Without the Sun (Sans le Soleil), Frontispiece

Artist Joan Miró Spanish, 1893 - 1983

Date1965

MediumAquatint (etching) on wove paper

DimensionsPlate mark: 2 5/16 x 5 5/8 in.
Sheet: 11 1/4 x 8 5/8 in. (28.6 x 21.9 cm)
Matboard: 12 3/8 x 14 in. (31.4 x 35.6 cm)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineDonated by Stephen J. Sills, M.D. in loving memory of his wife Nancy Mintz Sills.

Object number2008.3.9

On View

Not on view

Collections

Modern and Contemporary Art
Works on Paper

SignedSigned in pencil, lower right outside the plate mark: "Miró." underlined and a dot at the end.

InscribedLL in pencil outside the plate mark, the edition number: "16/25"

MarkingsAdhesive label on back typed with three lines of content; Line 1= "Sans le Soleil" in cursive font (probably had the word Title before it but no longer legible); Line 2 "ARTIST" (in black block printed caps) followed by "Miro" in curvsive font; Line 3 = "MEDIUM" (black block printed caps) followed by "Original Etching" in cursive font. [Removed to object file before 6/2009] In pencil in large writing across the corrugated cardboard backing: "3-599"

DescriptionA small horizontal plate with clear plate marks. The abstract design of two black 'c' scrolls flanking a bean-like shape, looking something like an assymetrical mustache. The inside upper curve of the right hand curl has an area of lighter toning that seems to refer to the dimming of the sun.

The Hyde image is horizontal while the the version of Sans le soleil I (from "Sans le soleil: The Color Impressions" is a vertical. It is horizontal in Sans le Soleil VIII, but in that image the scrolls turn downward while in the Hyde image they curl upward.

The signature and edition inscription are both large and stylishly written. The form of the signature is one that Miró used as the major design element in "Sans le soleil: The Color Impressions" Composition III and V.

The paper is textured and has a similar appearance to that used for the Sills Max Ernst print 2008.3.6, 'Etoile de Mer' which is vélin Arches and imitative of vellum.

Shadow-box like frame, gold wiped with black and having a rectangular stepped interior molding painted black. Tan silk covered outer mat, black inner.

Exhibition History"What's New? Recent Acquisitions 2008-2010", Hoopes Gallery, The Hyde Collection, March 3 - May 29, 2011.

“A Long Affair: Surrealism 1924 to Now,” Charles R. Wood Gallery, The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, New York, June 22 – Sept. 15, 2024.ProvenanceCollection of Sam Mintz, Great Neck, NY; Stephen and Nancy Mintz Sills, Guilderland, NY; Stephen Sills, Guilderland, NY, 2002; The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, NY, 2008.