![MONDRIAN, Pieter Cornelis 'Piet' (1872-1944). Four autograph letters (three signed 'Piet') to Albert van der Briel ('Bert'), n.p. [Paris] and Paris, [1925], [March 1927], 18 May 1927, 22 March 1932, in Dutch.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2015/CKS/2015_CKS_10457_0041_000(mondrian_pieter_cornelis_piet_four_autograph_letters_to_albert_van_der101137).jpg?w=1)
細節
MONDRIAN, Pieter Cornelis 'Piet' (1872-1944). Four autograph letters (three signed 'Piet') to Albert van der Briel ('Bert'), n.p. [Paris] and Paris, [1925], [March 1927], 18 May 1927, 22 March 1932, in Dutch.
13 pages in total, 4to (270 x 208mm) and 8vo (206 x 130mm), (end of the first letter missing, first letter with 6cm tear from the right edge, the third with a very small tear to the top margin), the final letter with envelope.
LETTERS TO MONDRIAN'S FRIEND AND COUNTRYMAN, THE PARK RANGER ALBERT VAN DER BRIEL. Chiefly on the subject of art and Mondrian's artistic output but returning with notable frequency to the subject of money, and shortages thereof, the artist describes to his friend with frankness the vicissitudes of the art market and the experience of the commercial process for a contemporary artist. In 1925 he is being represented by 'a known dealer in Dresden [Kühl and Kühn]. We shall see if I win or lose [money]. It is going to be something to worry about as I won't finish my new work before the end of January...', though his worries do not preclude considerations as to how he might help his friend with his own artistic career: mentioning the collector, S. B. Slijper, whose purchases have kept him afloat in the past – 'ik geloof niet dat je hem kent ... Hij kocht vroeger veel werk van me, voor lage prijzen wel maar dat was in die tijd toch beter; anderen kochten heelemaal niet' – he suggests that Slijper might like some of van der Briel's works. Exhibitions in 1927 are somewhat fraught: having lent works destined for L’Esthétique Boulevard Montparnasse to a Dutch show, he receives them back damaged the day before the exhibition and has to work on their repair until 3am, and of an exhibition in America he can only say: 'Unfortunately nothing sold, but it was a moral success'. These issues play out in the letters against a backdrop of financial insecurity and Mondrian's anxieties about his position in the art world relative to other artists and critics; familiar names here include Peter Alma, Charley Toorop, Georges Vantongerloo and Marinus Ritsema van Eck among others, and their works and writings (on one contemporary, he reflects that 'I find my Neo-plasticism more pure') are discussed alongside mentions of his own pieces for journals such as Vouloir. In 1932, laid low by a bout of ill-health, Bert sends money, a fact Mondrian regrets as he knows he doesn't have much himself ('je zelf niet veel hebt'). He also mentions a committee featuring Cornelis van Eesteren and Charley Toorop, with the encouraging news that 'they are looking for money to buy a painting for a museum'.
Albert van der Briel first met Mondrian in Winterswijk in 1920, and a close friendship blossomed between the painter and the park ranger and amateur artist, not least through the repeated mutual visits past and future mentioned here. In him, Mondrian found a countryman, separate from his life in Paris, with whom he could be entirely honest in his discussion of the international contemporary art scene of the time. These letters are published in 't is alles een groote eenheid, Bert (Joh. Enschedé: Haarlem, 1988), pp. 11-18.
13 pages in total, 4to (270 x 208mm) and 8vo (206 x 130mm), (end of the first letter missing, first letter with 6cm tear from the right edge, the third with a very small tear to the top margin), the final letter with envelope.
LETTERS TO MONDRIAN'S FRIEND AND COUNTRYMAN, THE PARK RANGER ALBERT VAN DER BRIEL. Chiefly on the subject of art and Mondrian's artistic output but returning with notable frequency to the subject of money, and shortages thereof, the artist describes to his friend with frankness the vicissitudes of the art market and the experience of the commercial process for a contemporary artist. In 1925 he is being represented by 'a known dealer in Dresden [Kühl and Kühn]. We shall see if I win or lose [money]. It is going to be something to worry about as I won't finish my new work before the end of January...', though his worries do not preclude considerations as to how he might help his friend with his own artistic career: mentioning the collector, S. B. Slijper, whose purchases have kept him afloat in the past – 'ik geloof niet dat je hem kent ... Hij kocht vroeger veel werk van me, voor lage prijzen wel maar dat was in die tijd toch beter; anderen kochten heelemaal niet' – he suggests that Slijper might like some of van der Briel's works. Exhibitions in 1927 are somewhat fraught: having lent works destined for L’Esthétique Boulevard Montparnasse to a Dutch show, he receives them back damaged the day before the exhibition and has to work on their repair until 3am, and of an exhibition in America he can only say: 'Unfortunately nothing sold, but it was a moral success'. These issues play out in the letters against a backdrop of financial insecurity and Mondrian's anxieties about his position in the art world relative to other artists and critics; familiar names here include Peter Alma, Charley Toorop, Georges Vantongerloo and Marinus Ritsema van Eck among others, and their works and writings (on one contemporary, he reflects that 'I find my Neo-plasticism more pure') are discussed alongside mentions of his own pieces for journals such as Vouloir. In 1932, laid low by a bout of ill-health, Bert sends money, a fact Mondrian regrets as he knows he doesn't have much himself ('je zelf niet veel hebt'). He also mentions a committee featuring Cornelis van Eesteren and Charley Toorop, with the encouraging news that 'they are looking for money to buy a painting for a museum'.
Albert van der Briel first met Mondrian in Winterswijk in 1920, and a close friendship blossomed between the painter and the park ranger and amateur artist, not least through the repeated mutual visits past and future mentioned here. In him, Mondrian found a countryman, separate from his life in Paris, with whom he could be entirely honest in his discussion of the international contemporary art scene of the time. These letters are published in 't is alles een groote eenheid, Bert (Joh. Enschedé: Haarlem, 1988), pp. 11-18.
榮譽呈獻
Eugenio Donadoni