Raoul Dufy
French Fauvist painter, 1882-1963
Dufy developed a colorful, decorative style that became fashionable for designs of ceramics and textiles, as well as decorative schemes for public buildings. He is noted for scenes of open-air social events. He was also a draftsman, printmaker, book illustrator, Scenic designer, a designer of furniture, and a planner of public spaces. Dufy also acquired a reputation as an illustrator and as a commercial artist. He painted murals for public buildings; he also produced a huge number of tapestries and ceramic designs. His plates appear in books by Guillaume Apollinaire, Stéphane Mallarmé, and André Gide.
Source: Wikipedia
French painter (1882-1963). Autograph letter signed. Domaine de Rozès (Ariège). 14.11.1947. 4to. 2 pp.
$ 2,770 / 2.500 €
(49679/BN34149)
Thanking for chestnuts he received and hoping to visit Mrs. Alfred Martin on his way back to Perpignan.
French painter (1877-1953). Autograph letter signed. Paris. 04.04.1905. 8vo. 2 pp. on bifolium.
$ 8,311 / 7.500 €
(86165/BN57117)
To an acquaintance about art and painters, stating his belief that the influence of the French impressionists Manet, Monet, Sisley, Renoir, Degas, Seurat and Pissaro weighs too heavy on the art of the then-present day for it to discover a completely new direction, and that impressionism is not finished yet: "Je pense que l'influence de Manet, de Monet, de Sisley, de Renoir, de Degas, de Seurat et de Pissaro pèse trop sur l'art d'à présent pour qu'on puisse trouver l'indice d'une direction vraiment nouvelle.
Si vous entendez par Impressionnisme l'ensemble des tendances si différentes des peintres de 1870, non, l'impressionnisme n'est pas fini". - He points out that he does not know Gauguin's work well enough to discuss it, and claims that Whistler and Fantin-Latour did not linger on the literary nor on the technical side of their art, while Cézanne likes to assert technical preoccupations: "Je ne connais pas assez l'oeuvre de Gaugain [!] pour vous en parler, quant à Wisther [!] et Fantin-Latour ce sont des peintres sans phrase qui ne se sont attardés ni au côté littéraire ni au côté technique de leur art, tandis que Cézanne se plaît à affirmer très fortement des préoccupations techniques". - In conclusion, Dufy names several painters he frequently thinks about, and mentions his philosophy of trusting nature to provide the means necessary to realise his inspirations: "Des peintres à qui je pense souvent Rembrandt, Vélasquez, Le Lorrain, Manet, Seurat. Je demande à la nature les moyens de réaliser ce que la Vie m'inspire [...]"..
French painter (1877-1953). Autograph letter signed. Paris. 13.10.1923. Oblong 4to. 1½ pp.
$ 4,986 / 4.500 €
(86166/BN57118)
To the writer Bertrand Guégan (1892-1943) about his woodcut suite "Les Plaisirs de la Paix", asking him to mail three copies for his Brussels exhibition at the gallery Le Centaure, inquiring about the whereabouts of the remaining Chinese and Japanese series, asking Guégan to let him know when the artist Paul Laffitte (1864-1949) will be in Paris, and mentioning a design idea for a page of the series "Le Bestiaire d'Apollinaire" involving a letter featuring autograph quatrains and a drawing by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918), an item which is too dear to him to be mailed: "Rendez-moi le service de m'envoyer de suite une série ou plutôt 3 séries pour mon exposition de Bruxelles.
Sur le carnet d'inventaire que j'ai vu au bureau il ne restait que 10 séries chine et 11 Japon, où sont les autres? Laffitte vient à Paris sous peu, prévenez-moi. Pour la page d'Apollinaire j'ai une jolie lettre sur le Bestiaire avec les quatrains autographes et un dessin de Guillaume. Vous comprenez que je tiens à ce souvenir que je ne veux pas confier à la poste [...]". - Dufy had published the suite of four woodcuts "Les Plaisirs de la Paix" in 1919, with Éditions de la Sirène, of which Paul Laffitte was the creator and Bertrand Guégan the artistic director. At the date of this letter, La Sirène had been taken over by the publisher Georges Crès..
French painter (1877-1953). Autograph letter signed. Paris. 8vo. 1 p. on bifolium.
$ 886 / 800 €
(92162/BN61158)
To the art collector André Level, confirming the receipt of a letter and a checque from the proceeds of the sale of Level's so-called "Peau de l'Ours" art fund: "Je vous accuse réception de votre lettre du 7 ct. et de votre chèque, part des 20% que 'la Peau de l'Ours' avait décidé de distribuer à ses peintres. Je vous remercie. Voulez-vous être mon interprète, auprès de tous les membres de votre association, de mes meilleurs sentiments et accepter pour vous toute". - André Level (1863-1947) discovered his interest in modern art during a visit of the salon d'automne of 1903.
As early as 1904 he decided to create the first-ever fund for the collection of modern art and found eleven associates, each contributing 250 francs for purchases every year. Together they built a collection of 145 paintings by such eminent artists as André Derain, Kees van Dongen, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Odilon Redon, and Georges Rouault. The works were acquired based on mutual decision, some exhibited, and distributed among the associates by lot. After ten years the collection was to be sold at auction, with 20% of the proceeds going to the artists - thus the name "la Peau de l'Ours", in reference to the idiom, "do not sell the skin until you have caught the bear". The auction at Drouot on 2 March 1914 surpassed all expectations and was celebrated as a triumph of modern art, realizing more than 100,000 francs. Raoul Dufy was among the beneficiaries. - Minimally stained..