INVENTORY OF GABRIEL MOUREY LETTERS RECEIVED 1887-1913,
bulk 1898-1906
Finding Aid prepared by Onica Busuioceanu
Getty Research Institute
Research Library
Special Collections and Visual Resources
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1688
Phone: (310) 440-7390
Fax: (310) 440-7780
Email requests:
http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/library/reference_form.html
URL:
http://www.getty.edu/research/conduction_research/library/
©2007
J. Paul Getty Trust
INVENTORY OF GABRIEL MOUREY LETTERS RECEIVED 1887-1913, bulk
1898-1906
Accession no. 900251
Finding aid prepared by Onica Busuioceanu
Getty Research Institute
Contact Information:
- Getty Research Institute
- Research Library
- Special Collections and Visual Resources
- 1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
- Los Angeles, California 90049-1688
- Phone: (310) 440-7390
- Fax: (310) 440-7780
- Email requests:
http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/library/reference_form.html
- URL:
http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/library/
- Processed by:
- Onica Busuioceanu
- Date Completed:
-
2000
- Encoded by:
- Techbooks
©2007 J. Paul Getty Trust
Descriptive Summary
Title: Gabriel Mourey letters
received
Date (inclusive): 1887-1913
Date (bulk): 1898-1906
Collection number: 900251
Collector:
Mourey,
Gabriel, 1865-1943
Extent:
51 items
Repository:
Getty Research Institute
Research Libary
Special Collections and Visual Resources
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1688
Abstract: The collection comprises 31 letters and
postcards sent to the French art critic Gabriel Mourey by 9 correspondents,
most of them Belgian artists. An additional 20 letters are from Emile
Gallé.
Language: Collection material is
in French.
Administrative Information
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Gabriel Mourey letters received, 1887-1913, bulk 1898-1906, Research
Library, The Getty Research Institute, Accession no. 900251.
Acquisition Information
Most of this collection was received in 1990. The Gallé
letters were received in a separate acquisition in 1990; the Huysmans letter
was received in 2000.
Processing History
Processed by Onica Busuioceanu.
Alternate Form Available
Photocopies of Emile Gallé letters are available in
repository
Biographical/Historical Note
French art critic, editor and prolific author in various genres,
including prose, poetry and plays.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection comprises 31 letters and postcards sent to Gabriel
Mourey by 9 correspondents, most of them Belgian artists. The topics include
their work in progress, participation in exhibitions, professional
organizations and events, autobiographic information, and grateful thoughts for
Mourey's help or appreciation. The correspondents are Louis
Abel-Truchet, Albert Baertsoen, Emile Claus, Maurice Denis, Henry de Groux,
J.-K. Huysmans, Fernand Khnopff, and Theo van Rysselberghe. Another group of 20
letters from Emile Galle? concern his artistic credo, his struggle to save the
recently created Ecole de Nancy, and his activities during the last years of
his life.
Arrangement
Indexing Terms
Subjects - Topics
Painters—Belgium—Correspondence
Painters—France—Correspondence
Subjects - Places
France—Intellectual
life—19th century
Contributors
Abel-Truchet, Louis,
1857-1918
Baertsoen, Albert,
1866-1922
Claus, Emile,
1849-1924
Denis, Maurice,
1870-1943
Gallé, Emile,
1846-1904
Groux, Henry de,
1867-1930
Huysmans, J.-K.
(Joris-Karl), 1848-1907
Khnopff, Fernand,
1858-1921
Rysselberghe, Théo
van
Series I.
Letters received from various artists,
1900-1951
Physical Description:
31 items
Scope and Content Note
Letters from artists to Mourey telling him about their work,
exhibitions and other plans, and discussing writings about art. Some letters
thank Mourey for his favorable reviews.
Box 1, Folder 1
Abel-Truchet, Louis,
undated
Physical Description:
2 letters
Scope and Content Note
Thanks Mourey for his words of appreciation. Writes a sharp
criticism of a Miss Beveridge who thinks that "beauty" is an American
product.
Box 1, Folder 1
Baertsoen, Albert,
1904,
undated
Physical Description:
3 letters
Scope and Content Note
Sends subscription money for Mourey's review
Les arts de la vie [1904]. Thanks Mourey for
Fierens-Gevaert's article about him and its excellent illustrations
[190?]. Explains anxieties which made him withdraw his painting from the Libre
esthétique exhibition (undated).
Box 1, Folder 1
Claus, Emile,
1899,
1906
Physical Description:
2 letters
Scope and Content Note
Praises the "nouvelle société" and its elected
president (1899 Mar. 25). Reminisces about people he met at the Salon, and the
visit to Mourey's house "Le Verger" in St. Cloud (1906 May 14).
Box 1, Folder 1
Denis Maurice,
1903,
1913,
1939,
undated
Physical Description:
9 items
Scope and Content Note
5 short letters related to the publication of Denis's
work about two chapels in Vésinet arranged by Mourey (July- Aug. 1903).
Busy after his trip to Italy, promises to write a short article (undated).
