CASSATT (Mary). - Lot 23

Lot 23
Go to lot
Estimation :
400 - 500 EUR
Result without fees
Result : 3 120EUR
CASSATT (Mary). - Lot 23
CASSATT (Mary). 3 autograph letters signed to Achille Segard. Château de Beaufresne [commune of Mesnil-Théribus in Oise], July-August 1913. In May 1913, writer and art and literature critic Achille Segard published a study of Mary Cassatt with Ollendorff: Un Peintre des enfants et des mères. Mary Cassatt. "Tuesday" [July 29, 1913, according to the handwritten date of receipt]. "I have just received the book you have kindly devoted to my painting, for which I thank you infinitely. There's only one thing I'd like more, and that's what you say about my mother. I seem to be bragging... I don't know if you've seen L'EXPOSITION CHEZ MANZI, AND LES PASTELS DE DEGAS. IF HE WERE HIMSELF, HE WOULD NEVER HAVE EXHIBITED THAT, BUT A LANDSCAPE BY PISSARRO DID HONOR TO THE EXHIBITION AND TWO BEAUTIFUL STILL LIFES BY MONET...". - July 30 [1913]. "I'm glad to know I can keep the book for a while, if I could go over some parts with you it would be better.... If you can't come, I'll make the corrections alone... I would have liked you to see a pastel or two. I'm a bit worn out, having been unable to work for so long..." - August 6 [1913]. "What you tell me about the sentences you devote to my mother is true, but she didn't like to come out of the shadows, and seeing her childhood life in a book would have frightened her. I'm like that too... It's a matter of temperament. Seeing my name in print is always painful for me; I HAVE GIVEN MY PAINTING TO THE PUBLIC, BUT I HAVE ALWAYS REFUSED MY PERSONALITY AND MY PRIVATE LIFE...". She also corrects two errors in the book, one concerning a point of chronology in her life as an artist, the other relating to her brother, whom she explains was a railroad administrator in Pennsylvania and built the undersea tunnel linking New York to the mainland. She also suggests that her interlocutor write a study on Parmigianino, "a painter whom Greco copied so much and who is so little known", and announces the visit to her home of art historian August Jaccaci (some underlining in red and blue pencil).
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue