Aidez L'Espagne. Help Spain. by Joàn Miró, 1893-1983

Joàn Miró, 1893-1983
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Aidez L'Espagne. Help Spain.

Stencil print (pochoir) in four colours. 1937. From the original edition with the artist's printed signature and his script inscription. Printed at the Imprimerie Moderne, Paris 1937. Issued by Cahiers d'Art, Paris 1937.

Ref: Dupin - Miro Engraver no 17.

Superb exceptionally fresh impression. Pale cream wove paper. Full margins. Sheet 310 x 240mm. Image 252 x 195mm. Miro's inscription to this key political and artistic statement reads: 'In the current conflict on the Facist side I see massive forces; on the other side are the people whose immense and creative resourcefullness will give Spain a vitality which will astonish the world.'

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‘Aidez Espagne’ is one of the most significant prints of Miro’s early period for it was in this work that the political convictions which lay beneath the surface of Surrealist art came to overt expression. In the late 1930’s painters, poets, writers and intellectuals in Europe and outside, and especially those of Spanish nationality, were almost all united in their condemnation of the Fascism of General Franco’s army, and of their attacks against Republican Spain. The Spanish Civil War was the cause ‘cause célebre’ inspiring some of the greatest artistic works of the era, including Picasso’s ‘Guernica’.

In 1937 antifascist politics were a major influence on Miro’s work, and it was in that year that he struck upon the idea of attempting to raise money for the Republican forces by a project for a 1 franc stamp. The design for the stamp, a Catalan farmer in his traditional red cap raising a great swollen fist, was also developed into a stencil print with a facsimile script annotation: ‘ In this present battle I see on the fascist side just the outdated forces, and on the other side, the people whose immense creative resources which will give Spain a power which will astonish the whole world’.

The stencil print was issued through Miro’s friend Zervos and Cahiers d’Art. Its ephemeral nature, and its topicality, meant that very many impressions were lost or damaged. This example is exceptional - in pristine perfect condition, never having been framed, and still with its cover sheet.