Gravures Pour une Exposition (plate 3 of 4)

Joan Miro

This is plate three from a group of five prints, four color intaglios and on color lithograph, originally issued in a portfolio titled "Engravings for an Exposition", made on the occasion of the 1973 exhibition of Miro's work at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York. Published by the Pierre Mattise Gallery it included three variations of a spontaneous, gestural composition using color etching and aquatint and one color lithograph. It was printed in an edition of 75, plus 15 A/Ps, 5 HC (Hors Commerce) impressions, and 5 various other proofs.

Miro spent time at studios of Atelier 17 in the 1930s in Paris and the 1940s and 50s in New York. In New York, Miro and Hayter spent time studying the relief color printmaking techniques of William Blake in depth. These experiments, with the experiments by Krishna Reddy and Kaiko Moti, led to the development of simultaneous color printing, often referred to as 'viscosity' printing, opening a whole new world to printmakers since.