Dated January 10, 1962, and on Palma de Mallorca letterhead, the present artwork includes a note to John Reiss from Joan Miró. In the note, Miró expresses thanks for a gift of beautiful paper and wishes Reiss a “bonne année.” Born in 1922, John Reiss was an internationally recognized designer who trained at Black Mountain College and began his career in New York. He ultimately made his mark in Milwaukee, his hometown, creating boldly simple exhibition catalogues for the Milwaukee Art Center (now the Milwaukee Art Museum). In addition to his design talent, Reiss began to collect art in the early 1950s, with the Milwaukee Art Center holding an exhibition of his collection in 1960. Earlier in 1960, Reiss had visited Europe and while there had a chance encounter with Miró on the island of Palma. The two struck up a friendship and traded letters over the next few years, including the present work. Reiss was photographed holding this letter, along with a second letter received from the artist, for a January 28, 1962, story in the Milwaukee Sentinel.

An established and highly respected artist by 1962, Miró was well known for his playful, abstract artworks. Miró developed his unique style early on, using organic forms and flattened picture planes described by sharp lines. This style was influenced in varying degrees by the automatism and expression of the subconscious espoused by Surrealism and Dadaism, with which the artist was heavily involved. In the 1920s, Miró was described by the poet André Breton as the “most ‘surrealist’ of us all” (André Breton, Le surréalisme et la peinture, Brentano’s, New York, 1945, p. 68).

Although Miró embraced the imaginative liberties of Surrealism, he never fully rejected the pictorial, developing a complex set of signs and symbols that he used to great effect. The present work is a spirited example of the artist’s work. It expresses the artist’s signature style, balancing the spontaneity and automatism of Surrealism with a meticulousness that achieves a finished rendering. In the drawing, a humorous, loosely drawn face with a large nose looks to the left, above a pair of knobbly legs and feet.   The primary colors have an invigorating effect and create a perfected, carefree, and energetic composition.