MONET CLAUDE: (1840-1926) French Impressionist painter. A fine correspondence collection of eight A.Ls.S. and one L.S., Claude Monet, fourteen pages (total), 8vo, various places (mainly Giverny par Vernon, Eure), 1882-1923, to various correspondents including the important French art dealers Paul Durand-Ruel and Ambroise Vollard, further including an A.N., unsigned, by Monet to his Visiting Card, all in French. The letters are unusually bound together in an attractive presentation of other related printed material, principally featuring a limited edition copy of the exhibition catalogue for Claude Monet - A. Rodin at the Galerie Georges Petit, 1889. The correspondence centres on a variety of subjects from exhibiting with Rodin to purchasing works by Paul Cezanne, and comprises (in order of their appearance within the volume) -

(i) A.L.S., Claude Monet, three pages, 8vo, Fresselines, Creuse, 12th April 1889, to Monsieur [Georges] Petit. Monet writes to confirm his agreement to participate in an exhibition at Petit´s gallery, in conjunction with the sculptor Auguste Rodin, in part, ´J´accepte les conditions que vous mes faites pour faire une exposotion dans votre galerie......a dates du 5 Juillet prochain au 5 Octobre (il faut qu´il soit bien convenu que vous nous livrez la galerie au plus tard le 5 Juillet........a fin d´ouvrir le 5 vous devez pouvoir le decider des a present). Conditions 8000 fr a vous donner en peinture et 10% sur la vente.........Le chiffre a vous remettre en peintures et en sculptures. Je previens Rodin de mon acceptation a vos conditions. Vous aurez donc a conclure avec lui en ce qui le concerne et je vous prie de m´adresser un mot de reponse qui constitue......et engagementde votre part´ (Translation: ´I accept your conditions for an exhibition in your gallery......from 5th July to 5th October (it must be clearly agreed that you will deliver the gallery to us by 5th July at the latest........ in order to open on the 5th you must be able to decide this now). Conditions 8000 fr to be given to you in paintings and 10% on the sale.........The figure to be given to you in paintings and sculptures. I inform Rodin that I accept your conditions. You will therefore have to come to an agreement with him as far as he is concerned and I would ask you to send me a note of reply which will constitute...... a commitment on your part´).

Georges Petit (1856-1920) French art dealer, a key figure in the Paris art world and an important promoter of Impressionist artists.

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) French sculptor who exhibited The Kiss at Petit´s gallery in 1887.

The joint exhibition by Monet and Rodin at Petit´s gallery in 1889 served to seal Rodin’s position as France’s premier sculptor and opened doors to collections and museums around the world.

Monet stayed for three months at Fresselines, in the spring of 1889, at the home of the French poet and musician Maurice Rollinat (1846-1903).

(ii) A.L.S., Claude Monet, one page, 8vo, Villers-sur-Mer, 11th June 1882, to [Paul] Durand-Ruel. Monet arranges a meeting with his art dealer, ´Je suis oblige de venir demain matin a Paris. Si vous n´avez rien qui vous derange, je passerai rue de la Paix vers 10h ou 10h 1/2´ (Translation: ´I have to come to Paris tomorrow morning. If you don't have anything to disturb you, I'll drop by rue de la Paix around 10 or 10 1/2´).

Paul Durand-Ruel (1831-1922) French art dealer associated with the Impressionists and the Barbizon School, an early supporter of Monet, Camille Pissarro and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

(iii) A.N., unsigned, to the recto of Monet´s personal printed oblong 12mo Visiting Card, featuring his printed name to the centre and address at Giverny par Vernon (Eure) to the lower right corner, with two lines of French text in his hand, in the third person and written in his characteristic bold purple ink, ´avec ses sinceres compliments et tous ses remerciements´ (Translation: ´with his sincere compliments and many thanks´). Accompanied by the original envelope hand addressed by Monet to the art critic Andre Mellerio in Paris, post marked 17th December 1895.

Andre Mellerio (1862-1943) French art critic who promoted the cause of Symbolism and was the biographer, and great friend, of Odilon Redon.

(iv) A.L.S., Claude Monet, one page, 8vo, Giverny par Vernon, Eure, 9th December 1895, to [Ambroise Vollard] (´Cher Monsieur´), written in the artist´s chracteristic bold purple ink. Monet writes concerning the delivery of a painting by Paul Cezanne, ´Si vous ne l´avez deja fait, je vous prie de ne pas manquer d´envoyer mon tableau de Cezanne chez M. Montaignac......demain mardi avant-midi´ (Translation: ´If you have not already done so, please do not fail to send my painting of Cezanne to Mr. Montaignac......tomorrow, Tuesday morning´). With blank integral leaf and four coners of the letter neatly torn away, not affecting the text or signature.

Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939) French art dealer and collector, one of the most important dealers in French contemporary art at the beginning of the 20th century.

Isidore Montaignac (1851-1924) French art dealer, director of the Galerie Georges Petit and the Paris representative of James Sutton, who co-founded the American Art Association.

Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) French Post-Impressionist painter.

