JOAN MIRÓ. "Le Grand Sorcier".

JOAN MIRÓ. "Le Grand Sorcier". Etching, aquatint, drypoint, and carborundum printed in colours on Chiffon de Mandeure paper, 1968, signed and numbered Miró 33/75. Printed and published by Maeght, Paris. S. 89.2 x 67.5 cm. Dupin 453. During the late 1960s, having practiced printmaking for more than four decades, Miró embarked on a series of large scale color aquatints with etching that are considered the peak of his graphic work. "Le Grand Sorcier" is among the most celebrated of these large scale color aquatints. Around this time, Miró had discovered the relatively new technique of carborundum (scientifically known as silicon carbide) which was mixed with a binding agent and applied to a printing plate. This application to the etched and aquatinted plates used to create these large scale color prints gives the images a textured, velvety quality, with rich deposits of ink in Miró's signature bright reds, blues, yellows, and deep blacks. The artist sought to create prints that had the visual qualities of his paintings, and matched their scale and commanding presence. He succeeded in producing among the most visually captivating graphic works of the 20th century in his large scale color aquatints. According to Jacques Dupin, the author of the catalogue raisonné of Miró's etched work, the artist achieved a breakthrough in these large scale prints, wth these "engravings-cum-paintings that might be hung on the wall, not stashed away in a folder . . . These are monumental, not merely dimension-wise, but also by their brilliance and depth, and the volcanic splashes animating them.".

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