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Art, Architecture, and Design
Mathew Brady’s financial woes in 1865
517. Mathew Brady Autograph Note Signed. ANS signed “B,” at the top of a letter to Brady from Elijah Cook, nephew of pioneer photographer Charles D. Fredricks, four pages on two adjoining sheets, 5 x 8, November 25, [1865], discussing business and mentioning the delivery of $200 to his aunt. At the top of the first page, Brady writes: “You will notice by the words underlined that the money was to have been handed to Mrs. Fredricks—that is why I sent it to him instead of Mrs. F. direct.” In fine condition, with several words and passages underlined in purple ink (most probably by Brady), intersecting folds, and a mild shade of overall toning. Starting Bid $200
A meal with Monet: “Will our dinner still happen on July 7? Where is Renoir?”
518. Gustave Caillebotte Autograph
Letter Signed. ALS in French, signed “G. Caillebotte,” one page both sides, 4 x 6, Petit Gennevilliers (Seine) letterhead, June 24, 1887. Handwritten letter to his friend and fellow artist, the great impressionist painter Claude Monet, in part (translated): “I haven’t been to Paris since the wedding of Martial but I have just written to know if your painting is back...I have many things in the works but one cannot always do what he wants. Nevertheless if the weather continues I do hope that I will be able to produce something of everything that is in the works. Will our dinner still happen on July 7? Where is Renoir?” Caillebotte adds a short postscript: “I suppose you are reading La Terre.” In fine condition. Starting Bid $200
519. Eugene Delacroix Autograph Letter Signed. ALS in French, signed “Eug. Delacroix,” one page both sides, 5.25 x 8.25, November 10, 1858. Addressed from Champrosay, an interesting handwritten letter to a close friend of Gustave Rouland, the minister of Public Instruction, concerning the promotion of a young painter in his entourage. He acknowledges receipt of a letter announcing the attribution of an indemnity granted at his request to the painter Vincent Joseph Ginovez. In fine condition. The painter was then staying in his villa of Champrosay in Draveil (Essonne), near the forest of Sénart. Vincent Joseph Ginovez was a painter from the Gers, like Gustave de Lassalle-Bordes, who for many years was Delacroix’s main collaborator in Paris. Starting Bid $200
who takes a place in the first rank of painters in the Romantic tradition and whose mastery of color and technique inspired both the Impressionist and Symbolist schools. ALS in French, signed “E. Delacroix,” one page, 5.5 x 8, December 10, 1856. Handwritten letter to a gentleman, in full (translated): “I will be absolutely ready to see you if you take the trouble of coming tomorrow Thursday between one and two. I am not very free in my movements and I apologize for that. Please accept all my consideration.” In fine condition. Starting Bid $200
Rare signed document from Gauguin while in French Polynesia, acknowledging payment from art dealer Vollard
521. Paul Gauguin Document Signed. Manuscript DS in French, signed
“Paul Gauguin,” one page, 8 x 4, no date but circa 1901-1903. Receipt issued at Atuona, Hiva Oa, French Polynesia, the final home of Paul Gauguin, where he resided from September 1901 until his death in May 1903. In full (translated): “Received from the [stamped: Commercial Society of Oceania / Papeete Agency] the sum of Seven hundred and one francs equivalent of 557.03 Marks deposited by Mr. A. Vollard Paris to Messieurs Scharf & Rayser, Hamburg.” Handsomely matted beneath a colorful print of his 1901 painting ‘Et l’or de leurs corps’ [And the Gold of Their Bodies] to an overall size of 13 x 16.75. In very good to fine condition, with light creasing, some light stains, and a repaired area to the upper left blank area.
