Joan Miro sculpture Milam at Capitol Houston

137 Pageviews July 9, 2013

 

Joan Miro 1893-1993

During the construction of the JP Morgan Chase Tower in downtown Houston, an art committee chosen by Morgan Chase commissioned Joan Miro to create a sculpture for the skyscraper's plaza at the corner of Milam and Capitol.  The story persists since the 1980s that Miro came to Houston to pick up a check for the sculpture before he began creating it.  Miro allegedly asked the committee if they had any particular art themes in mind for the sculpture.  Someone on the committee allegedly responded "Anything but an anatomically correct male nude."  This was in the 1980s.  Miro was already nearly ninety years old and world famous for surrealist sculptures loaded with sexual symbolism.  Miro was a Catalan (Spanish) artist who made Paris his home and ran with Picasso and his crowd.

The photos on this blog show what Miro actually created.  This male stick figure of an artist with palets in the primary colors is at least five stories high.  It features  bears no title other than "Miro."

Subsequently, JP Morgan Chase put the plaque naming the skyscraper itself on the back side of the building where there is no entrance.   This sculpture stands reaching toward the sky on the plaza at the front entrance to the tower.

The Morgan Chase website calls the sculpture "Personage with Birds."   Oddly, that is the title of a well known painting by Miro containing similar stick figures.  That website also calls the sculpture "a piece of whimsy."  On the contrary, "Miro" may be the most significant piece of art attributed to the Surrealists.  Their art looks out to space in its visions rather than to the old fashioned supernatural.   The sculpture has never caused any public outcry even though Houston is well-known for its Southern Baptist religious conservativism.

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We happily acknowledge that the interpretation of art can be subjective.  One matronly Houstonian tour guide told us she thought the sculpture represented a little girl and that the rose colored button in the center of the piece suggested the girl's belly button.

Someone much younger, and perhaps with current (2013) politics in mind said the sculpture made him think of Governor Rick Perry courting the votes of the Paul Dean and Sarah Palen crowds.  And someone into pop religion said she thought of Joel Onsteen preaching.

Obiously, therer's no science to interpreting art.

106 pageviews as of July 7, 2013

Another sculpture by Joan Miro at outdoor garden, Museum Fine Arts Houston

Joan Miro captures man's quest for great heights. Surrealism competes with supernatural.

You may enjoy comparing this 1960 Picasso piece to  "Miro."