Autograph letters from painters, sculptors, musicians, choreographers, dancers, manuscripts, signed notes and postcards

Exceptional collection of 49 original watercolours depicting daily life in Tonkin, most illustrating rural scenes.

These unsigned watercolours, each measuring approximately 20 x 15 cm (excluding margins), are finely executed in Indian ink and watercolour, with touches of gouache, on paper sheets—some bearing the watermark "Latune et Cie Blacons."

Contemporary half red cloth binding, smooth spine covered in red shagreen, some rubbing to the spine, boards of marbled paper, blue endpapers and pastedowns.

Minor foxing to the margins of some watercolours.

The scenes depict a variety of subjects: a military post guarded by four soldiers, one standing sentry at the entrance; a guard in white uniform holding a rifle with a long bayonet, his head covered by a salacco (the traditional headgear of Indochinese riflemen); an elderly man seated at a table, smoking a pipe while being fanned by a servant; a peasant ploughing with two oxen; a woman praying at a grave; another peasant tilling the soil; two villagers meeting near a small bridge; four people working in a paddy field; a man in formal dress before a temple; three peasants harvesting rice; a cockfight, and more.

Also depicted are villagers carrying goods or fishing, wrestlers performing before a dignitary, a child guiding a blind man, two labourers transporting stones in a wheelbarrow, a procession led by a mounted dignitary carrying a wild boar in a cage, a prisoner being flogged, another about to be beheaded, a hunting scene, musicians, a woman at a loom, villagers at play, and so on.

Western presence is alluded to only once: an Indochinese sailing vessel flies three tri-colour flags while a steamship, probably French, makes its way in the background…

Accompanied by a piece of light brown calfskin (4 x 32 cm) blind-stamped with the inscription "Souvenir du Tonkin 1885-90".

A rare and precious visual record of Tonkin at the beginning of the French protectorate.

Original ink composition in magenta, brown, green, and blue hues, titled and signed “Moscou / LD” by Léon Deubel made on the verso of a leaf from his collection of poems titled La Lumière natale.

Magnificent multicoloured ink-blot drawing (klecksography) signed by the poète maudit Léon Deubel, inspired by Arthur Rimbaud’s Illuminations. This early Rorschach-like fold drawing was created using a technique dear to Victor Hugo.

Exceptional album comprising 54 original caricatures, some captioned, executed in India ink, pencil, and watercolour (including three small pencil sketches on loose leaves), together with several blank leaves.

This entertaining and highly personal album, evidently compiled by an amateur artist, appears to chronicle the various adventures and misadventures of a small cast of recurring characters, all seemingly connected in one way or another with the French Embassy to the Ottoman Porte, as suggested by a piece of official letterhead inserted between two leaves.

Contemporary full ivory vellum with yapped edges, smooth spine ruled in red, a restored split at the head of the spine, red fillets framing the boards, some marking to the covers, comb-marbled endpapers, red edges.

The album also includes one autograph letter signed in black ink, embellished with marginal caricatures, addressed to Mr H. Fournier and opening with "Cher Washington n°2".

The recipient of this satirical, illustrated letter appears to be the diplomat Hugues Marie Henri Fournier (1821–1898), appointed ambassador to Constantinople in 1877.

The adventures of the small group, identified by captions in black pencil, seem to begin in Florence in September 1872 and continue on to Rome.

The album includes, among other scenes, a watercolour depicting the Temple of Vesta.

In December 1872, according to an ink caption, the group—comprising the Vicomtes Bresson, de Mareuil, d'Hauterive, and d'Hérisson—is caricatured in Rome: at the theatre, on the Capitoline Hill, on horseback, and so forth.

A panoramic watercolour likewise satirises the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and its protagonists.

Also portrayed in pencil alongside Fournier are General de Castelbajac and the Baron de Talleyrand.

The album further contains a fine pencil portrait of Khalil Bey.

The renowned Ottoman diplomat and collector, born in Cairo in 1831 and deceased in Istanbul in 1879, had indeed returned to Constantinople in 1872, after his ambassadorship in Vienna (1868), to marry the Egyptian princess Nazli Fazl. In addition to his role in the Crimean War, he is remembered for his celebrated art collection which, sold at auction in 1868, included works by Courbet (among them L'Origine du monde), Ingres, Delacroix, and others.

The Comte d'Osmond and Alfred de Courtois are likewise caricatured.

The album also features a view titled Pointe imaginaire du sérail and a watercolour depicting a game of lawn tennis.

A unique ensemble.

Original ink drawing by Marie-Laure de Noailles, signed "Marie-Laure" within the artwork (appearing twice as a result of folding the paper while the ink was still wet). With an autograph postcard signed to Valentine Hugo, with 2 inscriptions and some parts of the photograph drawn over. 

A Rorschach-like Surrealist decalcomania by Marie-Laure de Noailles created for painter and photographer Valentine Hugo, the “Queen of Hearts” of the Surrealists.

New edition and the first printing of Jacques Tardi’s illustrations.
Publisher’s white boards, smooth spine.
A handsome copy.
Presentation inscription, dated and signed by Jacques Tardi to Joëlle Passani, with an original black-felt drawing depicting a sorrowful-faced Bardamu in a small vignette.
 

Handwritten postcard from André Breton signed by himself, his wife Elisa, Benjamin Péret, Toyen and Jindřich Heisler addressed to Marcel Jean and his wife and written on the back of a black and white photograph view of the Chaise-du-Curé rocks on the Île de Sein (Finistère).
Charming poetic postcard, written during a stay in Brittany: "la corne de brume manque à tous ses devoirs quoique le coupage au couteau soit de règle. Dans la vase à quoi se limite la vue de l'hôtel de l'Océan un bateau penché dit son nom : "Rose effeuillée". Rien de moins. Mais c'est toujours très bien dans l'ensemble." Returning to more “professional” discussions, Breton asks for news of the American gallery owner Sidney Janis: “What was the result of the Janis' visit?”

Autograph letter signed "R" by Auguste Renoir, addressed to his friend and great collector of his works Paul Bérard. One and a half pages in black ink on a bifolium.
Horizontal fold mark inherent to mailing.

 

Autograph letter signed by Auguste Renoir, dated in his hand 5 February 1909. 2 pp. in black ink on a double leaf.

Horizontal mailing fold. Renoir penned this letter at his villa Les Collettes in Cagnes, where he created works of great sensuality and essayed sculpture. The painter orders brushes and refers to an expected visit from the family of Dr Emile Baudot, his physician of long standing and chief medical officer of the Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Ouest. Renoir's sole pupil was the venerable doctor's daughter, Jeanne Baudot, of whom he painted a portrait and who sat alongside her master for a canvas by Maurice Denis.

Maurice Gangnat was a patron, distinguished collector, and intimate friend of Renoir, whom he first met in 1904 through the offices of Paul Gallimard. Upon being introduced to Renoir, his pictures so delighted him that he purchased twelve forthwith, at a cost of twenty thousand francs. He possessed the connoisseur's eye, and Renoir permitted him to select the finest of each spring's production: "He has the eye," he would say of him.

