Joan Miro (1893-1983) - L'Issue dérobée

Joan Miró Ferrà
L’Issue dérobée, 1974
Original etching in mixed technique — drypoint and color aquatint —.
Print made in Paris in 1974 within the graphic project conceived by Joan Miró for L’Issue dérobée, with text by poet Jacques Dupin. The work is signed in pencil by the artist on the recto and marked “H.C.” — hors-commerce — in the lower left corner.
This is an hors-commerce impression belonging to a very small print run of only 20 H.C. copies, a circumstance that makes it an especially rare piece on the market.
The composition clearly reflects the vocabulary of mature Miró: a tangle of free black lines and graphic constellations that traverse the space with spontaneity, balanced by a strong central chromatic core in orange, yellow, and purple. The drypoint provides an incisive, material vibration, while the color aquatint introduces depth and luminosity.
Untrimmed sheet, with full margins and visible original spidering, printed on Arches Vélin paper.
Sheet size: 502 × 325 mm.
Framed size: 70 × 59 cm.
Excellent condition: no foxing and it retains outstanding sharpness and chromatic freshness. The paper maintains its uniform tone and structural stability. It is presented in a vintage frame from the 1970s–80s, in good condition.
The work comes directly from the private collection of a historic French gallerist, a figure linked to the international art circuit of the second half of the 20th century and directly connected with artists of the stature of Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró. This provenance adds especially meaningful context to the piece, both for its proximity to the artistic milieu of the time and for the quality of the origin collection.
For discretion and privacy reasons, the full identity of the gallerist and the specific provenance details will be disclosed exclusively to the final buyer.
Work documented in Patrick Cramer, Catalogue raisonné des livres illustrés, p. 460, no. 187.
A piece of great graphic strength and notable rarity, representative of Miró’s freer and more poetic spirit around the mid-1970s.