MIRO AND THE UNITED STATES: Exhibit at the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.

Woman and Birds at Sunrise, by Joan Miro. Exhibit at the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.

Dream-like figures floating in space, sinuous lines, and all over patterns are a hallmark of the art of the Catalan artist Joan Miro (1893-1983). On my recent visit to the Phillips Collection art museum in Washington, D.C. I saw a fascinating exhibit of Miro’s work—mostly paintings, but also some sculptures—showing how he was influenced by American artists like Alexander Calder and Jackson Pollock, and how they in turn were influenced by him.

Left, The First Spark of Day II by Joan Miro. Right, August, Rue Daguerre by Joan Mitchell.

Miro and the United States is co-organized by the Phillips Collection and the Fundacio Joan Miro in Barcelona, Spain. It will be on view at the Phillips from March 21 to July 5, 2026.

Detail of Somersault, an early Miro work exhibited in the US in 1926 at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

The American public first became aware of Miro’s art beginning in the 1920s when it was shown at galleries and in Museum exhibitions in the US. 

Copy of Miro's mural in the Terrace Plaza Hotel, Cincinnati, Ohio.

But Miro’s first visit to the United States was not until 1947 when he came to paint a mural at the Terrace Plaza Hotel in Cincinnati, Ohio, a modern new hotel designed by the Chicago firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. A reproduction of the mural fills one large wall of the exhibit at the Phillips.

Passage of the Divine Bird by Joan Miro.

Another room of the exhibit is devoted to a series of 22 works called Constellations. In every piece we see groups of black dots joined by lines to form shapes similar to those of the Zodiac. Miro began the series when he was living and working in France in 1940. But when the Germans invaded France during WWII he escaped to Spain where he finished the series. The Constellation paintings were exhibited at his gallery in New York in 1945 to great acclaim.

Constellation series by Joan Miro.

Miro’s original Constellation paintings were done in gouache. Then in 1959, the Constellation series was reproduced as limited-edition prints using a stencil technique called couchoir. The works on exhibit are couchoir prints.

Person Throwing a Stone at a Bird, by Joan Miro.

On the day of my visit to the Phillips a class of middle school students was at the exhibit. In each room the teacher gave them an assignment. I overheard her telling the students to choose a painting without looking at the title and create their own title. I wonder what they came up with—it would be hard to beat some of the expressive titles Miro chose for his own work.

The Beautiful Bird Revealing the Unknown to a Pair of Lovers by Joan Miro.

During Miro’s visits to the United States he met many artists and also saw their work in various exhibits. In the show at the Phillips we see numerous examples of Miro’s paintings hung side by side with those of other artists, showing similarities in their choice of images and techniques. Information panels explain the connections. Alexander Calder and Miro became friends after meeting in Paris in 1928, and continued to exchange letters and ideas through the rest of their lives. You can see similarities between Miro's thin black lines and the wires that support Calder's sculptures. One critic said, “Calder’s mobiles are like living Miro abstractions.” 

Red Polygons by Alexander Calder is one of two his mobiles in the exhibit.

Jackson Pollack, the American painter famous for his "drip" paintings, also influenced Miro and has several paintings in the exhibit. In 1952, when Miro first saw Jackson Pollock’s paintings in Paris, he said “It freed me.” Some of the other artists influenced by Miro and represented in the exhibit include Joan Mitchell, Adolph Gottlieb, Barnett Newman, Norman Lewis,  Grace Hartigan, Willem de Kooning.

Left, Vigil by Adolph Gottlieb. Right, detail, Eyes in the Heat by Jackson Pollock.

Head by Joan Miro.

A few examples of Miro’s sculptures are included in the exhibit as well as those of several American sculptors—all displaying an imaginative approach to the world and the human figure.

Red Sun by Joan Miro.

In January 2015 I wrote about a visit to another Miro exhibit which was held at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University in North Carolina. At the time, the museum also had an exhibit of the art of Robert Rauschenberg. I wrote: “In both exhibits the viewer is asked to consider similar questions—What is art? What is the meaning of art? How do we see? What is my relationship to this piece of art.? In the current exhibit at the Phillips museum, I think one can ask the same questions as one considers Miro’s art and that of the American artists impacted by his work and who influenced him.

After viewing the Miro exhibit, my friend and I enjoyed a tasty lunch in the museum café on the first floor. It is adjacent to the excellent gift shop. Both the café and gift shop are open to the public, although one needs to buy a ticket to visit the galleries. I always enjoy visiting the Phillips Collection when I am in Washington, DC. Here are links to posts about previous visits.

May 19, 2019  THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION, Washington, D.C., Part 1: America's First Museum of Modern Art

March 9, 2020  THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION, Washington, D.C., Part 2:  What Do You Hang Over the Fireplace?

October 21, 2024   A TREASURE HOUSE OF MODERN ART, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. 

October 28, 2024   WHAT TO HANG OVER THE FIREPLACE, A Visit to the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.

ART WALK: Western Washington University Sculpture Collection

Stone Enclosure: Rock Rings by Nancy Holt. Western Washington University sculpture collection, Bellingham, WA.

At Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, giant sculptures occupy the campus from one end to the other. It is one of the most notable university art collections in the country. It features works from the late 20^th century to the present, ranging from massive to delicate, functional to inspirational, industrial to organic, conceptual to humorous, complex to deceptively simple. A huge variety. They are constructed of stone, metal, wood, cement and other materials.

Mark di Suvero (b. 1933), For Handel (pictured), 1975. Painted steel; 27’ h. and Mindseye, 1978. Steel. For Handel was created specifically for the Performing Arts Plaza and dedicated to the 18th Century composer George Frederic Handel. 

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In mid-July I visited the Western Washington University campus with my family, taking a self-guided tour of the art following a map and brochure we had downloaded from the art department website. Most of the sculptures are outdoors, although a few are inside buildings. The tour also included the art galleries in the Performing Arts Center--on one side an exhibit of a series of Alexander Calder tapestries and on the other, of paintings by Northwest artists. (Through the art gallery windows to the west is a magnificent view of the Bellingham harbor.)

A series of 13 tapestries by the sculptor Alexander Calder are presented near the left entrance to the Concert Hall of the Performing Arts Center.

We parked at the east end of the campus and then worked our way west, more or less in numerical order. By the time we stopped at each of the 31 pieces described in the brochure, it took us about two hours. It was a cool, overcast day, not unusual weather for Bellingham, which made it comfortable for walking and perfect for photography.

Beverly Pepper (1924-2020), Normanno Column, 1979-80. Cast iron; 102” h. x 11 1/4” w. x 11 1/4” d. Normanno Wedge, 1980. Cast iron.

Here are a selection of pieces that we saw. Most of the pieces in the collection are larger than life. I made a point of including people (usually my brother Tom) in many of my photos to provide a sense of scale. 

Robert Morris (1931-2018), Untitled (Steam Work for Bellingham), 1971; installed 1974. Rock with variable volume of steam. (Robert Morris was my sculpture teacher when I was in art school.)

Do Ho Suh (b. 1962), Cause and Effect, 2012. Cast resin and stainless steel. Hundreds of tiny figures, connected feet to shoulder, make up this hanging sculpture. 

Bruce Nauman (b. 1941), Stadium Piece, 1998-99. Concrete. 

Tom Otterness (b. 1952), Feats of Strength, 1999. Bronze. One of seven charming figures, each approx. 15” high

Lloyd Hamrol (b. 1937), Log Ramps, 1974. Reconstructed 1983 & 1995; Cedar.

Richard Serra (b. 1939), Wright’s Triangle, 1979-80. Corten steel

Alice Aycock (b. 1946), The Islands of the Rose Apple Tree Surrounded by the Oceans of the World for You, Oh My Darling, 1987. Water-filled cast concrete.

Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988), Skyviewing Sculpture, 1969. Painted iron plates.

Detail. Alexander Calder tapestry, 1974-75. Dyed and braided maguey fiber panel. Manufactured in Nicaragua.

David Ireland (b. 1930), Bigger Big Chair, 2004-07. Painted steel plates

Anthony Caro (1924-2013), India, 1976. Steel, rusted and varnished;

James FitzGerald (1910-1973). Rain Forest, 1959; installed 1960. Bronze fountain;

I thank my sister-in-law, Karen Neely, for leading us on this excellent tour. If you want to find out more about any of the pieces in the tour, download the Western Sculpture Garden brochure.

ALEXANDER CALDER SCULPTURES at SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA, by Caroline Arnold at The Intrepid Tourist

Fish Bowl by Alexander Calder at SFMOMA

Making a mobile is not only an exercise in creating visual balance, but actual physical balance of the various elements. The all-time master of the mobile is Alexander Calder and at the San Francisco Museum of Art (SFMOMA) there is a large room is dedicated to his work.
A year and a half ago I went to SFMOMA to see the spectacular retrospective exhibit Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again (now ended) and on my way I was sidetracked in the large room where works of Alexander Calder are displayed. I returned to see them again on a more recent visit in December 2019.

Mobiles by Alexander Calder

Large mobiles hang from the ceiling, their colorful flat shapes seeming to float in mid-air as the wires slowly rotated. Outside on the rooftop patio are a number of Calder’s large stabiles, lurking like large beasts enjoying the sun. But my favorite is a small piece–a wire fish bowl, complete with a snail and its spiral shell inching up the side of the bowl. It is like a 3-D drawing, using black wire instead of a pencil to define the shapes.
I once made a mobile in one of my art classes in college, using  found materials (tiny blocks of wood and other scraps I found at a construction site.) I discovered that it is not so easy to achieve the exact perfect balance when hanging the various wires! Which makes me admire the beauty and execution of Calder’s work even more.

Note: SFMOMA has been closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Check out their website for information on when they will reopen as well as forvideos and articles from around the museum that will give you food for thought, a reason to smile, or a moment of connection.

All text and photos, copyright Caroline Arnold.  www.theintrepidtourist.blogspot.com 

Entrance to SFMOMA