(v) A.L.S., Claude Monet, two pages (written to the first and and fourth sides of the black bordered mourning bifolium stationery), 8vo, Giverny par Vernon, Eure, 26th May 1899, to [Ambroise] Vollard, written in the artist´s familiar bold purple ink. Monet sends his art dealer a payment for an early painting by Paul Cezanne, The Negro Scipion, ´Je vous adresse la somme de quinze cents francs que je restais vous devoir sur la toile de Cezanne (le negre). J´ai tarde a vous remettre cette somme parce que je pensais toujours venir a Paris et ne sachant trop quand je viendrais, je prefere vous l´adresser, que vous faire attendre plus longtemps´ (Translation: ´I am sending you the sum of fifteen hundred francs that I still owe you for the painting by Cezanne (The Negro). I delayed giving you this sum because I was still thinking of coming to Paris and not knowing when I would come, I would rather send it to you than make you wait any longer´).

The Negro Scipion (1867) is an early oil painting by Paul Cezanne which the art critic Louis Vauxcelles described as a ´striking masterpiece´. Monet displayed the painting in his bedroom at Giverny, along with his other favourite works, and considered it to be ´a work of the greatest strength´. Today the painting is held in the collections of the Museu de Arte in Sao Paulo.

(vi) A.L.S., Claude Monet, one page, 8vo, Giverny par Vernon, Eure, 31st December 1902, to [Ambroise] Vollard, written in Monet´s characteristic bold purple ink. The painter makes a payment for an artwork, ´Ci-joint quatre billets de cent francs pour la statuette .....Je pensais vous regler en venant a Paris mais j´y viens si rarement´ (Translation: ´Enclosed are four hundred-franc notes for the statuette ..... I thought I'd pay you on my way to Paris, but I go there so rarely´). With blank integral leaf.

(vii) A.L.S., Claude Monet, one page, 8vo, Giverny par Vernon, Eure, 8th September 1905, to [Ambroise] Vollard, penned in Monet´s familiar bold purple ink. The painter again writes concerning Paul Cezanne, ´Bien tardivement, tous mes remerciements pour les belles photographies de Cezanne qui me font le plus grand plaisir a voir. C´est tres aimable a vous d´y avoir pense´ (Translation: ´My belated thanks for the beautiful photographs of Cezanne, which I am delighted to see. It was very kind of you to think of them´). Accompanied by the original envelope hand addressed by Monet.

(viii) A.L.S., Claude Monet, one page, 8vo, Giverny par Vernon, Eure, 18th January 1907, to [Ambroise Vollard] and written in characteristic bold purple ink. Monet sends funds for the purchase of another Cezanne painting (of which Monet owned thirteen in total), ´Inclus je vous adresse quatre mille francs en billets de banque pour solde du prix du paysage de Cezanne´ (Translation: ´I am sending you four thousand francs in banknotes to cover the balance of the price of Cezanne's landscape´ ). With blank integral leaf.

(ix) A.L.S., Claude Monet, two pages (written to the first and third sides of the bifolium), 8vo, Giverny par Vernon, Eure, 17th December 1922, to [Ambroise] Vollard, written in bold pencil. Monet states, in part, ´Je vous remercie beaucoup, d´avoir pense, un peu tardivement, peut-etre, a m´envoyer votre livre sur Renoir. Je le connaissais naturellement par les......avant d´etre publie. Mais je serais tres heureux de le recevoir´ (Translation: ´Thank you very much for thinking, perhaps a little belatedly, of sending me your book on Renoir. Naturally, I knew about it from ...... before it was published. But I would be very happy to receive it´).

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) French Inpressionist painter, and a close friend of Monet.

(x) L.S., Claude Monet, (a good, bold example following the cataract surgery the artist had received a few months earlier), with a holograph postscript, two pages, 8vo, Giverny par Vernon, Eure, 7th May 1923, to [Ambroise] Vollard (´Mon cher Vollard´). Monet politely declines an offer that Vollard had made to the artist, in part, ´Je ne puis qu´etre flatte de votre proposition mais je ne suis guere qualifie pour ce role. Depuis longtemps deja je ne lis plus a cause de ma vue et j´ignore tout les jeunes litterateurs´ (Translation: ´I can only be flattered by your proposal, but I'm hardly qualified for this role. I have not read for a long time now because of my eyesight and I ignore all young writers´). In a postscript Monet writes ´Mes felicitations pour votre beau geste´ (Translation: ´Congratulations on your kind gesture´). With blank integral leaf.

The letters are all lightly tipped at the left edges to paper tabs and bound a la Bradel alongside a printed 8vo copy of the exhibition catalogue for Claude Monet - A Rodin at the Galerie Georges Petit in Paris, 1889, being a limited edition of just twenty copies (this one numbered 16) published by Menard, printed on Japon paper (top edges gilt) and itself an interesting presentation copy, inscribed to one of the front free endpapers by Gustave Geffroy (1885-1926) French journalist, art critic and historian, a friend and champion of Monet, to his fellow art critic Edmond de Goncourt (1822-1896), ´A Edmond de Goncourt, hommage respectueux de son ami, Gustave Geffroy´. The catalogue contains French text essays on both Monet, by Octave Mirbeau, and Rodin, by Geffroy, as well as a list of titles of the works included in the exhibition, featuring over 140 paintings by Monet and thirty-six sculptures by Rodin. Also included within the binding is a small 8vo printed catalogue for an Exposition d´Oeuvres recentes de Claude Monet at the Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, 4th - 16th May 1891, accompanied by a printed admission ticket, with a French text essay by Geffroy and list of twenty-two paintings by Monet (the paper wrappers a little browned at the edges and with a few minor chips). The whole bound in dark green cloth and with a brown leather gilt stamped title label to the spine. A wonderful collection of letters and printed ephemera with fine content and excellent associations. Generally VG