Jacques VILLON (1875-1963). Watercolor drawing, signed lower - Lot 345

Jacques VILLON (1875-1963). Watercolor drawing, signed lower left, [circa 1900]; 23.5 x 16 cm. A figure in a cap, wrapped in a coat and leaning against a wall: a thug waiting for a victim.Enclosed: a L.A.S., Puteaux December 23, 1952, to organist Virginie Schildge-Bianchini (1p. in-8, address): "We're leaving tomorrow morning for Normandy. We'll spend Christmas there", greetings; and an original signed and numbered etching: Intérieur, s.d. [1943] (27 x 21.8 cm, printed on 38 x 28.5 cm Arches chiffon paper), printed in bistre in qqs. copies and in black in 40 copies (numbered 26/40), slightly darkened on the immediate edges, the margins having been protected by a passe-partout. [Ref. E.473 in the catalog raisonné of the works of Jacques Villon (Estampes et lithographies) by Colette de Ginestet and Catherine Pouillon; this etching was included in the Peintres-Graveurs exhibition in 1943].