Description:

Renoir Pierre

Pierre-Auguste Renoir ALS with excellent content!


Pierre-Auguste Renoir ALS to French art historian Roger Marx: "You would need to have the eyes of a 15 year old and I no longer have them"

 

1p ALS inscribed overall and signed in pencil by Impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) as "Renoir" at center of first page. Integral address leaf partially inscribed "Monsieur Roger Marx, 24, r. St. Lazarre [sic]". The cream bifold watermarked paper is in very good condition, with overall toning, expected paper folds, and isolated edge chipping. Second and third pages are blank. Each page measures 5.125" x 8.25".

 

Pierre-Auguste Renoir wrote this undated note to art critic Roger Marx (1859-1913). We can surmise that it was written prior to Marx's death in 1913, and when Renoir was elderly, as his comment about poor eyesight suggests. Renoir scrawled the following message in his rapid and angular handwriting:

 

"Dear Mr Marx,

 

I don't understand why this photograph is so gray. I found an old and more damaged one much brighter. In terms of retouching it, it's impossible. You would need to have the eyes of a 15 year old and I no longer have them. I can't wait to see you, we will chat about what you want to do in any case.

 

Warm regards, Renoir".

 

Renoir's correspondent Roger Marx was a revolutionary French art historian who believed that contemporary art should be accessible to popular audiences. Born to a middle class Jewish family in Lorraine, Marx believed that art could foster a sense of national identity. Marx was a specialist of French and Asian art, a newspaper editor and author, collector, Legion of Honor recipient, and father of art critic Claude Roger-Marx (1888-1977).

 

In his role as state museum inspector and administrator, Marx lobbied for the acquisition of works by the Impressionists and foreign artists. Marx was thus instrumental in acquiring Renoir's Girls at the Piano for the Musee de Luxembourg in 1892 (versions of which are now in the collections of the Musee d'Orsay, Musee d'Orangerie, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.) Marx also invited the Impressionists to attend the 1900 Universal Exposition in Paris, thus legitimizing their artistic movement. In thanks, Renoir presented Marx with a drawing of a female nude at her bath.

 

Impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir was known for his colorful portraits of women, children, and Parisians at leisure. Renoir was a friend and contemporary of other Impressionist giants like Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet, and Paul Cezanne. He continued working well into advanced age despite severe rheumatoid arthritis.

 

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