joan Miró: catalogue raisonné : paintings. Daniel Lelong. http://books.google.com/books?id=VVk9bwAACAAJ. Retrieved 24 September 2011. cat num 151
- ^ Jacques Dupin; Joan Mirâo; Ariane Lelong-Mainaud (2002). Joan Miró: catalogue raisonné : paintings. Daniel Lelong. http://books.google.com/books?id=VVk9bwAACAAJ. Retrieved 24 September 2011. cat num 151
- ^ cat. núm. 145, repr. p. 70
- ^ cat. nº 108 repr
- ^ cat. nº 108 repr
- ^ cat. nº 56 repr. p.88
- ^ cat. repr.
- ^ cat. nº 102, repr. p. 343
- ^ cat. nº 147 repr. p.343
- ^ cat. repr. p.226
- ^ cat. nº 40 repr. p.95
- ^ cat. nº 102 repr. p.113
- ^ cat. nº 84 repr. p.66
- ^ Agustí, Fancelli. "Óscar Tusquets entona un réquiem emocionado por la escalera". El País. http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/Oscar/Tusquets/entona/requiem/emocionado/escalera/elpepicul/20011025elpepicul_2/Tes. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
- ^ "La Révolution surréaliste. Fitxa de l'exposició" (PDF). http://www.centrepompidou.fr/Pompidou/Communication.nsf/docs/IDBEFA8CF430D80D71C1256AFE003C83F4/$File/r%C3%A9vosurr%C3%A9.pdf. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
- ^ "Joan Miró. Arquitectura d'un llibre". Fundació Joan Miró. http://fundaciomiro-bcn.org/exposicio.php?idioma=4&exposicio=84&titulo=Joan%20Mir%C3%B3.%20Arquitectura%20d'un%20llibre. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
- ^ "Joan Miró. 1956–1983 Sentiment, emoció i gest". Fundació Joan Miró. http://fundaciomiro-bcn.org/exposicio.php?idioma=4&exposicio=56&titulo=Joan%20%20Mir%C3%B3.%201956-1983%20Sentiment,%20emoci%C3%B3%20i%20gest. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
- ^ "Miró i l'escala de l'evasió. Fitxa de l'exposició". http://www.fundaciomiro-bcn.org/exposicio.php?idioma=4&exposicio=3652&titulo=Joan%20Mir%C3%B3.%20L'escala%20de%20l'evasi%C3%B3. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
- ^ a b "Miró i l'escala de l'evasió. Fitxa de l'exposició". Fundació Joan Miró. http://www.fundaciomiro-bcn.org/exposicio.php?idioma=4&exposicio=3652&titulo=Joan%20Mir%C3%B3.%20L'escala%20de%20l'evasi%C3%B3. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
- ^ Photo at opening day of the exhibition, 15 October 2011
References
- Clavero, Jordi.J (2010). Fundació Joan Miró. Foundation's Guide. Barcelona: Polígrafa. ISBN 978-84-343-1242-5.
- Joan Miró (1988). Obra de Joan Miró: dibuixos, pintura, escultura, ceràmica, tèxtils. Fundació Joan Miró-Centre d'Estudis d'Art Contemporani. http://books.google.com/books?id=EHNKPQAACAAJ. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
- Jaques Dupin – Ariane Lelong-Mainaud. "Joan Miró. Catalogue raisonné. Drawings I 1901–1937" 2008. Daniel Lelong and Successió Miró
Works Barcelona Series · Man and Woman in Front of a Pile of Excrement · Miró Wall · Naked woman climbing a staircase · Personnage Oiseaux · Portrait of Vincent Nubiola · Paintings on masonite · Bleu II · Metamorphosis · Hands flying off toward the constellations · The navigator's hope · May 1968 (Miró) · The Farm · Head of a Catalan Peasant · Still Life with Old Shoe · Constellations · The hope of a condemned Man · Miró otroSculpture The Caress of a Bird · Miró's Chicago · His Majesty the King · Her Majesty the Queen · His Highness the PrinceColleagues Joan Prats · Josep Lluís SertMuseums See also Mont-roig del Camp · Ladder of Escape exhibitionCategories:- 1937 works
- Spanish art
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