Description

Description: In these two autograph letters, one signed, Toklas makes witty commentaries and criticisms of the writers and artists of her time. The second (partial) letter mentions: e.e. cummings, Gertrude Stein, Balthus and Jackson Pollack.

In the first signed chatty one-page letter written on “Armistice day of the other War, 1955,” Alice B. Tolkas thanks a Mr. Livingston for the “wondrous tea” he has sent to her. She is “touched” by his thoughtfulness and wonders if he has received the letter she sent across the Atlantic to 12, Park Avenue–the address on the tea package–as he might be back at the Oxford College whose name her memory fails to recall. She playfully adds “if the letter was not forwarded to you let me know so that I can send you another cheque–for a sum–deduced from external evidence and internal fancy–” She hopes to see him on his next visit to Paris and asks to let her know when as she is going to Berne for “thanksgiving” and “to see the show of Juan Gris pictures at the museum. . .” Signed “Ever cordially/Alice Toklas.” In a postscript, she asks “Are they pheasants or chickens that your college has on its emblem?”

In the second, partial (unsigned) two-page letter of 1957, Toklas first apologizes for her tardiness, blaming it on her French life. She writes with honest bluntness about poets and artists she has encountered. Of being in France, she says, “. . . there are more impediments in France to a daily quiet living than fifty years have accustomed [her] to  . . . Some of the reasons that interfere with living a calm-commonplace life are the plate of the admirable comedies the French write – a great many are just the agitation of middle class existence and the rest are deadly bourgeois resistance to anything their tradition – till this is interesting when it happens to some one [sic] else but is a deadly bore when it unexpectedly becomes your experience.” She thanks him “very warmly–for [his] attentive kindness in lending [her] E. E. Cummings lectures” and having read his poetry, wonders if his “enormous distinction . . . makes him the most important figure of his generation – we “discovered” him his “Enormous Boom” with excitement -he has never failed now-has he?”

Of Balthus, the Polish-French painter, she states , “. . . Balthus is a very good painter indeed  . . .  We spent over an hour at his show and met him- we were greatly impressed –  the picture Gertrude Stein liked was frankly not approachable [?] – our second choice was a huge canvas and there was not room for it . . . Then he fell under the influence of [Andre] Derain and that was discouraging and he stayed under it. When finally he emerged – after the the liberation we had less room and less money- but we saw him from time to time and were always very fond of him – He is a Pole and has the notion of dreams and charm (Conrad) and is not happy – always seeking an ideal home  – No Jackson Pollock was not a painter. D’accord – The Marcussi of Gertrude and me must [sic] be tucked away in some dark corner here.” She asks Livingston not to send her any more tea, adding that she cannot offer it to those who “do not know its exquisite aroma” and has “some left for the distinguished.” The partial letter ends with her aborted trip to Majorca and talk of the weather.

Written on sheets of thin onion skin paper which measure 8¼” x 5 ¼” and are imprinted “5 Rue Christine VI Paris.”

Alice Babette Toklas (1877-1967) was born in San Francisco but moved permanently to Paris in 1907. She became a life long partner of the writer Gertrude Stein and the two became an integral part of the Parisian avant-garde. They hosted a regular salon that attracted artists like Picasso, Matisse, Braque, and Gris, as well as, expat writers like Hemingway and Wilder.

Condition: A negligible piece of the left top blank corner is missing from the second page of the second letter, mailing fold lines, generally very good condition.