ALS in French, three pages on two adjoining sheets, 4.75 x 6.5, Mesnil-Beaufresne letterhead, July 30, [no year]. Handwritten letter to writer and art critic Achille Segard, in full (translated): "I have just received the book that you have kindly wished to devote to my painting. I am infinitely grateful to you for it. There is just one thing that I would wish to be otherwise, what you say about my mother. I sound as if I were boasting. Could that be suppressed, or at least a bit of it? Or is it too late? I would take great pleasure in seeing you here, if you and Mrs. Segard would give me the pleasure of coming to lunch. I am working, which calms the nerves. Paris is terrible, with that constant struggle. I don’t know whether you have seen the exhibition at Manzi’s and Degas’s pastels. If he had been there himself, he would never have exhibited that. But a landscape by Pissarro does honor to the exhibition, and two quite beautiful still lifes by Monet." In fine condition, with light toning along the hinge.
In 1913, Achille Segard published 'Mary Cassatt: Un peintre des enfants et des mères,' the earliest biography of the American painter, which was based on a series of interviews with her. In this exquisite letter, she refers to fellow painters Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, and Claude Monet. Of the three, she was closest to Degas, who served as one of her chief mentors in Paris. He invited her to exhibit in the third Impressionist exhibition in 1877, and introduced her to pastel and engraving. For her part, Cassatt was instrumental in helping Degas to sell his paintings and promote his reputation in America.
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