Letter to Henri-Charles Guérard, envelope, Édouard Manet
Fondation Custodia, Collection Frits Lugt, Paris
Transcript
EMILY BEENY: I love to imagine being a recipient of one of these letters, opening an envelope to discover one of these tiny treasures made just for you by this great artist. It seems quite magical.
NARRATOR: The letters in this gallery date to the summer and fall of 1880 when Manet first spent time in the spa town of Bellevue, just outside Paris, seeking treatment for his neurological condition. He wrote to friends often, illustrating his words with watercolors.
EMILY BEENY: These are really kind of the most intimate works I think he ever produced in his whole career and they give us a glimpse into his private world in a very special way.
NARRATOR: This envelope is addressed to Manet’s friend, printmaker Henri Charles Guérard who was away in Honfleur, a beach town popular with the Impressionists. But it was also meant to be read by Guérard’s wife, Eva Gonzalès, who was Manet’s only pupil.
EMILY BEENY: There’s maybe a little whiff of showing off for her in this letter.
NARRATOR: Manet dates the letter with a peach, playfully indicating that it is summer. He includes two images of shrimp and, on the back, a seascape, referencing the Normandy coast. His wife’s cat Zizi even makes an appearance.
Did his words dictate these illustrations or the other way around?
EMILY BEENY: The preparatory drawings do actually survive for these seemingly effortless brush-drawn designs. It seems he picked motifs that he particularly liked out of this sketchbook and laid his semi-transparent letter paper on top and simply traced those designs with his brush, which really enhances the illusion of total effortlessness here.