318 - Joan Miró - Alfred Jarry. Ubu Roi. Original lithographs by Joan Miró. Paris, Tériade 1966. Includes twelve double-sheet color lithographs and a 13th as the cover. Loose double sheets in original cover. Light gray-green original slipcase with outer case, title on spine in gold lettering.

Joan Miró - Alfred Jarry. Ubu Roi. Original lithographs by Joan Miró. Paris, Tériade 1966. Includes twelve double-sheet color lithographs and a 13th as the cover. Loose double sheets in original cover. Light gray-green original slipcase with outer case, title on spine in gold lettering. Auction start time: approx. 4:02 p.m. (schedule subject to change) One of 180 copies; an additional 25, numbered in Roman numerals, were published “hors commerce.” - Edition note signed by the artist. - On Vélin d’Arches. - The opulent typography and text were produced at the Imprimerie Nationale, while Mourlot printed the 13 magnificent, vibrantly colored lithographs. - “Originally, in 1888, the 15-year-old Alfred Jarry wrote a grotesque comedy for marionettes. “However, the later play *King Ubu* [1896] became more than a caricature of a simple-minded and selfish citizen; Jarry, the precursor of the Dadaists and Surrealists, created a mythical figure in a world of grotesque archetypal images. [...] The monstrous puppet show transfers psychological processes directly to the stage through parodic exaggeration and thus becomes a precursor to modern absurd theater. “King Ubu,” conceived as a deliberate satire of theatrical conventions, is permeated with literary parodies, particularly of Shakespearean characters. Thus, King Ubu appears as a travesty of King Lear, and Mother Ubu as a vulgarization of Lady Macbeth.” (KNLL VIII, 635f.). — See also Cat. Nos. 318 and 325. Cramer 107. - Mourlot 394ff. - LC 2001 151. - Not listed in Monod 43.0 : 33.0 cm. [4], 133, [9] pages, 12 lithographs. - Spine and edges of the chemise heavily faded. - The uncut page edges are partly slightly foxed; isolated pages also show foxing in the margins. English description: With twelve double-sheet-sized color lithographs inserted and a 13th serving as the wrapper. Loose double sheets in their original wrapper. Light gray-green original chemise with matching slipcase; gilded title on the spine. One of 180 copies; an additional 25, numbered in Roman numerals, were published “hors commerce.” - Edition note signed by the artist. - On Vélin d’Arches. - The opulent typography and text were produced at the Imprimerie Nationale, while Mourlot printed the 13 magnificent, vibrantly colored lithographs. “Miró’s three-dimensional work also has its parallels in the world of illustration. In 1966, after completing a set of bronze sculptures, he began the task of illustrating Alfred Jarry’s *Ubu Roi*, published by Tériade. The result was certainly surprising: each of the thirteen prints is treated more as a stage set than as a drawing, as if it were a space in which volumes—in this case, the characters in the play—can move freely. The grotesque, rounded forms of the characters—they seem to be inflated—undoubtedly stemmed from a profound study of Jarry’s text, which had so impressed Miró. Here, contrary to his usual practice, the artist illustrated the text as if he were staging the play, following it to the letter. Some time later, in 1978, these “sets” of Miró’s illustrations were used for a play staged by the Claca Teatre group, *Mori el Merma*, which was based on Jarry’s text, Miró’s illustrations and all the material—both published and unpublished—produced by Miró in connection with the character created by Alfred Jarry.” (Rosa Maria Malet, in: Cramer, p. 11). - “The original creator of the vicious and sinister Ubu was Alfred Jarry, whose play ‘Ubu-Roi’ was first performed in 1888 [...] Although Ubu shocked and offended the public, the grotesque little monster carved out a place for himself in the 20th century.” (Eleanor Garvey). - “The prints, however, are richly colored, drawn, and finished, as well as more formal and painterly than most of Miró’s graphic work.” (Robert Flynn Johnson, in: LC) Spine and edges of the dust jacket are heavily faded. - The untrimmed edges of the pages are somewhat foxed in places; a few pages are foxed along the margins.