Between 1905 and 1917, Gangnat acquired one hundred and eighty canvases during his sojourns at Les Collettes, among them thirty-six landscapes of Cagnes and its environs.

"Cher Monsieur Gangnat,
Je retrouve sur ma table une lettre que je croyais depuis longtemps à la porte.
Je vous disais que j'avais reçu un avis de la Banque marseillaise ou vous avez eu l'obligeance de déposer de l'argent pour moi et que je vous renverrais ( ?)
Je prends la liberté de vous charger de m'apporter un paquet de pinceaux. Millaud vous les apportera chez vous. Nous comptons toujours sur vous le plus tôt possible. Les Baudot doivent me faire leur visite annuel vers le commencement de mars. Ce pauvre docteur est replacé à la gare Saint Lazare. Ce mois-ci il s'y attendait. [...]
J'espère que vous êtes en bonne santé et prévenez nous pour vous aller chercher à la gare.
Ma femme et moi vous envoyons toutes nos amitiés ainsi qu'à Madame Gangnat et à Philippe [...]"

 

["Dear Monsieur Gangnat, I have discovered upon my desk a letter which I believed long since dispatched. I was informing you that I had received notice from the Marseille Bank where you were good enough to place money on deposit for me and that I should return it to you (?). I take the liberty of charging you with bringing me a packet of brushes. Millaud will convey them to your residence. We continue to count upon you at the earliest opportunity. The Baudots are to pay me their annual visit toward the commencement of March. That poor doctor has been reassigned to the Gare Saint-Lazare. He was expecting it this month. [...] I trust you are in good health and pray advise us so that we may meet you at the station. My wife and I send you our warmest regards, together with our compliments to Madame Gangnat and to Philippe [...]"]

A charming and vivid letter from the artist to an intimate friend during his Cagnes period, ordering brushes for future masterworks, notably his Ode aux fleurs executed that year.

Portrait of Tsuguharu Foujita, original photograph on albumen paper. Blue stamp of the studio "Photographie Simon's, 40 rue de Passy, Paris" on the back of the print.

Splendid portrait inscribed by Foujita on his birthday: "A Lolotte Rabinovitz / Avec mes amitiés / Je suis toujours / prêt à toi [sic] / à Yoshinoya New York / ma fête 27 nov 1930". "To Lolotte Rabinovitz / With my friendship / I am always / close to you / at Yoshinoya New York / my birthday 27 Nov 1930".

Ami, tu veux / Devenir poète / Ne fais surtout pas / L'imbécile / N'écris pas / Des chansons trop bêtes / Même si les gourdes / Aiment ça

Exhibition catalogue of paintings by Tony Curtis, presented at the Center Art Galleries in Hawaii.

Catalogue illustrated with reproductions of works by Tony Curtis.

A very good copy. The original mailing envelope for the catalogue is included.

Signed by Tony Curtis in blue felt-tip pen on the front cover of the catalogue.

Provenance: from the collection of the distinguished autograph collector Claude Armand.

Later print of a black and white photograph of Joan Crawford, taken in the 1950s.

A fine copy.

Inscribed and signed by Joan Crawford to the renowned autograph collector Claude Armand: "Dear Claude thnak you for your warming letter. Bless you Joan Crawford."

Newspaper clipping from the Tribune de Genève featuring a photograph of Uri Geller, highlighting his skills as a magician and metal bender.

Rare autograph by Uri Geller in black felt-tip pen on his photograph.

Almost entirely unpublished handwritten letter from the painter Eugène Delacroix to the love of his youth, the mysterious “Julie”, now identified as being Madame de Pron, by her maiden name Louise du Bois des Cours de La Maisonfort, wife of Louis-Jules Baron Rossignol de Pron and daughter of the Marquis de La Maisonfort, Minister of France in Tuscany, patron of Lamartine and friend of Chateaubriand.

90 lines, 6 pages on two folded leaves. A few deletions and two bibliographical annotations in pencil on the upper part of the first page (“n^o114”).

This letter is one of the last to his lover in private ownership, all of Delacroix's correspondence to Madame de Pron being kept at the Getty Research Institute (Los Angeles).
Only nine of the ninety lines of this unpublished letter were transcribed in the Burlington Magazine in September 2009, alongside the long article by Michèle Hanoosh, Bertrand and Lorraine Servois, whose research finally revealed the identity of the famous recipient.

Sublime love letter from twenty-four-year-old Eugène Delacroix, addressed to his lover Madame de Pron, twelve years his senior, who unleashed the liveliest passion in him. This episode of the painter's youth, then considered the rising star of Romanticism, for a long time remained a mystery in the biography of Delacroix, who was careful to preserve the anonymity of his lover thanks to various pseudonyms: “Cara”, “the Lady of the Italians”, and even “Julie”, as in this letter, in reference to the famous epistolary novel Julie ou la Nouvelle Héloïse by Rousseau. For obvious reasons, Delacroix did not sign his name on any of the letters in correspondence with the lady.

A great figure of the legitimate aristocracy, the recipient of this feverish letter is Madame de Pron, daughter of the Marquis de La Maisonfort, Minister of France in Tuscany, patron of Lamartine, friend of Chateaubriand. Her beauty was immortalized in 1818 by Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, who painted her portrait in pastel, with an oriental hairstyle.
Delacroix and Madame de Pron met in April 1822 when the portrait of the latter's son, Adrien, was commissioned, a pupil at the Lycée Impérial (now Lycée Louis-le-Grand). Delacroix had been commissioned for the portrait by his close friend Charles Soulier, Madame de Pron's lover, who despite himself, served as an intermediary for Delacroix. In the absence of Soulier, who had gone to Italy, the painter and the young women established an intense romantic relationship. The portrait commission became a pretext for their tender meetings in his studio on rue de Grès, while no trace of the child's painting has been found to this day.
Their adventure lasted a little over a year, but it was one of the most intense passions of the artist's life.
Our letter undoubtedly corresponds to the last throes of their relationship, in the month of November 1823. After one of their visits at the end of a hiatus of several months, Delacroix writes to her again under the influence of emotion: “I come home with a shaken heart, what a wonderful evening! [...] Sometimes I say to myself: why did I see her again? In the calm sanctuary where I lived, even in the middle of the invisible places that I had formed [...] I managed to silence my heart”. Madame de Pron had indeed decided to bring an end to their intimate relationship (see her letter from 10 November 1823: “I want sweet friendship [...] I do not want to torment you”, (Getty Research Institute). Losing all discernment and with blind devotion, Delacroix attempts to revive their affair: “Make me lie, prove to me that your soul is indeed that of the Julie that I once knew, since mine has regained its charming emotions and its worries”.
But the painter runs into Soulier and General de Coëtlosquet, also lovers of Madame de Pron. Delacroix had narrowly avoided a final disagreement with Soulier, who had almost seen a letter from Madame de Pron in his apartments: “I pretend to have lost my key [...] I hope that my wrong towards him will not affect his relations with... God grant that he always ignores it!” (Journal, 27 October 1822, ed. Michèle Hanoosh, vol. 1, p. 94).

