Joan Miro lithographs, gravures on display in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

Jean Christophe Hubert

More than 300 artworks of the world-famous Catalan artist Joan Miro have gone on display at Istanbul’s UNIQ Expo in a new exhibition titled “Joan Miro Lithograph and Gravure.” 

Around the themes of surrealism, the role of childhood, freedom, colors, hand of the artist, simplicity and Spain, the exhibition features Miro’s oil paintings, drawings, collages and letters as well as 20 artworks by his close friend Pablo Picasso. 

“In the modern age, today’s art lovers do not know what techniques artists used and how they worked a century ago. For example, it is a technical process to produce a work with a lithograph machine. There is a very long preparation process. You can work with acid on stone or wood. Art is not only made up of sculpture and oil painting,” Jean Christophe Hubert, the curator of the exhibition, told state-run Anadolu Agency. 

Undertaking nearly 70 collections along with the Miro and Picasso museums in Belgium, Hubert also carries out studies at the Liege University. 

Hubert pointed out the importance of the exhibition in terms of the number of works and techniques used. “Great artists do not only paint with a brush in their hands, but also have to produce a variety of techniques,” he said. 

Starting in 1948, Miro created at least one work a week for 35 years, producing a total of 1,500 artworks, he said. 

According to him, Miro did not take inspiration from anything but used his freedom and imagination in his works. 

Reactions of Turkish and Belgian children 

Hubert said Miro had a spontaneous understanding in order to work within the source of art. 

“Turkish children aged 4-5, who visited the exhibition, showed the same reaction as children in Belgium. Miro wanted to lift limits and barriers in art and he did it. Human is the only creature that can make art. When children receive education, you tell them what to do. Miro did not want that; he used lithographs to make his art accessible. Because he was able to produce 2,000-3,000 artworks with lithographs,” he said. 

Technic director Vincen Damseaux, who is in charge of hanging the artworks within a concept in the exhibition, said that for a Leonardo da Vinci exhibition they had worked with a team of 20 people for two and a half years with the support of computer programs. 

Stating that the da Vinci exhibition was a mobile exhibition with 10 tons of material, Damseaux said: “Da Vinci exhibitions are still stable and very few can be carried. Here we are talking about a mobile exhibition of 100 pieces. We coincidentally started working together with the da Vinci exhibition. We decided to make the Miro exhibition mobile like the da Vinci one, and our first stop was Istanbul.” 

The exhibition will be on at UNIQ Expo until Dec. 2.