Torse de femme

In contrast to his "assemblage-sculptures" in which Miró combined disparate found objects to create an ambiguous image based on multiple and contrasting visual metaphors (see lot 408), the artist also fashioned monothematic works, in which the impact of the subject emerges from the unity that the artist has contrived from its component elements. Torse de femme is an example of the latter type. Assembled from a dish-like form that represents the head, and something resembling a pierced boulder in the place of her belly, with an inverted Y- shaped tree branch that serves for her breasts, Torse de femme possesses the singular power of a prehistoric female fertility figure.

Miró often marked his figures with signs, as seen here. Jacques Dupin has written, "After establishing his volumes and assembling his objects, it sometimes occurs that the sculptor, to rid himself of them, must still trace a graphic sign that will complete the work and particularize it, must still inscribe signs of recognition. The signs Miró traces or scratches or cuts on the slab of the mass of wax more often than not possess a rough, primitive simplicity. The absence of colour, their isolation, the depth of their grooves or the boldness of their relief gives them a graver, more insistent accent. The indication of the female sex, for instance, achieves in his large sculptures the superlative solemnity of a ritual celebration" (Miró as Sculptor, Barcelona, 1984, p. 21).