A prisoner of this love square, Delacroix resigns himself to sharing his lover's affection, but he bitterly reproaches her for it: “I fear that you cannot love perfectly. There has been a gap in your feelings which has been fatal to you [...] tell me no, tell me anyway, fool me if you want, I'll believe you, I want to believe you so much and I need it”.
Formalities and familiar invectives merge in the tormented mind of the painter. Ironically, Delacroix frequently stayed with Madame de Pron's other lover, her cousin Empire Général Charles Yves César Cyr du Coëtlosquet, with whom she stayed in rue Saint-Dominique. Delacroix will take his revenge on this rival in 1826 by painting for him the famous Nature morte aux homards (Louvre museum), taking care to slip in facetious references to the ultra-royalism of his sponsor: "I have completed the General's painting of animals [...] He has already seduced a provision of amateurs and I believe that will be funny at the Salon (1827-1828)” he writes in a letter to Charles Soulier.

A memory of Delacroix's affair with Madame de Pron remains in his ongoing painting, the Scènes du Massacre de Scio, a revelation of the 1824 Salon, which will place Delacroix as the leader of Romanticism and will revolutionise the history of painting. Indeed, through his lover, he obtained Mamluk weapons, of which there remains a study (J72) and which appear on the sides of the Spahi charging the women in the final composition. Also, a watercolor album at the hand of his friend Soulier shows him in the process of decorating the room of his former lover with Pompeian decorations in the château de Beffes, where he will briefly stay in June 1826.

The ardor of his passion for Madame de Pron is finally revealed by this letter which does not appear in any bibliographical essay or correspondence of the painter. Later, Delacroix will remember his lover fondly: “You will tell Madame de Pron that French women have no equal for grace” (letter to Soulier, 6 June 1825).

Three original childhood photographs of Maurice Béjart, and his birth announcement 
[after 1927] | 12.2 x 17.2 cm| three photographs and a card
Three original photographs of Maurice Béjart as a child beside his mother, taken in Mougins.
We attach the birth announcement, dated 1 January 1927, printed with his name “Maurice Jean Berger.”
Provenance: Maurice Béjart's personal archives.

Personal diary handwritten by Maurice Béjart, written in a 1969 diary celebrating the centenary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi.
52 handwritten leaves, written in red and blue pen in a spiral-bound notebook. This diary features amongst Béjart's very rare, privately owned manuscripts, the choreographer's archives being shared between his house in Brussels, the Béjart foundation in Lausanne and the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie.
The choreographer Maurice Béjart's diary written during the year 1969. An extremely rare collection of thoughts, questions and introspections from the point of view of Hinduism and Buddhist wisdom, which Béjart adopts following his first trip to India in 1967.
The diary is an emblematic testimony of the indo-hippie era of the 1960s, spiritual and artistic renaissance that inspired numerous ballets of the choreographer (Messe pour le temps présent, Bhakti, Les Vainqueurs).
A selection from this diary was published by Maurice Béjart in the second volume of his memoirs (La Vie de Qui ? Flammarion, 1996).
During the year 1969, Béjart wrote daily notes in a diary published in memory of Mahatma Gandhi. Fascinated by Hindu mysticism since his trip to India in 1967, he filled in this spiritual journal with numerous mantras and prayers (“Krishna guide my chariot, the light is at the end of the path. OM”; “Buddha is everywhere”; “Let God enter, but how to open the door”) and he calls upon the Hindu deities as well as the Bodhisattvas Mañju?r? et T?r? – soothing figures of the Buddhist pantheon. Béjart's “Indian period” was particularly rich in choreographic masterpieces, the progress of which can be followed in his diary (Baudelaire at the beginning of the year, the first performance of the Vainqueurs in Brussels and the Quatre fils Aymon in Avignon, as well as the filming and screening of his Indian ballet Bhakti). At the crossroads of New Age and the hippie movement, Béjart's “conversion” is symptomatic of an era that refuses progress and has a thirst for spirituality: “Calcutta is not India, but our western face. It is not religion or traditional thinking that is to blame, but capitalism. India, a rich country before colonisation.” The Beatle's visit to the guru Maharishi's ?shram and Ravi Shankar's concert at Woodstock in 1969 marks the beginning of a real western passion for Indian music and culture, which was decisive in Béjart's ballets at the time.
In Béjart's eyes, India presents itself as a place where art and ancestral traditions have not suffered the perversions of positivity. In his creations he seeks to express the spirit of a culture that intimately links the body and the spirit, and in which dance plays a major cosmic and spiritual role. Included in his ballets were Indian dance systems and Vedic songs that were discovered thanks to Alain Daniélou – in 1968 he opened the Messe pour temps présent with a long vînâ solo that lasted fifteen minutes: “Béjart is in his Hindu quarter-hour. And over there, Hindu quarter hours, can last for hours...” commented Jean Vilar, director of the Avignon festival. A wave of Indian fashion also passes through the costumes of the Ballet du XX^e siècle company: large silk trousers, tunics, jewellery and oriental eyes. In the diary, Béjart states that there is “no truth without yoga,” an art discovered from an Indian master that can be found in many of his ballets in the form of dance exercises on the barre. He also decides to make Bhakti “an act of Faith” by filming himself the ballet choreographer, and during the summer he prepares the Vainqueurs, an unusual meeting between Wagner and traditional Indian ragas.
Beyond the prolific artist, we also discover the choreographer's troubled personality in the diary, in the grips of doubt and melancholy: “vague state of physical weightlessness and moral emptiness. Lethargy or laziness. Weakness. Dizziness. Drowsiness. Unconsciousness.” Despite successes, Béjart will try to calm his fragile state by meditation and the teachings of Indian prophets and brahmins, which can be found throughout the pages of this diary (Ramana Maharshi, Swami Ramdas, the Dalai-Lama, Apollonius of Tyana).
His sometimes thwarted romances with his favourite dancer Jorge Donn monopolise him and plunge him into anxiety – on the eve of the Vainqueurs premiere, he writes, “Before dress rehearsal. Chaos. [Jorge] Donn disappeared. Tara absent. Me lost.” Torn between enjoyment and self-control, he tours at a frantic pace with his company Ballet du XXe siècle, first to the Netherlands, then to Milan, Turin and Venice in Italy: “I leave Venice completely enslaved to laziness, to sex and to ease, and yet a strange well-being of the brute who drank and fucked.” However, these happy moments did not go so far as to satisfy Béjart, for whom “Joy has a dead aftertaste” despite the “life of work and discipline” that he establishes during this richly creative year. At the end of his life, Béjart will look back with humour on his Indian escapades and the resolutely sombre tone of his diary: “I can't stop myself laughing at this idiot who cries and who moans, even though he created a great number of ballets [...] When I think that at the end of this diary in 1969 I was firmly considering retirement!”
An extremely rare document retracing the meeting of the East and the West in Maurice Béjart's personal life and choreographic work. This diary embodies an era of counter-culture and cultural syncretism that had long-lasting effects on avant-garde European ballet.

