JOAN MIRO "LA BELUGA" LITHOGRAPH SIGNED EA 1/5 ARTIST PROOF (EPREUVE D'ARTISTE) APRIL 1978

Joan Miro lithograph from April 1978.

Dimensions: sheet size is 69.5 CM x 49 CM , image size is 50 CM x 35 CM.

It is signed in pencil in the lower right corner " Miro ", consistent with all other later Miro signatures from the 70s (the "gull wing" M). Graphologically correct.

In the lower left corner it is inscribed: EA (épreuve d'artiste - or Artist Proof).

It is on " VELIN BFK RIVES " paper, consistent with all other Miro lithographs of the same period. It is stamped " APR. 1978 " on the back with a pen signature on top of the stamp saying "Joan Miro" and "La Beluga".

This version is not in Miro's "Catalogue Raisonnee", and the reason is very likely the following:

It is my belief that the reason the piece is not in the catalogue raisonné is due to the fact that it was made as a part of his creative process, but never cut up and used in a further work of art. This is an Artist Proof, and was never intended as a finished work. I find it interesting and I think that it provides an insight into Miro's work method.

After speaking to the head of department at "Foundacion Joan Miro" in Barcelona I was referred to Murray Macaulay, Head of Prints at Christie's in London. We talked about the Miro and he pointed me to an article where he can s quoted stating the following:

'Miro's approach to making prints was playfully improvisational,' explains the specialist. 'He would cut up proofs and rearrange the elements, collating the pieces together in new patterns, adding daubs of colour in crayon, or glyph-like marks in India ink, and writing extensive instructions to his printer. It was a process of finding the image through experiment, embracing accident, but also controlled and methodical.'

https://www.christies.com/features/A-guide-to-Joan-Miro-prints-10323-1.aspx

Based on the above the buyer will have to make up their own mind, regarding the provenance and authenticity.