Beschreibung:

Works from the Collection of Jean Hart Kislak
Bemelmans, LudwigAn extensively illustrated, wide-ranging archive of letters to Elizabeth Weicker and Theodore Weicker, Jr. 
28 autograph letters, 4 autograph postcards, and 9 typed letters, most signed (commonly "Ludwig," but also "Ludovico," "Le Prince Ludovico," "Ludovico Il Terrible," "St. Ludwig," or "Dr. Schacht Bemelmans"). Together about 57 pages, various sizes and letterheads (including Ludwig Bemelmans Air France, Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten, Hotel Ritz Paris, and Town & Country stationary), circa 18 January 1960-10 August 1962. Extensively illustrated throughout with 25 drawings in the text, in graphite, ink, and watercolor; old folds and minor handling wear, as expected. [With] A group of ancillary ephemera, including printed invitations, mimeographed copies of Marina and a 5pp. unidentified short story, a pricelist from a 1963 show in Easthampton, and a booklet titled Madeline’s Christmas.
"MY FIRST PASSION AND LOVE – IS WRITING AND COLOR – AND AS AN ARTIST ONE CANNOT EVER BELONG TO ANYONE – AND THAT IS – ODD AND UNFAIR – AS IT IS – WHAT BEGETS LOVE"
An illuminating archive written by Ludwig Bemelmans to the American socialite, philanthropist, and Francophile, Elizabeth "Liz" Weicker, and her then husband, Theodore Weicker, Jr. The archive picks up at the height of his literary successes, and spans up to the months before his untimely death at the age of 64. He was undoubtedly a world traveler at this height, with references to, or postmarks from: New York, Paris, the French Riviera, London, Nassau, and Algeria, among others. A letter of 14 March 1960, mentions that he will soon "sail off to Israel, to help Otto Preminger with Exodus." While a printed communique from 7 March 1962 compares the logistics of property in the Bahamas versus Jamaica.
It is replete with references to his ongoing writing projects, and to his artistic process. In an illustrated letter from 18 January 1960, he tells Liz: “Its 18 below, and there is no hot water, but I have never been happier in my life … I have almost finished the rewriting of [ARE YOU HUNGRY ARE YOU COLD] and it is I think my best book. I have put old chiffons on the floor so that you won’t have paint stains, for I don’t think I can paint outside.." He illustrates this scene with a self-portrait at an easel, with printed labels indicating an "Electric Blanket" and "Chauffage central." Another letter relays the progress he has made on Marina: "I have written a new childrens book in your library, and made the sketches for it. Its about a baby Seal girl, and some purposeless Porpoises ... Its about the best story for kids I have written next to Madeline." The letter bears a watercolor sketch of Marina playing on a beach, while a shark swims menacingly in the waters of the ocean.
In perhaps the most poignant letter to Liz, he reflects on the loneliness of being an artist: “MY FIRST PASSION AND LOVE – IS WRITING AND COLOR – AND AS AN ARTIST ONE CANNOT EVER BELONG TO ANYONE – AND THAT IS – ODD AND UNFAIR – AS IT IS – WHAT BEGETS LOVE." Despite this sentiment, or perhaps in tandem with it, humor and whimsy shine through in his illustrations throughout the archive, which features an impressive array of nuns, angels, whales, cats and dogs, hippos and seals, jockeys and horses, skiers, doctors, and more.
Bemelmans does not confine himself exclusively to art and literature; in a letter from 23 May 1962, he shares an analysis of President John F. Kennedy, responding to his comment that, "all businessmen were sons of bitches," he writes: “I have been thinking about le President... The business man SOB complex JFK has, comes (most probably without knowing it himself) from a hatred of his father for there really was a businessman SOB. I think also the behaviour of the President, having Marylin Monroe etc, Jack Benny, and the rest and also writers and painters – is in that direction..." 
A remarkable group of correspondence from the beloved creator of Madeline.
PROVENANCE:Estate of Elizabeth Fondaras, formerly Weicker, (Christie's New York, 6 December 2013, lot 108)