Provenance
Galerie Maeght, Paris
Acquired from the above by the present owner on June 27, 1977
Exhibited
New York, Pierre Matisse Gallery, Miró: Sculpture in Bronze and Ceramic, 1967-1969, Recent Etchings and Lithographs, May 5 - June 5, 1970, no. 1, n.p. (another example exhibited and illustrated)
Paris, Galerie Maeght, Miró: Sculptures, July 23 - September 30, 1970, no. 5, p. 30 (another example exhibited and illustrated, p. 22)
Milan, Galleria Arte Borgogna, Miró/sculture, December 1970 - January 1971, no. 16, n.p. (another example exhibited and illustrated)
Minneapolis, Walker Art Center; The Cleveland Museum of Art; The Art Institute of Chicago, Miró Sculptures, October 3, 1971 - May 28, 1972, no. 70, n.p. (another example exhibited and illustrated)
London, Hayward Gallery, Miró Bronzes, February 1 - March 12, 1972, no. 31, p. 48 (another example exhibited and illustrated on the back cover)
Kunsthaus Zürich, Joan Miró, Das plastische Werk, June 4 - July 30, 1972, pl. 19, no. 72, pp. 52, 96 (another example exhibited and illustrated, p. 97)
Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Fondation Maeght, Sculptures de Miró, céramiques de Miró et Llorens Artigas, April 14 - June 30, 1973, no. 93, p. 137 (another example exhibited)
Paris, Grand Palais, Joan Miró, May 17 - October 13, 1974, no. 249, p. 155 (another example exhibited and illustrated, p. 96)
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Miró: cent sculptures 1962-1978, October 19 - December 17, 1978, no. 40, p. 95 (another example exhibited and illustrated, p. 53)
London, Waddington Galleries, Joan Miró, December 1 - 23, 1981, no. 12, n.p. (another example exhibited and illustrated)
Madrid, Centro Reina Sofía; Barcelona, Fundació Joan Miró; Cologne, Museum Ludwig (another example exhibited and illustrated, p. 150), Miró Escultor, October 21, 1986 - June 8, 1987, no. 61, p. 136 (another example exhibited and illustrated)
Literature
Alain Jouffroy and Joan Teixidor, eds., Miró Sculptures, Paris, 1980, no. 120, p. 234 (another example illustrated, p. 78)
Pere Gimferrer, The Roots of Miró, Barcelona, 1993, no. 1215, p. 403 (another example illustrated)
Franco Basile, Joan Miró: Vedi alla voce sogno, Bologna, 1997, p. 227 (another example illustrated)
Emilio Fernández Miró and Pilar Ortega Chapel, Joan Miró: Sculptures. Catalogue raisonné, 1928-1982, Paris, 2006, no. 135, p. 144 (another example illustrated, p. 145)
Catalogue Essay
Executed in 1969, Conque is a striking example of Joan Miró’s acclaimed sculptural practice that came to define much of the last two decades of his career. Beginning in the late 1950s, the artist continued to challenge artistic conventions as he shifted his focus from painting to sculpture. Showcasing this exploration, the present work is both an invitation, and a seductive trap. Smooth and tactile, the shiny exterior of this three and a half-feet high bronze sculpture is punctuated by a scattering of bulbous protrusions emerging like miniature horns and volcanoes from a tar-like monolith, alluding to some tumult of life barely concealed below the surface. Combined with the incised lines, circles and star, the surface of Conque appears not only biomorphic, but also biographical, as the viewer is able to trace the artist’s own movements writ large in the bronze surface. In stark contrast, the interior offers a deliberately rough-hewn surface in an oxidized copper hue. As its name suggests, this sculpture is shell-like, and the interior serves as a comfortable haven, buffeted from the slings and arrows of everyday life by the thick wall of metal that curves around that inner sanctum.

During the period when Miró created Conque, he would often find inspiration in the materials he found around him, walking in the countryside or on the beach. A turtle’s shell, a piece of wood, a hat, a conch… These could all be taken up by the artist as inspiration to be incorporated into his work. In some cases, the incorporation was quite literal: his assemblages and sculptures often show the traces of the objects themselves, readymades that have been absorbed to become part of the fabric of the work itself. In other cases, this integration is more elusive. This appears to be the case with Conque, which is linked thematically to the conch shell of the same name, yet which has been smoothed and simplified, as well as magnified, in order to become the sculpture we see before us. Miró has used the conch as a springboard for his own creative pursuit. His very personal response to the theme can be seen in the marks he has inscribed in the surface, the lines which run like rivulets through the dark bronze, in particular the cluster that forms a diagrammatic star, recalling his lyrical paintings such as the earlier Constellations.

In addition to its seductive play with tactility, Conque reveals Miró playing with signs and with space. The eponymous shell has been transformed into something resembling a giant, part-open egg, invoking the very essence of creation. Indeed, with its small protrusions and the large chasm at its center, it becomes a microcosm of the entire nature of reproduction. The womb-like shelter at the core of Conque can be seen as a continuation of the themes of sex and reproduction that featured so prominently in many of his works, even from the highpoint of Surrealism. Looking at Conque through this prism, it can even be seen as a companion to the Janus sculptures being created at the same time by his former protégée, Louise Bourgeois.

Miró’s interest in the void hints at a more formal investigation of the nature of existence: presence and absence are not just evoked, but also encapsulated in Conque. In this, the sculpture is shown as highly germane to the evolution of Miró’s pictures during the same period, when he was paring back the elements in order to create works that were minimal, and therefore brought an increasing emphasis to what was there. In this, he was also distilling the potency of the lexicon of signs that he had created over the course of his career. Conque too brings to the fore a distinctly organic character, while also displaying some of Miró’s highly recognizable signs.

