Curator, Anne Umland: _Portrait of a Dancer_…is one of a group of four collage constructions that Miró made in Paris in 1928. All of them… had titles that related to the world …of dance.
The dancer's body is comprised of this long, rather frightening-looking hat pin…that then has been…stuck through this protruding cork, impaled…And then a feather has been draped across the back of the cork, held in place by the hat pin. So…Miró creates in that way, the fundamental coordinates of a human body, the vertical axis, the horizontal for the arm... In one sense, literally, this work, takes painting and just consigns it to a supporting role.
Conservator, Jim Coddington: His choice of the background paint which is ripolin, which is a household enamel paint, a relatively new material, that was used in commercial and domestic settings. The use of that paint is very conscious on his part, in that as the paint dries, it flows out and eliminates all devoid of any sense of hand on the part of Miró.
Anne Umland: What's interesting is that if you get right up close and look at it, there are still these two little…stamped stars on the tip of this cork that are like a strip-teaser's pasties… It's just the oddest mixture, I think, of seduction and sadism. You cannot look at this and not think of skewering and of the way that actually the…figure…was put together. And at the same time, it's just this exquisite example of how Miró could take these familiar objects and make them signify a figure that he has pinioned here for our observation and delectation.