Guillemet (Antoine) - Lot 22

Guillemet (Antoine) Correspondence to Camille Pissarro. Six autograph letters signed, 21 pages, 1865-1899. Devauchelle folder. Very interesting correspondence between two leading artists of the Impressionist era, evoking their contemporaries, including Manet, Monet, Courbet, etc., in particular Cézanne, whom both defended against all odds when he was totally reviled. - Autograph letter signed "A. Guillemet" to "Mon cher Camille", 4 pages on double sheet (20.8 x 13.4 cm), Yport, August 26 [1865]. About painting, and mentions Cézanne. - Autograph letter signed "Antonin Guillemet" to his "Dear Friend", 3 pages on double sheet (20.5 x 13.3 cm), no place, September 13 [1865]. Cézanne goes to join him and mentions Courbet, but the painters he meets are "all grocers and gandins". - Autograph letter signed "A. Guillemet" to "Mon cher peintre", 4 pages on double sheet (20.5 x 13.3 cm), August 12 [1865 or 1866]. Guillemet evokes Cézanne painting a picture before joining his family, and talks about Brittany, concluding with an "axiom": "Everything is good to paint. Beautiful motifs are nothing but a joke". - Autograph letter signed "Antonin Guillemet" to his "Dear Friend", 2 pages on one sheet (20.4 x 13.3 cm), no place or date. Guillemet insists on inviting Pissarro to join him. - Autograph letter signed "A. Guillemet" to "Mon cher Pissaro", 4 pages on double sheet (20.7 x 13.1 cm), no place, September 3, 1872. Evokes the Batignolles and his visits to the merchants on Rue Laffite [sic], his taste for travel and his memories of the old days together. He saw Manet, Duranty and Zola in Paris: "We talked a lot about you, and this subject of conversation interests me above all others". - Autograph letter signed "A. Guillemet" to "Mon vieil ami", 4 pages on double sheet (21.2 x 13.4 cm), Sainte-Adresse, undated [circa 1899]. Monet hardly left his side during his stay in Sainte-Adresse and "Du côté de chez Monet, une vue extraordinaire, des motifs inouïs [...]", concluding: "Monet says a thousand kind things to you, and would like to see you arrive right away", then: "If Cézanne comes back, go and see his paintings, I'm curious to know what they are. Say hello to Zola. Provenance: Camille Pissarro.