Despite the emphasis on reduction that can be perceived in Conque, especially when compared to some of Miró’s other sculptures of the time, which often incorporated eccentric combinations of elements, there remains an irrepressible exuberance. "The sculptures from the last two decades of Miró's productive life took on a broad place and force", Jacques Dupin has noted. "For Miró, sculpture became an intrinsic adventure, an important means of expression that competed with the canvas and sheet of paper…without ever simply being a mere derivative or deviation from painting…He dreamt of the street, public squares, gardens and cities. Just as he had always sought to transgress painting, he now sought to transgress his own work” (Jacques Dupin, Miró, Barcelona, 2004, pp. 361- 367).

Property from the Miles and Shirley Fiterman Collection

Ο14

Joan Miró

Conque

incised with the artist's signature and number "Miró 4/6" and stamped by the foundry "SUSSE FONDEUR Paris" along the bottom
bronze with brown and green patina
43 3/8 x 31 1/2 x 19 5/8 in. (110.2 x 80 x 49.8 cm.)
Conceived in 1969, this work is number 4 from an edition of 6.

Estimate
$600,000 - 800,000

Sold for $800,000

Contact Specialist
Amanda Lo Iacono
Head of Evening Sale
New York
+1 212 940 1278

20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale

New York Auction 16 May | On View at 432 and 450 Park Avenue

1
Donald Judd
Untitled
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
Sold for $1,820,000
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2
Roy Lichtenstein
Small Wall Explosion
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $860,000
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3
Andy Warhol
David Hockney
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $1,040,000
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4
Andy Warhol
Two Coke Bottles
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $1,580,000
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5
Roy Lichtenstein
Modern Painting
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $2,900,000
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6
Robert Motherwell
Open No. 119: In Blue with Charcoal Line
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $1,520,000
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7
Roy Lichtenstein
Horse and Rider
Estimate $6,000,000 - 8,000,000
Sold for $5,955,000
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8
Andy Warhol
Roy Lichtenstein
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
Sold for $475,000
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9
Andy Warhol
9 Flowers
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $2,600,000
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10
Fernando Botero
The Lovers
Estimate $450,000 - 550,000
Sold for $524,000
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11
Alexander Calder
Black Gamma
Estimate $5,000,000 - 7,000,000
Sold for $5,477,500
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12
David Hockney
Study from Parade Triple Bill
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
Sold for $437,500
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13
Andy Warhol
Soup Can
Estimate $700,000 - 900,000
Sold for $500,000
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14
Joan Miró
Conque
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
Sold for $800,000
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15
Alexander Calder
White Versus Yellow
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $1,400,000
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16
Nicolas Party
Landscape
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $608,000
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17
KAWS
THE WALK HOME
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
Sold for $5,955,000
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18
Jordan Casteel
Self Portrait
Estimate $60,000 - 80,000
Sold for $237,500
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19
KAWS
UNTITLED (MBFU9)
Estimate $300,000 - 500,000
Sold for $1,340,000
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20
Tomoo Gokita
Be Just Like Family
Estimate $250,000 - 350,000
Sold for $1,076,000
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21
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Robot Man
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $3,860,000
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22
Yayoi Kusama
Accumulation by Space (No.62.CO.)
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $2,060,000
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23
Eva Hesse
No title
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $3,980,000
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24
Mark Bradford
Helter Skelter II
Estimate $8,000,000 - 12,000,000
Sold for $8,475,250
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25
Richard Diebenkorn
Untitled
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $1,220,000
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26
Frank Stella
Scramble: Descending Blue Values/Ascending Spectrum
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $3,020,000
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27
Willem de Kooning
Untitled XVI
Estimate $8,000,000 - 12,000,000
Sold for $10,268,000
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28
David Hockney
Iris with Evian Bottle
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $2,204,000
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29
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Self Portrait
Estimate $9,000,000 - 12,000,000
Sold for $9,500,000
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30
Keith Haring and LA II (Angel Ortiz)
Untitled (Two-Panel Mural)
Estimate $700,000 - 900,000
Sold for $1,040,000
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31
Donald Judd
Untitled
Estimate $1,250,000 - 1,750,000
Sold for $1,385,000
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32
Robert Motherwell
Untitled (Elegy)
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $4,580,000
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33
Pat Steir
Monk Tuyu Meditating Waterfall
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
Sold for $800,000
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34
Dana Schutz
Signing
Estimate $250,000 - 350,000
Sold for $980,000
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35
Robert Colescott
Knowledge of the Past is the Key to the Future: The Original
Estimate $300,000 - 500,000
Sold for $400,000
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36
This lot is no longer available.
37
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled (Piss Piss Piss Piss)
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
Sold for $620,000
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38
Cy Twombly
Untitled
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $4,700,000
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39
This lot is no longer available.
40
Mark Tansey
View from Mt. Hermeneut
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $1,040,000
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41
Christopher Wool
Untitled
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
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42
Jean Dubuffet
Ciboulot Pistolet
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $500,000
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43
El Anatsui
Alter Ego
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $860,000
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44
Anish Kapoor
Untitled
Estimate $700,000 - 900,000
Sold for $860,000
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45
Chris Ofili
The Naked Spirit of Captain Shit and the Legend of the Black Stars
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $475,000
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20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale

New York Auction 16 May | On View at 432 and 450 Park Avenue

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Provenance

Exhibited

Literature

Catalogue Essay

Ο14

Joan Miró

Conque

20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale

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