System Number: 04089
Date: [23 February / 10 March 1888?][1]
Author: Claude Monet[2]
Place: Antibes
Recipient: JW
Place: [London]
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler M359
Document Type: ALS
chateau de la Pinède
près Antibes
Alpes-Maritimes
Mon cher Ami
Voilà longtemps que je veux vous ecrire je suis bien coupable ayant eté obligé de quitter Paris sans même avoir le temps de venir vous serrer la main. Je suis dans le midi depuis deux mois[3][.] je travaille beaucoup et ne compte rentrer chez moi que dans le Ct. d'avril [p. 2] juste au moment de notre exposition[4].
J'espère que malgré les mauvais jours d'hiver, vous aurez pu préparer beaucoup de choses pour nous. Nous allons être beaucoup moins nombreux que d'habitude, ca n'en sera peut être que mieux.
Il y a eu beaucoup d'abstentions, de démissions, tout cela dans le but de nous empêcher de faire l'exposition, mais les meilleurs restent[5] et il faut que ce soit épattant [p. 3] cette année preparez donc une belle exposition vous avez assez de merveilles dans votre atelier[6].
et l'affaire de la traduction avec Mallarmé[7] ou en est-ce! je suis parti si précipitamment pour le midi que je n'ai plus revu, il m'a seulement écris pour me dire toute son admiration pour vous.
J'ai reçu un avis du Beefsteak[8][p. 4] Club, m'annoncant que j'etais de nouveau membre de ce Club pour une nouvelle periode d'un mois à dater du 22 fevr. J'en suis très flatté mais ne pourrai pas profiter. Ne pourrai-je alors obtenir la même faveur lorsqu'il me sera possible de venir à Londres.
toutes mes amitiés
mon cher Whistler
votre
Claude Monet
ecrivez-moi quand vous aurez un instant
This document is protected by copyright.
Translation:
I have been wanting to write to you for a long time, I am quite guilty having been obliged to leave Paris without having time to come to shake your hand. I have been in the South for two months. I am working hard and do not expect to return home until April [p. 2] just at the time of our exhibition.
I hope that in spite of the bad days of winter, you will have been able to prepare many things for us. We shall be many fewer than usually, perhaps that will only be for the better.
There have been many abstentions, resignations, all that with an aim of preventing us from having the exhibition, but the best remain and it must be amazing [p. 3] this year, so prepare a beautiful exhibition[,] you have enough wonders in your studio.
and the business of the translation with Mallarmé how far along is that? I left so hurriedly for the South that I did not see [him] again, only he has written to me to express his admiration for you.
I have had word from the Beefsteak [p. 4] Club, announcing that I was again a member of this Club for a one month period from the 22 February. I am very flattered by it but will not be able to benefit from it. Could I not obtain the same favour when it is possible for me to come to London
all my good wishes
my dear Whistler
yours
Claude Monet
Notes:
1. [23 February / 10 March 1888?]
Letter dated and reproduced with minor variations in Wildenstein, Daniel, Claude Monet: biographie et catalogue raisonné, Lausanne, 1974-91, 5 vols., vol. 3, cat. no. 853.
2. Claude Monet
Claude Monet (1840-1926), artist [more].
3. deux mois
On 14 January 1888, Monet arrived at the artists' pension, 'Château de la Pinède', where Harpignies and followers were ensconced. He could not tear himself away until the end of April, painting the Golfe Juan and the Cap D'Antibes (op. cit., Wildenstein, vol. 3, cat. nos. 1158-1193).
4. exposition
The sixth exhibition, Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1887, included works by Paul Albert Besnard (1849-1934), painter, graver and writer [more], John Lewis Brown (1829-1890), painter [more] and JW. Monet planned a seventh exhibition for May 1888.
5. restent
Monet's relationship with Petit had deteriorated and only Paul-César-François Helleu (1859-1927), painter and etcher [more], and JW had agreed to exhibit (C. Monet to A. Hoschedé, 30 January 1888, in op. cit., Wildenstein, vol. 2, p. 8, cat. no. 822).
6. votre atelier
Monet visited the studio in mid-May 1887: 'émerveillé de Londres et aussi de Whistler qui est un grand artiste" (C. Monet to T. Duret, 13 August 1887, op. cit., Wildenstein vol. 3, cat. no. 794).
7. Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé (1842-1898), Symbolist writer and poet [more]. Mallarmé's translation, Le "Ten O'Clock" de M. Whistler, was published later that year, and they remained close friends until Mallarmé's death. See Whistler, James McNeill, Le 'Ten O'Clock' de M. Whistler, Paris, 1888, (Getscher, Robert H., and Paul G. Marks, James McNeill Whistler and John Singer Sargent. Two Annotated Bibliographies, New York and London, 1986, A. 11).
8. Beefsteak
JW was a member of the Beefsteak Club, a private gentlemen's dining club in London. Monet was to have been elected a member in February 1888 but it was suggested he should attend for a month and his membership be held over for six months so that committee members could get to know him (W. B. Scoones to JW, #05395).