Autograph manuscript signed by the painter and writer Jacques-Émile Blanche, entitled « Serge de Diaghileff ». Five leaves written in black ink, with numerous corrections in blue. Autograph foliation in black ink, later foliation in blue pencil. Leaf 4, originally in two parts, was joined with a strip of adhesive affixed to the verso.

Crossed-out passages and corrections.

A very fine funeral oration by Jacques-Émile Blanche for his friend Serge Diaghilev, director of the celebrated Ballets Russes.
The painter and writer Jacques-Émile Blanche pays tribute to the genius of Serge Diaghilev, shortly after his death in Venice in 1929. Chosen as a « godfather » to the Ballets Russes, the painter followed closely the choreographer’s work as a regenerator of the performing arts and applauded Stravinsky’s Sacre du printemps. He also produced numerous portraits of the Ballets Russes dancers, which he presented at the Venice Biennale in 1912.
At the beginning of the century, Diaghilev’s company, the « Ballets Russes », had dazzled audiences across Europe with a rich and vigorous art which, moving from one new form to another, remained at the avant-garde for twenty years. The painter recalls his first encounter with Diaghilev, a figure of undeniable charm: « j'éprouvai qu'on ne pouvait lui résister. Son autorité, ses caprices d'enfant gâté, on les subissait, tant son intelligence éclatait dans ses paroles d'adolescent. Il ressemblait, alors, assuraient ses compatriotes, au Tzar Alexandre Ier ». He evokes the impresario’s troubled existence and his dazzling triumphs with the Ballets Russes: « Eh quoi ! vingt ans d'expériences, vingt ans d'incomparables spectacles - et la perfection d'une technique de plus en plus déconcertante, ne nous conseilla-t-il pas d'accorder crédit illimité à notre cher ami, le plus artiste des hommes - et somme toute, le plus sûr de soi-même, malgré l'extravagance, le paradoxe de la vie qu'il menait et qu'il imposait à sa troupe ? ».
Blanche highlights Diaghilev’s taste for French culture, which he shared with his friends and collaborators. This passion, inherited from Russian aristocratic circles, made him « Le plus parisien des cosmopolites, croyant au prestige de Paris comme un boulevardier du second Empire ». We also learn of Diaghilev’s unrealized plan to travel to Moscow and stage ballets in the young USSR, then regarded as a land of political and artistic avant-garde. The letter closes with a moving evocation of Venice, where Diaghilev passed away on 19 August 1929:
« voici qu'un funèbre cortège de gondoles accompagne sur la lagune torride [...] les restes de notre cher camarade. Il est bien - puisqu'il devait nous quitter - qu'il fermât les yeux sur la cité du Sang, de la volupté et de la Mort ».

A remarkable panegyric to the creator and impresario Serge de Diaghilev by Jacques-Émile Blanche, his loyal friend and portraitist of the Ballets Russes.

Autograph letter by Pablo Picasso to Max Pellequer, vividly executed in multiple colours, signed and dated by the artist, 27 January 1956, addressed from his villa “La Californie”. Fourteen lines written in green, blue, pink, orange, red, violet and turquoise pencil on a watermarked “BFK Rives” sheet.
A few negligible transverse folds, as expected from mailing.

Picasso did not regularly employ colour in his correspondence. Here, however, he seems to have offered a gracious gesture to his friend and banker Max Pellequer, as the more visually striking his letters, the more sought-after they become. To speak of his work, Picasso turns to red pencil: “je continue mon travail avec ardeur” - a telling choice that conveys the fervour he wished to bring to his art.

Multi-coloured autograph letter from Pablo Picasso to Max Pellequer, signed and dated by the artist on June 5,  1956. The document includes the autograph address of his villa ‘La Californie’. Twelve lines in orange, pink, blue, yellow and purple pencil on one sheet. 
Minor folds. 

A very elegant letter written in pastel colours by Pablo Picasso.

Multi-coloured autograph letter from Pablo Picasso to Max Pellequer, signed and dated by the author on June 13, 1957. The document includes the autograph address of his villa ‘La Californie’. 2 pages on one sheet, 22 lines in green, blue and red pencils on a watermarked sheet.
Minor folds. 

An exceptional account of Pablo Picasso's passion for bullfighting, a recurring theme in his art since his very first works painted at the age of eight ("The Little Yellow Picador", 1899). 

Pablo Picasso gives Max Pellequer and his wife details regarding a trip to Arles on July 5, 6 and 7, 1957, to which the artist has invited them along with a handful of friends. With undisguised enthusiasm, he announces that he has booked their rooms at the "Norpinus" [Nord-Pinus] and their seats for the bullfight. Only after providing this essential information does the painter mention the opening of his exhibition at the Réatu Museum and the official dinner with Douglas Cooper, the great collector, and the mayor of Arles, Charles Privat: "Dinner with Cooper & the mayor". A performance of "Aïda at the bullring" is also scheduled during this Arlesian getaway, which ends on the 7th with an intriguing "bull run with the presence of a black king".

Black cloth binding. A white star made by Mugler in corrector fluid on the first cover.

Fifteen pages of the notebook filled in by the fashion designer:
- The first page, in neon blue felt-tip pen, with the word "Yes" as and large exclamation mark ending with the iconic Mugler star.
- A double page with the word "white" enhanced with corrector fluid and in capital letters on a black felt-tip background, in orange the words "Indehain" (?) and "TRIBE" with a drawing depicting a sun, several notes in black ballpoint pen: "Aelino Rock-Elektro", "DJ", "Syath Choreographie".
- A double page with a wonderful drawing of a naked Black woman with voluminous pink hair, and on the left with a black ballpoint pen the words "Super NOVA MAMA" with star enhanced with purple marker.
- A double page with three lines in green, red, and purple markers: "- La Perle de l'Afrique... / RIEN QUI BOUGE !!! / Le chic des mains de Paris !" [- The Pearl of Africa... / NOTHING THAT MOVES!!! / The chic of the hands of Paris!] The last exclamation point ends with a star.
- Several drawings of stars and perfume bottles sketches in pencil.
- A list of names in pencil, opposite some of them the letter "G" in blue marker, the mention "Kab" in red marker and a spiral in orange marker.
- A double page with a drawing of a perfume bottle and a planet with a phallus on it; above, several lines in blue, purple, orange, green and red markers with the following text: “Alice se perdit dans Brocéliande et se fit courser par le centaure Manfred...et ses dangereux attributs...Pauvre petite fille riche...Ce n'est pas le luxe qui va la sauver. Ombres d'arbres sous la lune "EN TRAVERS" CQFD... Testosterone et innocence...la Belle et la Bête !!! Rugissement furieux de métal...Perforation du Tympan et l'Hymen...L'HISTOIRE DU MONDE !" [Alice got lost in Broceliande [a forest in Brittany] and was chased by the centaur Manfred...and his dangerous attributes...Poor little rich girl...It's not luxury that will save her. Shadows of trees under the moon "IN THE WAY" QED... Testosterone and innocence...Beauty and the Beast!!! Furious roar of metal...Tympanum and Hymen perforation...THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD!]
- A double page in pencil with a sketch of a pole dancer with her head upside down in the left margin; with a text around it: "Strip Tease intello : laide, pas laide... Qui suis je ? Oui !... Je suis belle. Non ! Je suis laide... Regardez moi ! Non ne me regardez pas ! Voyez moi ! Aimez moi ! BAISE MOI !!! VAS T'EN ! Reviens. Folle... Pas folle... Grand Corps Malade ? Fabien" [Strip Tease nerd: ugly, not ugly... Who am I ? Yes !... I am beautiful. No! I am ugly... Look at me ! No don't look at me! Look at me! Love me! FUCK ME!!! GO AWAY! Come back. Crazy... Not crazy... Grand Corps Malade ? Fabien" [French singer Grand Corps Malade, whose real name is Fabien, wrote a song for the designer's music-hall show Mugler Follies]
- A pencil note: "Acte Vente Chelsea AT 92". Thierry Mugler sold his penthouse in New York's Chelsea neighborhood in 2012.
The personal archives of Manfred Thierry Mugler are exceedingly rare.

