Beschreibung:

Title: Collection of 49 autograph letters in Spanish, nearly all adorned with original portrait drawings of women by Juana López, teenage artist and writer Author: López, Juana Place: Cartagena, Spain Publisher: Date: 1937-1939 Description: 49 separate sheets, most folded once vertically to make four pages each; portraits on first pages in pencil and/or color pencil (with outline in ink) of all letters except one (which is done with ink and watercolor); holograph text in pencil or black ink. Each, when folded, measure approximately 17x11 cm. (6¾x4½"), laid in loose into plastic sleeves, housed in a green cloth album. Each portrait signed and dated by the artist Juana López. A wonderful archive of Spanish Civil War-era letters, all written by Juana López, a teenager from Cartagena, an important naval port on the Mediterranean in southeastern Spain. Most of the letters, which are addressed to Juana's two aunts, were written at the time of the Civil War, which provides the backdrop, but rarely intrudes thematically in the correspondence. However, what is remarkable here is that Señorita López has illustrated each letter with a detailed portrait of a beautiful woman, usually a famous actress. The letters, which are all signed and dated, occasionally mention food lines or a shortage of some staple, but occurrences typically are seen as matter-of-fact, and not as extraordinary events. Mostly Juana reports family news, reflects her aspirations for cosmopolitan life by complaining about being forced to live like a country bumpkin, makes small talk, and jokes in the way of a young woman who is intimately familiar with a favored relative or friend. Her portrait drawings, not always identified but always rendered with skill and detail, are often taken from photographs in movie and fashion magazines, as she states more than once in the correspondence. In the course of the letters one becomes acquainted with Juana's extended family, her daily routine and pastimes, and her hopes and desires during a difficult and violent era in modern Spain. A nice archive of personal letters by an intelligent and artistic teenage girl during the Spanish Civil War folk art and history combined. Lot Amendments Condition: Letters/art are mostly near fine. Item number: 225800