Postcard with congratulations from Perros-Guirec (1913). 2 short letters
arranging meetings with Mourey (undated). Clipping advertising Denis'
book
Histoire de l'art (Flammarion, 1939).
Box 1, Folder 1
Groux, Henry de,
1893,
1904,
1951
Physical Description:
6 items
Scope and Content Note
Thanks Mourey for the "noble lines" he wrote about his painting
"La tribu prophétique" [Les Bohémiens] (Paris, 1893 June 19). 4
letters from Marseille, where he lives in hiding after escaping from a madhouse
near Florence, explaining the treacherous plot of his vengeful lover who put
him there (Aug. 1904). Clipping with article of Louis Piérard: "Sur la
tombe d'Henry de Groux" (
Le Monde, 1951 Sep. 4).
Box 1, Folder 1
Huysmans, J.-K,
circa
1887
Physical Description:
1 letter
Scope and Content Note
Postpones a meeting because of Zola's close departure
from Paris, and the last proofs of his book
En rade, to be published by Stock next week [Apr.
1887?].
Box 1, Folder 1
Khnopff, Fernand,
1898,
undated
Physical Description:
3 letters
Scope and Content Note
Delighted with Mourey's appreciation of his works
exhibited at the New Gallery in London (Bruxelles, 1898 June 7). Confirms the
excellent reception by the Belgian public of Mourey's recent round of
lectures (Les arts de la vie et le règne de la laideur, Bruxelles, 1898
Dec. 21). E.R. Menard has a big success at the Société des
Beaux-Arts exhibition. He has nothing prepared for the London exhibitions
(undated).
Box 1, Folder 1
Rysselberghe, Theo van,
1900
Physical Description:
2 letters
Scope and Content Note
2 short letters about his quest for an apartment with studio in
St. Cloud (Paris, 1900 Dec. 14, and soon after). He inquires after
subscriptions to the Rodin banquet (Paris, circa 1900 May 15).
Series II.
Letters received from Emile Gallé,
1901-1904
Physical Description:
20 items
Scope and Content Note
Gallé, a French artist who worked in glass, was an
influential proponant of French art nouveau. Letters document his social
activism, including his efforts to organize evening schools for the working
class. He thanks Mourey for his articles and reviews, discusses his work and
his health.
Box 1, Folder 2
1901-1902
Scope and Content Note
8 letters are related to G. Mourey's visit to the Ecole
de Nancy, meant to win its official recognition and financial help.
Gallé arranges Mourey's lecture with transparency projections,
and informs him about the goals and principles of his newly created school of
arts and crafts. The 4-page letter of Dec 21 contains Gallé's
artistic credo (1901 Nov 21 to 1902 Jan 31).
Box 1, Folder 2
1902
Scope and Content Note
Thanks Mourey for the article published after his visit, which,
he hopes, will bring the subsidies needed for the exhibition of his school in
Turin (1902 Feb 6).
Box 1, Folder 2
1902
Scope and Content Note
Deeply distressed and sick after the administration's
refusal of subsidies for the Turin exhibition (1902 Mar 24).
Box 1, Folder 2
1902
Scope and Content Note
Thanks Mourey for presenting his works to the Director of the
London review
Studio. He has exhibited some furniture at the
Salon, and made several pieces of glassware and furniture to be taken as gifts
by the French President to Russia (1902 May 28).
Box 1, Folder 2
1902
Scope and Content Note
Exhaustion and an ensuing nervous breakdown have forced
Gallé to retreat to a spa in the Vosges (Bussang). He expresses his fear
that the Bohemian craftsmen may steal his glass processes, as they have done in
the past with Tiffany's and his own (1902 July 1 and July 6).
Box 1, Folder 2
1902
Scope and Content Note
Recounting spa gossip from friends met at Bussang and Plombiers
(1902 July 12).
Box 1, Folder 2
1903
Scope and Content Note
Upset about the loss of the work by Victor Prouvé, which
had been promised to Mourey for his visit to Nancy (1903 Mar 7).
Box 1, Folder 2
1903
Scope and Content Note
Sends two pages of gardening tips for Mourey's plants
(1903 June 8).
Box 1, Folder 2
1903
Scope and Content Note
Reminds Mourey about the difficulties he will meet in his new
project of creating a true journal about art. He himself is too sick for
writing (1903 Sep 29).
Box 1, Folder 2
1903
Scope and Content Note
From a Luxembourg clinic, Gallé writes 4 pages of hope in
the creation of an “Alliance provinciale,” that would resuscitate
the old craft centers like Limoges, Rouen, Bordeaux. He believes that a general
renaissance of French crafts is possible, introducing new ways in education
(1903 Nov 16).
Box 1, Folder 2
1904
Scope and Content Note
Enthusiastic congratulations to Mourey and his collaborators for
the first issue of his review based on clear thinking and free speech. He
wishes to recuperate his strength to join the team (1904 Jan 5).
Box 1, Folder 2
1904
Scope and Content Note
Congratulations for Mourey's article in the review.
Despite his pains, Gallé keeps experimenting with new materials and
shapes. He is organizing, along with the Nancy masters, an exhibition for
autumn (1904 Mar. 6).
