Of Smokers and Gardens

         I don’t have any biographical information about Cesar T. Miranda (Argentina, 1922-2014), so we’ll have to take his pieces purely on their own merits.  Unfortunately, even that can’t be as detailed a look as I’d like, since they have lots of very fine texture which I can’t quite make out on the computer screen.  Another one I’d really love to examine in person!

        The fact of the very fine lines leads me to guess that Miranda worked with wood engraving tools, even though these pieces are listed as “woodcut.”  Indeed, in the second piece it does look like there’s some wood grain showing, which would confirm woodcut carved on a plank, even if the tiny thin lines look like they were scratched out with engraving tools.  All the more reason I wish I could get a closer look at these to get a clearer sense of Miranda’s method.

        The question of technique is only one of the interesting things about Miranda’s work.  He also has an interesting style that combines representationalism with a very abstract use of shapes and patterns.  The first piece shows a bird flying across a landscape of lance-shaped trees.  I love the way the bird has at least five wings and a glow as if it were almost a shooting star.  I like the way the wings, tail and wind(?) seem to weave among the trees.  I like the patterns on some of the trees.  The sky appears to be entirely filled with fine textures that look almost scribbly, and yet evoke distant hills and birds.

        The second piece is called “Smoker in the Window,” and although smoking is not something that I normally find at all attractive, there are once again some really interesting choices here.  The way the rectangle of the window cuts across the man looks to me more like a noir-style shadow of a window.  The texture around the mouth looks like deeply wrinkled lips, but the skritchy texture all over the face doesn’t seem to correspond to anything representational.

My favorite thing about this one is the fun clouds of smoke.

        Finally, an exuberant garden in which the flowers look like fireworks.  Once again it’s the engraving-style textures that give this woodcut its unique look, with zigzags, crosshatching, and an effervescent riot of shapes.  It’s not easy to give an impression of a wildly blooming garden without any color, but Miranda has managed it.

[Pictures: Paisaje con Pájaro, woodcut by Cesar T. Miranda, 1964;

Fumador en la Ventana, woodcut by Miranda, 1964;

Jardín Púrpura, woodcut by Miranda, 1964 (All images from Rhode Island School of Design).]