Versatile French writer and artist (1889–1963) whose spectrum of work included novels. poems, plays, illustrations, films, and set designs. ALS in French, signed “Jean Cocteau, member of the U. S. A. Institute of Arts and Letters,” two pages, 8.25 x 10.5, November 1957. Letter to fellow artist Pierre Sicard. In full (translated): “When I was looking at your American paintings where New York in turn looks like some stunning night woman covered with jewels and like some unknown planet that spacecraft and flying saucers fly from, I did not know that long ago you had painted the places where the spectacle of which the first jazz played the overture. Perhaps we shall be soon the ones who received from fate the strange privilege of seeing the first film, the first automobile, the first airplane, the first voyage to the moon. And you will have been a witness and the historiographer of our somewhat frightening times which will make people smile someday as a kind of 1900 and which, with the passing of time, will appear full of charm. Should you find it amusing to cite the sentences in Cartes Blanches where I saluted the appearances of the black rhythms that currently possess their academy in France, I give you authorization. I could not have guessed then that the anti-academicism of this music would have its own academy and would ask me to be its president.” Central vertical and horizontal folds with small separations at edges, and a few tiny edges tears, otherwise fine condition. Sicard was a French painter in the postimpressionist style, favoring wild and romantic nightlife scenes inspired by the Parisian bars and nightclubs he frequented. He traveled to New York in the 1930s, where he held an exhibition at the Marie Sterner Gallery in 1936; later that year he exhibited his new scenes of New York at Galerie Bignou in Paris. Sicard settled in the US in the 1950s, traveling between New York and Los Angeles, where he continued to create exuberant scenes of the vibrant cities. A wonderful letter in style and content by Cocteau, in which he also mentions his own Carte Blanche, a 1920 critical text in which Cocteau credited jazz with the salvation of modern French music. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
This item is Pre-Certified by PSA/DNA
Buy a third-party letter of authenticity for
$50.00
*This item has been pre-certified by a trusted third-party authentication service, and by placing a bid on this item, you agree to accept the opinion of this authentication service. If you wish to have an opinion rendered by a different authenticator of your choosing, you must do so prior to your placing of any bid. RR Auction is not responsible for differing opinions submitted 30 days after the date of the sale.
We use cookies on this site to improve your experience. By using this site, you accept our use of cookies. To learn more, please see our Privacy Policy.
