Elsie and Micaela Martinez Paris Letters/Ephemera, 1920s.

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The Bohemian World of Xavier Martinez

By Turner Auctions + Appraisals LLC

Feb 25, 2023

Set Reminder 2023-02-25 13:30:00 2023-02-25 13:30:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : The Bohemian World of Xavier Martinez https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/turner-auctions/the-bohemian-world-of-xavier-martinez-12193
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• Lot Description
  MARTINEZ, ELSIE WHITAKER (1890-1984); and MARTINEZ, MICAELA (1913-1989). An archive of approximately 140+ envelopes/letters (many envelopes containing letters from both Elsie and Micaela), and approximately 30 postcards, all addressed to Xavier Martinez in Piedmont, 1921-1923. Together with Elsie's travel journal/notebook (marked "Margret Whitaker", her nom de plume); a collection of Paris exhibition/gallery booklets and advertisements, postcards, and other ephemera (approx. 45 pieces); and Micaela's drawings, mostly from her life drawing classes (approx. 45). Condition: Envelopes with tears/creases, and most stamps have been torn off of envelopes and cut from postcards; letters themselves are overall good. Ephemera with folds/creases, some light spotting, but generally good. The trip marked an important juncture in Elsie and Micaela's lives, as they had recently moved in with Harriet Dean. Dean met Elsie and Xavier Martinez in 1916 when she was working with Margaret Anderson at the Little Review literary magazine's brief stint in San Francisco. By 1919 Dean's mother financed a house a few doors down from the Martinez studio home in the Piedmont hills. After returning from a European year+ abroad with Dean in 1923, Elsie and Kai moved in with her. From this period onward, together Elsie and Harriet cared for and stayed close to "Marty", becoming "A two-house family" (see Elsie's oral history, "Artists and Writers of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bancroft Library, 1962-1969:99, 101, etc.) LETTERS/EXAMPLES: Most of the letters are 1922-1923, when Elsie, Harriet Dean, and Micaela traveled to Paris on the ship Rochambeau. Elsie and Micaela's letters are addressed from/reference Chicago, New York, London, Paris, and the South of France. Intermingled are letters from a 1921 visit to Indianapolis to see Dean's mother, and again in 1923 on their return journey west. The 1921 letters also include some sent from Taos, New Mexico (possibly a separate trip). Artist friend Virginia S. Hale ("Naya") is mentioned as being with them in Paris, and there is at least one letter from Hale to Martinez.   -- There are several on Rochambeau ship stationery, and one letter contains a passenger ship plan map. -- Many of Elsie's letters include her impressions and thoughts on the art they have seen, and practical matters pertaining to Micaela, their travel plans, finances, Xavier's health (he seems to be ailing throughout this time), and thoughts of Piedmont. -- Michaela often includes drawings in her newsy and often funny notes to her father; she writes of who they have met, where they have been, museums and sites, her progress in her art classes and impressions of the art they have seen. On May 15, 1923, she writes that they have run into artist Ralph Stackpole at the Salon de Tuileries.  -- June 13, 1923, they are going to see Diaghilev's Ballets Russes to see Petrouchka.  -- November, 1922, Elsie writes that they have attended a Picasso exhibit at the Autumn Salon, and she observes, "the younger generation of painters are not so wild now". And also: "Kay [Micaela] met at the little grocery store here a young Japanese painter who said he had met you..."; "Pal [Dean] says she has not forgotten you said Cezanne bumps you on the nose... but she added Picasso knocks you on the head!" -- October, 1922, the three are busy in New York, with Elsie seeing publishers, presumably regarding her novel manuscript. Elsie writes: "Miss Coolbrith (California poetess) has a room next to us. Isn't that a coincidence?" She also writes of seeing painter Magda Pach and receiving news from Walter Pach in Mexico. They also attend a lecture by Dr. Albert Abrams (the fraudulent physician) at Carnegie Hall. -- Letters from London, April, 1923, where they have visited a Whitaker aunt, and Micaela says they have seen been to see the film "Salome", and that it "was simply awful... Nazimova did not act very well". EPHEMERA/EXAMPLES:  Along with souvenir postcards/postcard books: -Approx. 17 French gallery cards and booklets (some duplicates), including one for Galerie Percier Mane-Katz exposition, and 10 for Gallerie Marcel Bernheim/Chez MM. Bernheim-Jeune, 1922-1923 (Paul Signac, Peinture Moderne Groupe II and III, Georges Seurat, Kimon Nicolaides, Louise Hervieu, Des Fleurs, etc.); and lecture booklet, V. Goloubeff, Introduction a La Connaissance D'Angkor, Musee Guimet. -- Approx. 18 French theater/music adverts/programs 1922-1923 (some duplicates), including Theatre Lyrique Municipal de la Gaite, Du 13 Juin au 21 Juin 1923, Representations des Ballets Russes de Serge de Diaghilew, Repertoire Noces (folds/creases, staining); Les concerts Spirituels de l'Elise de l'Etoile; and Theatre des Champs-Elysees, Alfred Cortot, Jacques Thibaud, Pablo Casals. -- 5 London adverts/programs, 1923, including: Catalogue of Recent Paintings by Roger Fry, the Independent Gallery ; New Scala Theater, The Marionette Players; and V&A Museum Department of Textiles/Persian Woven Fabrics booklet. From the Family of Xavier Martinez (1869-1943), Elsie Whitaker Martinez (1890-1984), and Micaela Martinez DuCasse (1913-1989).
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