Sonia DELAUNAY (1885-1979)

Two Typed Letters Signed (“Sonia”) to Caroline Delteil giving her news and advice regarding the sale of pictures, Alexander Calder’s exhibition, and sending a message of support.
1 page 4to in French, Paris, 16 July 1965 and 1 page 4to in French, 23 July 1965, both with the envelopes. 
Trans: “I saw Louise Calder [wife of American sculptor Alexander Calder] at the private view of her husband’s exhibition. It is a very beautiful exhibition. I spoke to her about you and explained how you were received when you arrived in Paris. She was very kind and seemed to understand. So I hope things are rather sorted.
Regarding your pictures, I have spoken with a friend. Send them to me; she is interested and she is a broker who is good [i.e., honest]. Do it as quickly as possible, as the holidays start at the end of July and I will then be able to work in peace.
June was terribly exhausting with all the receptions. As usual, I do not go out, one has to show oneself once a year. In addition, I have had a case of anthrax for the past 10 days which is also tiring me.
The weather is changing all the time. It is good for a few hours, then cold and it rains.
Don’t worry. Enjoy your life with Joseph. Everything will sort itself out, especially those unkindnesses you have had. Have the pictures sent. My friend will do her best. . . . Say the prices you want, in new francs or old, note them. . . “
Trans: “I have received the pictures and the sculpture from Claude Bernard to whom I gave a receipt, and I immediately gave them to a friend who may eventually have customers for them. She will write to you directly, for it is not my field. I am leaving it with her because she is really the person who can do it best, so I would advise you to take note of whatever she will tell you. I will be delighted if you get a result.
The only thing I ask is that I be allowed to work and not have too many visitors from abroad.
I hope you will have good weather and that you will have a good holiday.
This person will also check on prices fetched by Calder as I know nothing about all that. The only thing I can tell you is that she will do what is best, knowing that you are a friend. . . .”
The Ukrainian-born artist Sonia Delaunay and American-born Caroline Delteil, wife of the French poet Joseph Delteil had been at the centre of the exciting and innovative artistic life of Paris between the wars.
Delaunay, who together with her husband Robert developed a vibrant, colourful branch of cubism known as orphism, was known for an immense range of design, from painting to fabric design, set design, costumes, furniture and books. For a charity gala in the 1920s, she designed costumes which illustrated a reading of a poem by Joseph Delteil.
She remained on friendly terms with the poet, and with his wife, Caroline. Prior to her marriage with Delteil, Caroline had herself achieved a measure of fame in 1920s Paris when she travelled back to her native America in search of talent for a new jazz revue. The revue, which introduced the then-unknown Josephine Baker to Paris was a sensation and Baker an overnight star.
The second letter has some showthrough of small brown stains, possibly coffee, which are more prominent on the blank verso.

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