Description:

Claude Monet 4pp ALS: "I am hard at work in the ice and snow"

A 4pp autograph letter in French signed by Impressionist artist Claude Monet (1840-1926), as "Claude Monet" at the bottom of the fourth page. Written at Monet's home at Giverny par Vernon Eure, France on December 16, 1890. Boldly inscribed on either side of the bi-fold paper in vivid purple ink, Monet's preferred color for correspondence. Expected wear including flattened mail folds, ink transference, and ink bleed-through, else near fine. 4.5" x 7." Accompanied by its original transmittal envelope also engrossed by Monet, letter-opened and partly torn verso, with isolated water stains, good.

In this letter, Monet requested the help of his friend, Stéphane Mallarmé (1842-1898), in untangling French bureaucracy. Monet's oldest son Jean Monet (1867-1914), then a sergeant in the French Army, was seriously ill, and Monet wanted Mallarmé's help in pulling some strings to grant his son more time to recuperate. Evidently, Monet believed that Mallarmé, a well-known French poet, art critic, salon host, and social influencer, could achieve the results that he, a modest painter, could not.

Translated in part, with punctuation silently added to improve clarity:

"I come to ask you a favor. You know that my son has been very ill [and] that we have him here on convalescent leave, but alas, this leave will expire on January 2 and I would like to arrange that he no longer has to return to the regiment. For that, it is necessary to obtain a renewable leave…

It is a favor that can only be granted by the minister of war, a demand that was addressed to the chief of the corps…Jean depends on M. Hanotaux [Gabriel Hanotaux (1853-1944)], political director of foreign affairs…"

The decision to extend Jean's medical leave was the exclusive prerogative of "M. Freycinet," that is, Charles de Freycinet (1828-1923), who served as French Prime Minister and Minister of War at this time. Monet continued by asking Mallarmé to ask his friend "M. Rougeau" to ask the "minister of Beauie" to intervene on behalf of his son, as Monet wouldn't dare to personally address the minister of war ["Je n'aucune qualité pour m'adresser au ministre de la guerre…"]. Jean was just "the son of a painter" ["le fils d'un peintre"]. But, Monet still exerted his own sway--limited and very indirect that it was--to help extend Jean's leave.

Though Monet was certainly concerned and even distracted by his son's illness, he assured Mallarmé in a postscript that, "I am hard at work in the ice and snow" ["Je suis en plein travail dans le glaçon et la neige."] That was certainly true; Monet completed 25 paintings of his celebrated Haystacks series from the summer of 1890 through the spring of 1891. The series of oils on canvas depict the same subject matter: his neighbor's haystacks viewed in different seasons, times of day, weather conditions, and from a variety of perspectives. The paintings of Monet's Haystacks series are scattered around the world in various art museums and private collections. In December 1890, could Monet have been working on "Grainstack, White Frost Effect" (1890-1891), now on display in the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne Vermont, or perhaps "Wheatstacks, (Sunset, Snow Effect)" (1890-1891), in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago? See the attached photos included for reference.

Monet would return to serial painting in other contexts: allées of poplar trees, the façade of Rouen Cathedral, and of course, the water lilies in his garden at Giverny. Not only was Monet fascinated with the seemingly endless variety of impressions he could create of the same subject, but he also understood that he could use serial painting to justify and legitimize the Impressionist method of working en plein air, or working directly in the landscape.

Claude Monet is considered a foundational figure in the artistic movement known as Impressionism; indeed, his 1872 painting entitled "Impression, Sunrise" inadvertently gave its name to the artistic school. No subject was too mundane for the Impressionists; to them, a haystack coated in frost or a pair of battered old shoes could be imbued with the same significance as a religious painting or an historical scene. Impressionists painted quickly, often using rapid and fluid brush strokes. In this way, their work was much more spontaneous, in spirit and form, than those sanctioned by the Academy. Monet's unique handwriting, with its series of disconnected vertical lines and flowing direction, resembles painting in more ways than traditional writing.

Claude Monet lived at Giverny, a village in Normandy located 76 km north of Paris, between 1883 and his death in 1926. During his residency there, Monet added a studio, expanded his gardens, and constructed a Japanese-inspired footbridge. His home was a combination of sophisticated and rustic; in the kitchen furnished with plain table and chairs, the yellow-painted walls were decorated with vivid Japanese woodblock prints.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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