Documents associated with: 103rd exhibition, Ouvrages de peinture, sculpture, architecture, gravure et lithographie des artistes vivants, Palais des Champs Elysées, Paris, 1885
Record 12 of 15
System Number: 09413
Date: [June 1885?][1]
Author: JW
Place: London
Recipient: Auguste Rodin[2]
Place: [Paris]
Repository: Archives du Musée Rodin, Paris
Document Type: ALS
'a[3]'
Cher Monsieur Rodin.
J'ai été tres touché de votre charmante lettre[4], et votre visite à mon atelier[5] m'a fait un grand plaisir -
Aussi je vous remercie beaucoup de la peine que vous avez pris [sic] pour m'obtenir l'article de Mons. Mirbeau dans la France[6] - Il est rare d'avoir un defenseur comme lui -
[p. 2] Je vous envoie une epreuve de du "Sarasate[7]" - et suis charmé de votre sympathie -
Whistler.
454. Fulham Road -
This document is protected by copyright.
Translation:
Dear M. Rodin
I was very touched by your charming letter, and your visit to my studio gave me great pleasure -
Also I thank you very much for the pains you took in obtaining for me M. Mirbeau's article in the France - It is rare to have such a defender -
[p. 2] I send you a proof of the "Sarasate" - and am charmed with your sympathy -
Whistler
454. Fulham Road -
Notes:
1. [June 1885?]
Dated by reference to Mirbeau (see below).
2. Auguste Rodin
René François Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), sculptor [more]. This letter was published in Newton, Joy, and Margaret F. MacDonald, 'Whistler, Rodin, and the International,' Gazette des Beaux-Arts, March 1984, pp. 116-23, p. 119.
3. a
Written in top left corner.
4. votre charmante lettre
Not located.
5. visite à mon atelier
The comparatively formal letter suggests it dates from early in their acquaintance. Rodin and JW became close friends over subsequent years, particularly after the Whistlers moved to Paris.
6. l'article de Mons. Mirbeau dans la France
Octave Mirbeau (1848-1917), novelist, art critic and amateur painter [more], whose review of the Salon appeared in La France on 26 May 1885. In it he praised Arrangement in Black: La Dame au brodequin jaune - Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell (YMSM 242) (see ibid, p. 118).
7. epreuve du Sarasate
Pablo de Sarasate y Navascues (1844-1908), violinist [more]. The painting, Arrangement in Black: Portrait of Señor Pablo de Sarasate (YMSM 315), was photographed for Anon., 'Current Art IV,' The Magazine of Art, vol. 8, 1885, pp. 464-470, at p. 469.