Clear pictures upon request

Autograph letter in blue and red pencil by Pablo Picasso to Max Pellequer, signed and dated by the author on June 7, 1956. The document includes the autograph address of his villa ‘La Californie’.  12 lines on the front of the letter and two lines on the back on a printed notice announcing the forthcoming publication of a book by Thérèse Leroy. 
Minor folds and a slight crease in the lower left corner. 

We have here a rare written account of Pablo Picasso engaging in self-deprecation. In his villa "Californie", the painter found a printed poster announcing the forthcoming publication of the book "La technique du classement" (The Technique of Classification). On this announcement, he humorously wrote the following words: "Je vais m'y mettre. Un peu sur le tard" (I'll get started on it, with slight delay), well aware that he preferred to devote his time to his art rather than to administrative tasks. Picasso refers here to the topic of his letter, the discovery of a new insurance document requested by its recipient. Max Pellequer, who managed his finances, knew only too well the disorderly nature of his friend, the artist with 50,000 works to his credit.

Picasso's true concerns however seem to reflect in the letter's graphic composition. He changed the colour and size of the characters to highlight what really mattered to him: beauty and friendship.

« Mistral et soleil. Allez bien et bonne poignée de main de votre Picasso » ! ("Mistral and sunshine, and a proper handshake to you from Picasso"!)

Black and white photograph depicting a smiling Tony Curtis.

A handsome example, with slight ink smudging affecting the last two letters of 'Curtis.'

Bold blue ink autograph by Tony Curtis in the left margin of the image.

Provenance: from the collection of renowned autograph collector Claude Armand.

Reprint of a photograph showing a young Shirley Temple lying on a bed.

A fine copy.

Inscribed and signed in black felt-tip pen by Shirley Temple, dated 1988, to the renowned autograph collector Claude Armand.

Press clipping illustrated with a photograph depicting Josephine Baker on stage.

Horizontal central fold, minor tears of no consequence along the right margin of the clipping.

Inscribed and signed by Josephine Baker in black felt-tip pen a few months before her passing: "A Claude Armand ami de Jospéhine Baker 1975".

Black-and-white photographic postcard depicting Gilbert Bécaud.

Discography of Gilbert Bécaud printed on the verso, with minor paper losses.

Inscribed and signed by Gilbert Bécaud to the noted autograph collector Claude Armand: "A Claude Gilbert," enhanced with a small cat sketch in blue ballpoint pen.

Multi-coloured autograph letter from Pablo Picasso to Max Pellequer, signed and dated by the artist on September 23,  1959. The document includes the autograph address of his villa ‘La Californie’. Ten lines in blue and green pencils on a watermarked “BFK Rives” sheet.
Minor folds and marks.

A very elegant letter written in pastel colours by Pablo Picasso.

Multi-coloured autograph letter from Pablo Picasso to Max Pellequer, signed and dated by the artist on September 23,  1958. The document includes the autograph address of his villa ‘La Californie’. 13 lines in a multi-coloured tip pen (orange, red, blue and green) on a sheet marked ‘VIA WESTERN UNION’.
Minor folds. Tear in the lower left corner. 

Colour is not systematically used in Pablo Picasso's letters. It would seem that the artist wanted to make a kind gesture towards his friend and banker Max Pellequer, because the more aesthetically pleasing his letters are, the more valuable they are.

The use of a multicoloured pen in letter writing was a practice shared by several artists, notably Paul Éluard.

Oblong color postcard depicting Charles Aznavour with his hands crossed under his chin.

A fine copy.

Signed by Charles Aznavour in black felt-tip pen in the right-hand margin of the card.

Provenance: from the collection of renowned autograph collector Claude Armand.

Black-and-white photograph showing a young Melina Mercouri lying in straw and chewing on a blade of it.

A handsome example. Press clippings mounted on the verso.

Signed by Melina Mercouri in blue ink.

Provenance: from the collection of the noted autograph collector Claude Armand.

Black and white photograph of Micheline Presle, circa 1950s.

A fine example.

Inscribed and signed by Micheline Presle to the prominent autograph collector Claude Armand: "A Claude Armand mon amical souvenir. Micheline Presle."

Color postcard depicting a young Ginger Rogers wearing a hat.

A fine copy.

Boldly signed by Ginger Rogers in blue felt-tip pen.

Provenance: from the collection of renowned autograph collector Claude Armand.

Black-and-white photograph showing Debbie Reynolds smiling in profile.

A fine example. With the autograph envelope sent by Debbie Reynolds to the prominent autograph collector Claude Armand.

Signed autograph inscription from Debbie Reynolds to Claude Armand: "To Claude best wishes. Debbie Reynolds."

Multi-colored autograph letter to Max Pellequer

Elegant multi-colored autograph letter by Pablo Picasso to Max Pellequer, signed and dated 'December 20, 1955'. A leaf in multi-color pencil (blue, green, orange and red).
Traces of transverse folds.
This "graphic" letter in the most literal sense constitutes a superb polychrome and artistic link in an epistolary chain that linked Picasso and his prominent patron for decades.

Typescript of L'Intelligence en guerre with autograph manuscript additions


1945 | 22.3 x 27.9 cm | (24) f. | 24 handwritten sheets hold with a pin & 340 leaves of typescript

340 page typescript of the work L'Intelligence en guerre by the resistant writer-journalist Louis Parrot, accompanied by manuscript notes concerning the title, half-title, preface and first bibliography pages (4 pages in total) and the index of names quoted at the end of the volume (6 pages in total). Several folds and rust marks from the metal fasteners.
The typescript includes handwrittencorrections and changes, in particular
25 fully handwritten pages, and additions in the margin on several tens of pages, featuring fully in the version published in 1945 by La Jeune Parque publishers.

Original black and white portrait of Mistinguett wearing a hat.

