Typed Letter Signed

MacLANE, Jean (1878-1964)

About this Item

Examples of this noted portraitist's work hang in museums nationwide; a student of (among others) William Merritt Chase -- also her first customer -- she became known for her sensitive oil portraits of women and children; in 1912 she co-founded the National Foundation of Portrait Painters with her husband, and in 1931 she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Choice content TLS, 1p, 8½" X 11", [New York, NY], 1933 April 25. Addressed to John G. Leiser. Near fine. Asked about her success by this admirer, she replies in part: ".aside from a very early all-absorbing love of Beauty, the hunger for which, in some form, all people have, and that torturous desire to remain less inarticulate about it. I have had, perhaps from my New England parents with certain influences of the West (or Middle West we now call it). the tremendous love of hard work, above the motives of fame and praise or so called 'Honors', -- through those blessed years of obscurity and without, most of the time, any economic security. And in seeking to master the difficulties of a language & conditions, such as painting, toward an expression of Universal fact, as each sees it, I have never consciously compromised in doing my best at the time. These are the qualities that have done most for me in what you have termed 'Success', rather than any outside encouragement of which for years and years I had none." She lastly notes, "The painting you speak of, 'The Hilltop' is a very early canvas painted in Paris in 1906 or 1907." Boldly signed. Original envelope present. Fabulous content piece.

Seller Inventory # 28617

Bibliographic Details

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• Seller catalogs:
  • Art & Architecture
  • Autographs