A well-known patron of many struggling avant-garde artists, Vollard had secured an exclusive contract with Gauguin in 1899 by which Gauguin was granted a monthly salary of 300 francs, in addition to art materials, in return for a promised artistic output of 25 paintings per year. This receipt was undoubtedly one or two of Vollard’s monthly installments plus materials. Gauguin’s personal correspondence from this time period shows how anxious he became when mail was interrupted or he couldn’t connect with Vollard. Starting Bid $2500
Gauguin intercedes with a French official on behalf of the natives of Atuona, his adopted home in Polynesia
522. Paul Gauguin Autograph Letter Signed. ALS in
French, one page, 8 x 10, February 1903. Handwritten letter to Brigadier Claverie, written from his final home in Atuona, Hiva Oa, French Polynesia, interceding on behalf of the indigenous peoples of Anaiapa in a judicial matter. In part (translated): “In the name of the natives of Anaiapa, I come to ask you to ask the administrator to dismiss the native chief of this district for having given false testimony in court, which he admitted before witnesses heard by you.” In fine condition, with a small chip, and old tape stain, to the top edge.
Gauguin frequently found himself at odds with political officials of French Polynesia, serving as both an unofficial spokesman for the native population and an agitator on their behalf. As a means of protest, he withheld his own taxes and urged fellow settlers to do the same. He also encouraged natives to withdraw their children from school, and protested against local corruption and the exploitation of prisoners.
At the beginning of 1903, Gauguin engaged in a campaign designed to expose the incompetence of the island’s gendarmes, in particular Jean-Paul Claverie. Claverie responded by filing a charge against Gauguin of libeling a gendarme. He was subsequently fined 500 francs and sentenced to three months’ imprisonment by the local magistrate on March 27, 1903. Gauguin immediately filed an appeal in Papeete and set about raising the funds to travel there, but died suddenly on the morning of May 8, 1903, before the appeal could be heard. A fantastic autograph from the important painter, evoking his interest in native culture. Starting Bid $2500
523. Diego Giacometti Autograph Letter Signed. Swiss sculptor and designer (1902–1985) and the younger brother of the sculptor Alberto Giacometti. ALS in French, signed “Diego,” one page both sides, 6 x 3.5, March 27, 1968. Addressed from Paris, a handwritten letter to painter Jean Lemaire, in full (translated): “Thank you for your news. I am very happy to see you at the end of this week. The death of Jeanne Rey-Millet affects me a lot. I wish I had seen him again. We haven’t seen each other too often lately but I liked him very much. I would like to leave for a few days in Easter but I may not because in my country, Switzerland, it is still too cold in April. See you soon.” In fine condition. Starting Bid $200
524. Edouard Manet Autograph Letter Signed. Important 19th
century French painter (1832–1883) whose works were a seminal influence on the impressionists of the succeeding generation. ALS in French, signed “E. Manet,” one page, 4.25 x 6.5, no date. Handwritten letter to a friend, in full (loosely translated): “I’ve had enough of pestering you, dear friend, I had something to do in Chatou on Monday and I was planning to take you with me, we would have made an excellent full water. My whole day on Thursday is taken up, so I would like you to come and take me to lunch on Friday or Saturday.” In fine condition. Starting Bid $200
Monet embraces the Nordic cold in early 1895: “It’s to the great astonishment of the Norwegians to see me put up with this”
525. Claude Monet Autograph Letter Signed. ALS in French, signed “Your old Claude,” six pages, 5.25 x 8.25, Giverny par Vernon Eure letterhead, February 9, 1895. Lengthy and amusing handwritten letter to his wife Alice on his stay in Norway. In part: “Here the cold becomes extremely sharp...It’s to the great astonishment of the Norwegians to see me put up with this, and especially to see me in Norway in winter.” He notes that they traveled through “beautiful pine forests…where there is no village, there is now and then a chalet, it is a stopping place for horses and people. You are quite surprised to enter real salons, to be received there by civilized, amiable and gracious people, happy to offer you hospitality. What beautiful things to see there, from the top of these sheer mountains on huge lakes completely taken and covered with snow, we had in these places more than a meter and our sled slipped on it, the horse in sweat all covered in frost and ice like us. I also saw enormous waterfalls of hundred meters but completely frozen, it is extraordinary.” Four of the pages are marked in red ballpoint. In fine condition. Starting Bid $500