Very slight, superficial scuffing to the margins, not affecting the image.

Vintage gelatin silver print. Printed stamp of the P. Apers photographic studio in Paris to the right margin of the image.

Inscribed by Mistinguett to André Saudemon, signed and dated in black ink, at the foot of the photograph.

Original black and white photograph by the Associated Press British showing Cliff Richard posing in Athens with the Acropolis in the background, taken on the occasion of the release of the film "Summer Holiday".

A fine example. Associated Press British label affixed to the verso. Autographs of actors Roy Castle and Lebbi Siffre below the image.

Cliff Richard’s autograph in black felt-tip pen in the left margin of the print.

Provenance: from the collection of renowned autograph collector Claude Armand.

Black and white photograph depicting Betty Grable.

A handsome copy. Press clippings mounted to the verso of the print.

Manuscript signature by Betty Grable in violet felt-tip pen in the left margin of the photograph.

Provenance: from the collection of the renowned autograph collector Claude Armand.

Later print of an iconic 1950s photograph capturing "The look" in profile, with her right hand resting on her hip.

Signed in black felt-tip pen by Lauren Bacall.

Provenance: from the collection of renowned autograph collector Claude Armand.

Later print of a portrait photograph showing a young Gloria Swanson facing the camera.

A handsome copy.

Boldly signed by Gloria Swanson in blue ink.

Provenance: from the collection of the noted autograph collector Claude Armand.

Photographic portrait of Erroll Garner, seated at his piano.

A fine copy.

Inscribed and signed by Erroll Garner in blue ink in the upper left margin of the photograph.

Provenance: from the collection of the renowned autograph collector Claude Armand.

Black and white photograph depicting Cliff Richard slightly turned towards the camera.

A very well-preserved example.

Bold black ink signature by Cliff Richard in the right margin of the photograph.

Provenance: from the collection of renowned autograph collector Claude Armand.

Black-and-white photographic portrait of Glenn Ford, dating from the 1930s–1940s.

A handsome print.

Boldly signed by Glenn Ford in black felt-tip pen in the upper left margin of the image.

Provenance: from the collection of noted autograph collector Claude Armand.

Black-and-white photograph depicting Shirley Temple as a child.

A fine copy.

Inscribed and signed by Shirley Temple in 1988, with an autograph dedication to the noted autograph collector Claude Armand.

Black and white photograph depicting a young Alice Faye.

A fine copy.

Signed by Alice Faye in silver ink in the right margin of the photograph.

Provenance: from the collection of renowned autograph collector Claude Armand.

Autograph letter signed by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres to Charles Paillet, with autograph address and title "Honorary Expert Commissioner of the Royal Museums", with postal stamps. Usual fold marks. A marginal tear repaired without affecting the text.

Ingres provides descriptions and exhibition instructions for his two paintings Aretino and the Ambassador of Charles V and Aretino in the Studio of Tintoretto.

Autograph letter signed and dated "20 floréal year 79 19 May" [19 May 1871?], 3 pages on a bifolium of blue paper. Small lack of paper affecting a few letters, usual folds from mailing.

Rare letter by painter and illustrator Gérard-Séguin, known for his portrait of Honoré de Balzac (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours). Written in the midst of the Paris Commune, as famine and fighting ravaged the capital, the artist delivers a desperate yet spirited plea from the artist.

This letter is one of the few surviving manuscripts by Gérard-Séguin whose biography remains largely unknown: "Little is known about the life and work of Jean Alfred Gérard-Séguin, except that he studied under Jérôme-Martin Langlois at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, exhibited at the Salon between 1831 and 1868, and—close to publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel—primarily worked as a book illustrator, contributing drawings for various publications, including Balzac's La Comédie Humaine, for which he also painted a portrait of the author. Working with Prosper Mérimée and the first Monuments Historiques commissions, he also copied out the church frescoes of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe" (Musée de Valence). Staunch Republican Gérard-Seguin supported the Commune and had previously painted a major historical canvas on the French Revolution of 1848, depicting a "guardian of the peace and the Republic." Severely impoverished by the siege and already 67 years old, he expresses in this letter his regret at not being able to join the ranks of the Communard fighters.

Album comprising 44 plates of Breton costumes, the first two drawn in pencil, the others delicately watercoloured, mounted on heavy paper, some with captions, unsigned.

Bound in contemporary half green sheep, spine decorated with gilt and black fillets, gilt garlands and fleurons, some rubbing to the spine, embossed cherry-red cloth boards, bumped corners, a few scuffs along the edges.

A handsome album of Breton costumes in the manner of Hippolyte Lalaisse and his Galerie armoricaine of 1848.

Particularly focused on the Breton-speaking departments (Western Morbihan and Finistère): 1. [Seated bagpipe player]. – 2. [Peasant dance]. – 3. Woman from the Auray area (Morbihan). – 4. Young shepherd from Morbihan. – 5. Woman from Plouay (Morbihan). – 6. Man from Faouët (Morbihan). – 7. Women from Josselin (Morbihan). – 8. Woman from Pluméliau (Morbihan). – 9. Women from Ploemeur (Morbihan). – 10. Woman from Ploërmel and nearby farmer (Morbihan). – 11. Woman from Auray (Morbihan). – 12. Woman from Lanzac (Morbihan). – 13. Man from Lanzac. – 14. Woman from Guémené near Pontivy (Morbihan). – 15. Woman from Elven (Morbihan). – 16. Milkmaid from St-Paterne in Vannes (Morbihan). – 17. Woman from Douarnenez (Finistère). – 18. Man from Pont-l’Abbé (Finistère). – 19. Woman from Pont-l’Abbé. – 20. Fisherman from Douarnenez (Finistère). – 21. Milkmaid from Douarnenez. – 22. Bride from Kerfeunteun (Finistère). – 23. Man from Châteauneuf-du-Faou (Finistère). – 24. Women from Plougastel, near Brest (Finistère). – 25. Man from Plougastel. – 26. Woman from Locmaria, near Quimper, and farmer from Elliant (Finistère). – 27. Peasant from Riec (Finistère). – 28. Young girl from Bannalec (Finistère). – 29. Man from Saint-Thégonnec (Finistère). – 30. Women from the area of Pont-Lannay (Finistère). – 31. Bride and groom from Kerlouan (Finistère). – 32. Men and women from the area of Pontcroix (Finistère). – 33. Farmer from Saint-Évarzec (Finistère). – 34. [Woman and two children]. – 35. [Presentation of a newborn at a calvary]. – 36. Woman from Ploëne near Moncontour (Côtes-du-Nord). – 37. Woman from Antrain (Ille-et-Vilaine). – 38. Man and woman from Cancale (Ille-et-Vilaine). – 39. Woman from Saint-Servan and Dinan, near Saint-Malo (Ille-et-Vilaine). – 40. Young ladies from Pornic (Loire-Inférieure). – 41. Man from Bourg-de-Batz in festive costume (Loire-Inférieure). – 42. Woman from Bourg-de-Batz in festive costume. – 43. Bride and groom from Bourg-de-Batz. – 44. Young salt-workers in working attire.

