Joan Miró 1893-1983

Fülszöveg

There seems to be a relaxed playfulness about Miro's symbolic language. Hovering between childishly naive arabesques and primaeval forcefulness, his symbols are not only cheerful, ironical and poetic, but they also express traumatic anxieties and aggression. The world of Miro's art is not simply our visible reality, but the hidden world of magic and mysticism.
This book contains a representative collection of works from six decades, giving a clear impression of Miro's high rank among 20th century artists.

Walter Erben was born in Leverkusen, West Germany, in 1908, and studied German at Berlin University as well as painting at the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf. There he was taught by Oskar Moll and Paul Klee, to whom he owed a number of significant insights.
His own activity as a painter soon took second place to teaching art and writing. He wrote a number of novellas as well as numerous essays on fine art. As early as 1947 his book «Picasso und die Schwermut» (Picasso and... Tovább

Fülszöveg

There seems to be a relaxed playfulness about Miro's symbolic language. Hovering between childishly naive arabesques and primaeval forcefulness, his symbols are not only cheerful, ironical and poetic, but they also express traumatic anxieties and aggression. The world of Miro's art is not simply our visible reality, but the hidden world of magic and mysticism.
This book contains a representative collection of works from six decades, giving a clear impression of Miro's high rank among 20th century artists.

Walter Erben was born in Leverkusen, West Germany, in 1908, and studied German at Berlin University as well as painting at the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf. There he was taught by Oskar Moll and Paul Klee, to whom he owed a number of significant insights.
His own activity as a painter soon took second place to teaching art and writing. He wrote a number of novellas as well as numerous essays on fine art. As early as 1947 his book «Picasso und die Schwermut» (Picasso and Melancholy) was published - the first post-war book on the artist. In 1957 he wrote »Marc Chagall - der Maler mit den Engelsflügeln» (Marc Chagall - the Painter with Angel's Wings), and in 1959 a monograph on Miró. AU of his books were successful and translated into several languages. From 1956 to 1963 Erben taught at the German School in Rome, but also went on extensive lecturing tours. He was a member of the International P.E.N. Centre and the International Association of Art Critics (AICA). Throughout his life he had many friends among artists and writers - including Walter Mehring and Jean André Masson. In 1963 Erben was given a professorship in the Teaching of Art at the newly-founded teacher training college in Hägen. After his retirement in 1975 he lived in Hägen and Rome. He died in Bad Pyrmont in 1981.
Erben's book on Miró is a rare example of a successful book on an artist. Himself a painter and writer, Erben succeeded in engaging his great "colleague" in numerous private conversations at the artist's house in Mallorca. In these talks Miró gave Erben many interesting and invaluable insights into his art, as well as his own interpretations of his most significant works.
The last chapter of this book has been written by Hajo Düchting, an art historian and painter, who was born in Düsseldorf in 1949 and currently lectures in the History of Art at the University of Munich. He has supplemented Erben's text with a chapter on Miró's later life as well as numerous interpretations of a selected number of works (see texts in the margins). Vissza