526. Claude Monet Autograph Letter Signed. ALS in
French, signed “Claude,” two pages on two adjoining sheets, 4.5 x 7, [February 1888]. Handwritten letter from Antibes and addressed to his future wife, Alice Hoschede. Monet surprised by the date of his letter, writes in part (loosely translated): “At the great gallop here is the time which is finally recovering…It is undoubtedly your preoccupations which turned your head… then as the day before you said to me to have received the last farewell of the servants whom you had retained, I did not understand well of which you spoke to me.” He concludes by asking her to send him “by parcel post from the Antibes station a few good nightgowns.” In fine condition, with slight separations to fold. Starting Bid $200
527. Pablo Picasso Signed Greeting Card. Greeting card depicting one of the 26 plates Pablo Picasso produced for his 1959 portfolio ‘José Delgado: La Tauromaquia,’ depicting a bullring with matador and charging bull, measuring 13.5 x 4.5 open, signed inside in ballpoint, “Picasso.” The card is also signed in black felt tip by his stepdaughter Catherine, and features a handwritten note in French by his wife Jacqueline, who signs below. In fine condition. Starting Bid $200
529. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Autograph Letter
Signed. Important French painter and printmaker (1864–1901) whose lively, colorful portrayals of the people and places of finde-siècle Paris take a place among the most iconic images of the era. Toulouse-Lautrec’s immersion in art stemmed largely from his isolation following a disfiguring teenage accident that failed to heal properly, preventing his legs from growing further while his torso continued to develop normally. ALS in French, four pages on two adjoining sheets, 4.25 x 6.75, no date. Untranslated handwritten letter to his mother, signed at the conclusion in English, “Your boy, Harry,” at the end of the postscript with his initial, “H.” In fine condition. Toulouse-Lautrec first began to exhibit his paintings in a Montmartre cabaret in 1884. Described by the contemporary critic Gustave Geffroy as ‘the quintessential chronicler of Paris,’ Toulouse-Lautrec enjoyed critical acclaim and his work was sought after by collectors. The painter was particularly close to his mother, Adèle Tapié de Celeyran, who had long supported his artistic ambitions and was a frequent correspondent. By 1893, he was crippled by alcoholism and moved in with his mother while being spurned by other family members for his drunken behavior and the subjects of his paintings. In 1899, she abruptly left Paris, which prompted him to suffer a mental collapse and he was committed to a sanatorium. Starting Bid $500
Pissarro to Impressionist master Claude Monet, updating him on the health of his son Lucien
528. Camille Pissarro Autograph
Letter Signed. ALS in French, signed “C. Pissarro,” two pages on two adjoining sheets, 4 x 6, June 10, 1897. Addressed from London, a handwritten letter to fellow painter Claude Monet, acknowledging that he understands the embarrassment of Monet, who was unable to invite him “to the wedding feast” of his son Jean: “I too find myself very much prevented, at this moment, as a result of Lucien’s long convalescence, from attending anything.” He bids good wishes for the young couple, and states that he plans to stay in London “until Lucien’s full recovery,” but thinks he will be able to leave for Eragny at the end of the month. In fine condition, with scattered faint toning. Starting Bid $300
530. Andy Warhol Signed Exhibition Poster. Fantastic
color 22.75 x 33 poster for an Andy Warhol exhibition at the Galerie Kammar in February/March 1982, boldly signed in the lower right in thick black felt tip by Andy Warhol. The poster features a great image of a ‘pop art’ Mickey Mouse, and boasts a large red facsimile signature. In very fine condition. Warhol created this image of Disney’s beloved cartoon mouse as part of his ‘Myths’ series, which explored icons of American popular culture; other subjects included Uncle Sam, Santa Clause, and Superman. Starting Bid $200
531. Jack Butler Yeats Autograph Letter Signed. \
ALS signed “Jack B. Yeats,” one page, 10 x 8, 18 Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin letterhead, July 30, 1952. Handwritten letter to Henri Corbiere, in full: “Thank you for thinking of me in connection with your most interesting questions. But I am sorry to say I can answer none of these. For myself I never talk about my painting. Your idea of a one word farewell is magnificent. It delights me to picture the heroes trying to produce dying speeches of one word only.” In fine condition. Starting Bid $200