Copy from the library of Léon Noël, with his ex-libris label pasted on the front endpaper.

Black-and-white photographic promotional portrait for Disney studios, depicting Walt Disney. A minute black line is visible near the hair.

Rare and striking manuscript signature by Walt Disney in black ink, signed directly within the image.

Original photograph depicting Charles Gounod, full face.

Vintage gelatin silver print mounted on cardboard, produced by photographer Isidore Alphonse Chalot at 18, rue Vivienne, Paris.

Autograph inscriptions in black then blue ink on the verso by the recipient, A. Lasserre, inspector at the Opéra Garnier: "Portrait de Ch. Gounod signé le soir de la 926eme représentation de Faust (samedi 29 septembre 1888) A. Lasserre."

Additional handwritten note in pencil in the right margin of the verso: 1867e représentation de Faust le 28 septembre 1929.

Printed stamp at foot of the verso: "Maison Martinet Albert Hautecoeur, 18, bd des Capucines."

Charles Gounod’s dated autograph signature to upper right corner of the photograph : "Ch. Gounod 29 7bre / 88."

Autograph letter dated and signed by Cécile Sorel, comprising 23 lines in blue ink on a bifolium bearing her monogram as Countess of Ségur by marriage.

Folds consistent with mailing.

The actress thanks her correspondent, a journalist at Théâtre, for his glowing review: "Vous savez combien tout ce qui vient de vous touche le plus sensible de mon coeur, jugez de ma joie en lisant les belles lignes que vous me consacrez."

As a token of her gratitude, she sent him flowers and invited him to visit her soon: "faites-moi la joie de venir déjeuner et causer avec moi de la pièce qui dort dans vos cartons et de laquelle j'attends une revanche."

Autograph letter signed by Jean-Jacques Henner to his friend Castagnary, 18 lines in black ink on a bifolium.

The letter is almost entirely devoid of punctuation.

A date written in violet ink, likely indicating when the recipient received the letter.

"Mon cher ami,

votre très aimable invitation m'est arrivée malheureusement un peu en retard vous aviez l'adressé place Clichy au lieu de place Pigalle et à mon grand regret je ne suis pas libre j'en suis désolé vous savez tout le plaisir que j'ai a venir chez vous soyez donc mon interprète auprès de madame Castagnary et excusez moi. Votre tout  dévoué JJHenner."

Autograph note signed by Caran d'Ache to a lady friend, 18 lines in pencil on a bifolium, with each letter written in uppercase.

Tears repaired with adhesive patches, minor loss to corners not affecting the text.

"Admirable madame ! Grandpierre & non Dampierre est votre proche voisin rue d'Offemont. Je me traîne à vos pieds heureux de baiser la pointe de vos pieds. Caran d'Ache."

The rue d'Offemont, located in the Plaine Monceau district, is now known as rue Henri Rochefort.

Autograph letter dated and signed by Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, 30 lines in black ink, written from his Montmartre residence at 21 rue Caulaincourt, addressed to his friends the Lefèvres.

Folding marks inherent to mailing, minor marginal tears.

The painter inquires after the health of Madame Lefèvre, who was unwell at the time, and asks his correspondent to see that everything is put in order at their house in Saint Ay, where his wife and model Massia would soon be staying.

Steinlen is held back in Paris: "Pour moi, je ne se sais trop ce que je ferai, en tout cas, je ne puis quitter Paris avant le 15 - d'ici là des évènements peuvent survenir qui me bloqueront ici... ou ailleurs - s'ils ne s'arrangent pas de la façon que je souhaite St Ay ne me verra pas cette année..."

First edition of this theatre programme for Jean-Paul Sartre's adaptation of Alexandre Dumas's Kean, staged at the Théâtre Marigny in 1988, directed by Robert Hossein and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo in the title role.

A fine copy. Illustrated throughout.

Boldly signed by Jean-Paul Belmondo in black felt-tip pen on the cover.

Autograph note dated and signed by Henri Laurens, 7 lines in black ink, addressed to a Mr Fardel, most likely Gildas Fardel, the prominent art collector.

A handsome example.

Henri Laurens writes to postpone their appointment, as he will not be at his studio at the agreed time.

A major collector of abstract art, Gildas Fardel donated part of his collection to the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nantes in 1958.

Exceptional illuminated manuscript of 35 poems by Stéphane Mallarmé, probably copied by Joris-Karl Huysmans on watermarked Hollande laid paper, after pre-first editions of the poems published in journals. Most of the poems are preceded by a separate title-page noting the source from which it is taken.

The manuscript includes a fine charcoal portrait of Mallarmé as a frontispiece by Charles Tichon, after a photographic portrait by Van Bosch. The portrait was published in the Mallarmé issue of Empreintes (Bruxelles, L’Écran du Monde, n° 10-11). Another version was published in 1889 (Caprice Revue, 2e année, n° 60). 

 two floral compositions in gouache and watercolor illustrating the poems Les Fleurs and Apparition, as well the calligraphed author's name as a title-page. Although unsigned, the illutrations are attributed to Louise or Marie Danse.

Bradel binding, contemporary cream silk boards with floral motif, two embroidered green silk markers with floral motif, gilt semis patternerd flyleaves and pastedowns, slightly faded red edges. Dampstains on the lower part of the lower board, rubbed corners, a few silk threads loosened on the spine, rubbed boards. 

Outstanding manuscript of 35 poems by Stéphane Mallarmé, written shortly before the first collected edition of his poetry of which only 47 copies were ever printed (Poésies, photolithographed, Revue indépendante, 1887). This carefully calligraphed collection is attributed to the hand of writer Joris-Karl Huysmans, a great admirer of the poet who is said to have given the manuscripts to his friend Jules Destrée.

Original black and white photograph depicting Michel Polnareff in the street, standing opposite a security guard.

A handsome example. Signed by Michel Polnareff on a piece of paper mounted to the verso of the photograph.

Signed by Michel Polnareff in the upper part of the image.

Provenance : from the collection of renowned autograph collector Claude Armand.

Signed and inscribed newspaper clipping with Picasso's portrait.

Newspaper clipping from 'Le Patriote de Nice et du Sud-Est' (25 October 1959) signed and inscribed by Pablo Picasso. A folded leaf inscribed with a large red felt-tip pen.

A pictorial and unusual inscription signed by Picasso on the front page of a Nice newspaper celebrating his 78th birthday: “For Max Pellequer / his friend / Picasso”. A beautiful testimony of friendship in an important political newspaper which featured many of the artist's original creations.

Original drawing in graphite and blue and pink colored pencils signed by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, on a sheet of watermarked paper "Navarre". Horizontal fold.

One of Saint-Exupéry's quirky characters in a suit and bow tie, spawn from the baroque and overflowing imagination of the Little Prince's author. The writer-aviator-artist very rarely signed his graphic works.




 
 
 

Original drawing with graphite, blue and pink colored pencils signed by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, on a sheet of watermarked paper “Navarre”. Hor­izontal fold, pencil annotation in the upper left margin, very small loss of paper in the lower right margin.

