Joan Miró

Series

Pochoir

7 works

In the 1930s, Joan Miró began experimenting with the pochoir (French for “stencil”) printmaking technique to create Surrealist works on paper. Unlike the artist’s other favorite printmaking methods, etching and lithography, pochoir enabled him to create prints that most closely resembled his colorful gouache paintings. To create pochoir prints, Miró worked with master printmakers (including the renowned pochoir-expert Daniel Jacomet) to cut intricately-designed stencils and brush them with ink before running his designs through the printing press. The labor-intensive process produced unique, tactile prints, requiring a team of highly-trained experts to assist with the hand-coloring. While pochoir fell out of favor in the mid-20th century due to its costly production, Miró continued to use the stencil-technique throughout his career.