Collection Online as of December 7, 2023

Woman with Blond Armpit Combing Her Hair by the Light of the Stars (recto)

1940

Part of a set. See all set records

Joan Miró

(Spanish, 1893–1983)

Spain, 20th century

Watercolor and gouache over graphite

Support: White wove paper

Sheet: 37.9 x 45.8 cm (14 15/16 x 18 1/16 in.)

Contemporary Collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art 1965.2.a

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

This drawing was published in book alongside the other works from Joan Miro's "Constellations" series, accompanied by poems written by André Breton.

Description

This drawing belongs to a group of 23 works made by Joan Miro between January 1940 and September 1941, which he called "Constellations." All were made in Normandy, where the artist had retreated from the Spanish civil war. Miro juxtaposed blurry layers of watercolor in earthy tones with neatly linear lines in black ink and shapes in white gouache to develop his own language of symbols that suggested, in his words, "the night, music, and the stars." The fifth in the series, this drawing is dominated by a vague figural form at center, who draws a comb through her hair while holding a mirror through which shines the moon and a star. The allover abstract composition was a major influence on later artists, following a 1945 exhibition in New York.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Signed, lower left, in black gouache: Miró

Provenance

[E. V. Thaw & Co., Inc., New York].

Citations

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 199 archive.org

Henning, Edward B. "Joan Miró: Woman with Blond Armpit Combing Her Hair by the Light of the Stars." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 55 (1968): 71-77. Mentioned: pp. 71-77; Reproduced: pp. 74-75

Miró. Exh. Cat. Saint-Paul-de-Vence: Fondation Maeght, 1968. Mentioned: no. 38

Miró. Exh. Cat. Barcelona: Recinto del Antiguo Hospital de la Santa Cruz, 1968. Mentioned: p. 61, no. 42

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 199 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 248 archive.org

Rose, Barbara. Miró in America. Exh. Cat. Houston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1982. Mentioned: p. 4

Rolnik, Marc. Miró's Constellations: The Facsimile Edition of 1959. Exh. Cat. Purchase, NY: Neuberger Muesum, State University of New York at Purchase, 1983 Mentioned: p. 3; Reproduced: p. 5

Henning, Edward B. Creativity in Art and Science, 1860-1960. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1987. Mentioned: p. 79, no. 38; Reproduced: p. 80, plate VII

Joan Miró Campo de Estrellas. Exh. Cat. Madrid: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, 1993. Mentioned: pp. 114, 153, no. 65; Reproduced: p. 114

Lanchner, Carolyn. Joan Miró. Exh. Cat. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1993. Mentioned: p. 417, no. 160; Reproduced: p. 242

Cleveland Museum of Art, Diane DeGrazia, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000. Mentioned: P. 264-265, 298; Reproduced: P. 265, cat. no. 112

Exhibition history

Joan Miró: Constellations. Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York and Paris (1959).

Joan Miró: Ceramics 1944, Tempera Paintings 1940 to 1941, Lithographs 1944. Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York (1945).

Miró at Recinto del Antiguo Hospital de la Santa Cruz. Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain.

Miró by Fondation Maeght. Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France.

Year in Review: 1965. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 27-November 14, 1965).

Fifty Years of Modern Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 15-July 31, 1966).

Exposition Miro. Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France (organizer) (July 23-September 30, 1968).

The Spirit of Surrealism. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 3-November 25, 1979).

Miró in America. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (organizer) (April 21-June 27, 1982).

Creativity in Art and Science, 1860-1960. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 16-November 8, 1987).

Joan Miró: Campo de estrellas. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina SofÍa, Madrid, Spain (organizer) (January 20, 1990-March 22, 1993).

Joan Miró. Museum of Modern Art, NY (organizer) (October 17, 1993-January 11, 1994).

Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).

The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006).

Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape. Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (April 14-September 11, 2011).

Miró: The Constellations. Acquavella Galleries, Inc., New York, NY (organizer) (April 20-May 27, 2017).