A remarkable caricature signed by Saint-Exupéry, akin to a cartoon character. The writer-aviator-artist very rarely signed his graphic works.

Autograph letter dated and signed by Henri Martin, post-impressionist painter who was a pupil of Jean-Paul Laurens, 20 lines written in black ink. 
Central fold inherent to postal dispatch. At the end of the missive, some calculation notes in black ink probably traced by the recipient.

Original signed drawing in pencil and pink crayon by Antoine de Saint-Ex­upéry, on “Navarre” watermarked paper. Horizontal fold, annotation in pencil in upper left-hand corner, min­ute tears in lower margin.

Precious drawing signed by Saint-Exupéry – the writer-artist very rarely signed his graphic works – of a caricature character, sharing some of the writer's own features.

Autograph letter signed by the painter Eugène Delacroix to his friend Baron Félix Feuillet de Conches, master of protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under Charles X and Louis-Philippe. One page in black ink on a folded sheet, with the autograph address on the verso. Traces of seal and postal stamps dated October 7.

The painter writes to his friend Feuillet de Conches, a distinguished man of letters whose works were well received, and who also amassed an elegant collection of art and autographs in his apartment on the rue Neuve-des-Mathurins, the address of this very letter.

A charming and witty missive, in which Delacroix expresses his enchantment with country life, far removed from the bustle of Paris.

"From the summer of 1844, Eugène Delacroix settled at Champrosay, on the edge of the Sénart forest near Paris. There, he recorded in his journal the impressions inspired by his regular walks through the countryside. He produced numerous sketches, later reworked into his large compositions, as well as more ambitious landscapes that reveal how, in his mature and later years, the observation of nature — now contemplated for its own sake — had become central to his art." (MuMa)

"I reply to you late, dear Feuillet, but you will forgive me: I promise you a Gros, very happy to add it to the collection. I pity you for living far from the fields. If we were still in the time of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, I might believe myself in danger of one day being turned into a tree. I am mad about these innocent and beautiful trees, while human nature, on the other hand, loses each day in my esteem. I except, of course, friends like you and the few who retain a little reason.
I embrace you while awaiting this winter
Eug. Delacroix."

Autograph letter dated and signed by Jean Hélion addressed to Raymond Queneau, 41 lines (four pages on two leaves) written in black ink.
Jean Hélion cannot respond favorably to an invitation extended by his friend Raymond Queneau, partly due to his homebody nature: "J'ai pris l'habitude de rester chez nous, le samedi après-midi : à l'atelier jusqu'à 5 heures et là-haut jusqu'à l'heure du dîner pour y recevoit toutes sortes de jeunes gens que je n'ai pas le temps de voir un par un... Mais j'aimerais davantage vous montrer à vous seul, un peu tranquille et à n'importe quelle heure. Ne passez-vous jamais de ce côté ?" ("I have gotten into the habit of staying at home on Saturday afternoons: at the studio until 5 o'clock and upstairs until dinner time to receive all sorts of young people whom I don't have time to see one by one... But I would prefer to show you alone, a bit quietly and at any time. Don't you ever come by this way?")
He worries about the political path of one of their mutual friends, the pacifist militant Garry Davis who created in 1948 the World Citizens movement and in 1954 the World Service Authority organization: "Je m'occupe encore de ce bon Garry Davis, qui s'engage maintenant dans la non-violence, mais d'une façon qui pourrait être violente... Breton a tapé dessus comme sur des cymbales. Mais moi, par amitié, autant que pour une confiance dans sa force instinctive, je l'aiderai tant que possible... Il veut encore consulter ses amis, et il en a grand besoin. Camus, Mounier, Altman, l'abbé Pierre et quelques autres lui sont demeurés dévoués." ("I'm still taking care of that good Garry Davis, who is now engaging in non-violence, but in a way that could be violent... Breton struck out at him like cymbals. But I, out of friendship, as much as for confidence in his instinctive strength, will help him as much as possible... He still wants to consult his friends, and he has great need of it. Camus, Mounier, Altman, Abbé Pierre and some others have remained devoted to him.")

Autograph letter signed by Ger­maine de Staël and dated 9 Janu­ary 1809 to Julie Nigris, daughter of Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. Two pages written in black on a bifolium. Autograph address on verso, armo­rial wax seal traces and postmarks.
Usual folds, a tear with a small piece of paper lacking on the address page due to the opening of the seal.
Published as an addendum in Sou­venirs de Madame Vigée Le Brun, 1837, vol. III, pp. 264-265.

Germaine de Staël is eagerly awaiting her portrait as Corinne - her novel's heroine- she had commissioned from the famous Vigée-Lebrun. The letter is a precious link in the fascinating history of the painting the baroness would discover a few months later.

"Madam, I have given up on engraving the portrait of your mother. It is too expensive for my whim and I have just suffered a considerable lawsuit that is forcing me to make do with less. But would you be so kind as to tell me when Madam Le Brun will give me the portrait of Corinne? My intention was to send her a thousand écus upon receiving it, but as I have not heard from her, I don't know what to do.
Please be so kind as to get involved and negotiate what I want in this regard. Another pleasing negotiation would be your arrival to Switzerland this summer. Prosper says he will come. Wouldn't M. de Maleteste be seduced by this reunion of all his friends? I dare to count myself among them. Seeing him once, it seemed to me that I was meeting an old acquaintance."


Germaine de Staël addresses Vigée Le Brun's daughter Julie, inviting her and her mother to brighten up her exile. She also tried to gather at her home of Coppet her lover Prosper de Barante as well as Julie's, the Marquis de Maleteste. Dreading solitude, she was determined to invite a host of interesting personalities. Two years earlier, Vigée Le Brun had begun painting a portrait of the baroness depicted as the heroine of her latest novel Corinne. In-between portrait sittings with the baroness, the artist had met the famous members of the so-called Coppet group: Frederick of Prussia, writer Benjamin Constant and salonnière Juliette Récamier. De Staël had already requested a change as soon as the painter had started the canvas and asked for a different landscape in the background. Aware of the somewhat unprepossessing appearance of her model - neither she nor the baroness denied it - Vigée Le Brun created an ambitious portrait mixing antiquity-inspired attire with a furiously romantic allure. She managed to capture the baroness's inspired gaze instead of an expected neoclassical austerity. Despite her enthusiastic initial reactions, Germaine de Staël was not pleased with it and commissioned another portrait from local artist Firmin Massot. The latter produced a poor but faithful copy of the Vigée Le Brun's composition, except for her face and expression he smoothed out and made devoid of any emotion. The baroness's reaction illustrates the irreconcilable dilemma faced by women of letters at the beginning of the 19th century: torn between their identity as intellectual figures (which Vigée Le Brun had magnificently captured in this portrait), and the normative criteria of femininity Germaine de Staël wanted to align with.

A precious piece of correspon­dence, bringing together two illus­trious women - the patron and the artist, whose visions of femininity would soon oppose on either side of the easel.