Théophile-Alexandre STEINLEN. 30 L.A.S. (mostly... - Lot 43 - Ader

Lot 43
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Théophile-Alexandre STEINLEN. 30 L.A.S. (mostly... - Lot 43 - Ader
Théophile-Alexandre STEINLEN. 30 L.A.S. (mostly "St."), including 2 with drawings (plus one incomplete), Saint-Ay and Paris 1921-1922, to his nieces Marguerite Steinlen and Germaine Perrin; 65 pages various sizes, several addresses. Charming and amusing correspondence from the "little uncle" to his turbulent nieces, illustrated with some pen-and-ink drawings. The letters of the "little uncle" are addressed to the inseparable Marguerite Steinlen (often designated by a small drawing of a flower), known as Margoton or Hérisson, and Germaine Perrin, known as G.P., most of them during their vacations in Champanges Saint-Martin near Evian, and to whom he often gives news of his daughter Colette. We can only give here a few short excerpts from these letters full of pleasant fantasy. July 14, 1921 "Year 128 of Freedom", to G.P.: "Recipe: common sense, reason, heart (a good piece of butter - whistle - heart) sprinkle the whole with a grain (crushed in the mortar) of madness (indispensable condiment, discovered by Montaigne, as you know) and that's it - faith doesn't harm and gives the whole a particular efficiency. - Never despair! I am in the particular case, I believe well the only one not to have despaired - and it is me, it is him the old small uncle who was right "... 23 July 1922. "Pim! Ba da boum zing! here is Zeus who gets angry - a dirty grudge! what have we done to him? Is it because I got angry myself on the 12th evening in St Cloud - or is it St Cloud who didn't like to hear shouting in his domain " .... - July 31. "It's not all about thinking only of sentimental, amorous and papillonnesque little stories - it's all romanticism, it's not serious - here it is, the cruel, the prosaic reality: the Cirex, the Cirex! Also this little uncle who rides so well in spite of his advanced age - Pegasus, the chimeras and the donkey of the fair - has put himself since yesterday to the Cirex"... He draws himself writing in bed "on his knee"... On the following letter, he draws a caterpillar - August 2nd. Lunch with Colette and Massa at Anatole France's house, "the good Master who was admirable in his youth, in his cheerfulness and his grandson, the young Julien (Psichari), a curious fellow, as nice as anything, as lazy as anything else (see nieces of Champanges), he is admired by his teachers at the Lycée de Tours for his absolute laziness"... On August 7, he writes on the back of a negative postcard showing him riding a donkey, "in an unreal, apocalyptic light"... - August 8. "Is it possible God G.P. that I could have been as impioudik as you say? [...] Don't misunderstand everything - Homo Erectus has nothing libidinous about it, it is one of the two scientific terms used in natural history to designate man - Homo erectus means man who stands upright, the other term is Homo sapiens - the wise man (?) the man who knows - Alas! Alas! he is the poor man who is often still very close, too close to the monkey"... Five L.A.S. from Colette Steinlen to the same; a L.A. from Germaine to her "beloved sister"; a L.A.S. from D.-E. Inghelbrecht to Marguerite Steinlen, "Margotton la jolize" (1915), while Steinlen is going back to the front; plus a dried flower.
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