{"id":1824,"date":"2021-02-16T09:28:46","date_gmt":"2021-02-16T08:28:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fmirobcn.org\/blog\/?p=1824"},"modified":"2021-02-16T09:28:46","modified_gmt":"2021-02-16T08:28:46","slug":"letters-that-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fmirobcn.org\/blog\/en\/2021\/02\/16\/letters-that-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Letters that matter"},"content":{"rendered":"

In late 2016 and early 2017, thanks to a permit obtained from Christophe Tzara, son of the great poet Tristan Tzara, the architect Marc Marin and I obtained access for a few weeks to the modest Jacques Doucet Library, in the Latin Quarter of Paris (Christophe would die a year later). In doing research into the correspondence of Tzara, I had the opportunity to read his exchanges with Joan Mir\u00f3. While Mir\u00f3 was never a writer like Picasso or Dal\u00ed, the texts revealed other aspects of the artist. In the middle of a batch of letters and postcards, I was able to read Mir\u00f3\u2019s correspondence with various publishers and with a printing studio. The letters Mir\u00f3 sent to other artists (painters, poets) and his dealers, publishers and workshops, often dealt with art-related subject matter: engraving techniques, works pending, exhibitions, and so on. Only on rare occasions do they speak of personal details beyond his travels and messages of best regards as a friend, always polite and sincere. Brief messages it would be hard to put a biography together with.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ren\u00e9 Lac\u00f4te: Tristan Tzara, 1952. Fundaci\u00f3 Joan Mir\u00f3, Barcelona. On loan from Successi\u00f3 Mir\u00f3.<\/p>\n

Despite this, a very short letter sent to Tristan Tzara, mixed in with many others amongst piles of paper, revealed other concerns. Using an altogether different tone, his letter did not ask about the conditions of certain works or the quality of the materials. He was not querying about the density, texture or weight of paper; neither was he interested in the inks used nor the pressure on the plates nor printing techniques, all of which were details that Mir\u00f3 spent a great deal of effort on, dedicating detailed attention to them. In this case his concerns were aroused by the destiny of a friend. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Letter from Joan Mir\u00f3 to Joan Prats, January 18, 1961. Fundaci\u00f3 Joan Mir\u00f3, Barcelona. Donation of Manuel de Muga<\/p>\n

Mir\u00f3 lived at number 98 Boulevard Auguste-Blanqui, in the 13th district of Paris. The vaguely art nouveau Haussmannian block with its white fa\u00e7ade was seven stories high; built in 1914, it is still there in good condition. In the same building lived Paul Nelson, a modernist architect resident in Paris who was a collector of Mir\u00f3\u2019s work and a person he had collaborated with on a project which was ultimately never made, the Maison Suspendue.<\/span><\/p>\n

On 15 February 1939, Mir\u00f3 (most likely in exile from Barcelona, where he had lived during the Civil War before setting up in southern France) wrote to the poet Tristan Tzara. He asked him to intercede on behalf of the surrealist painter Antonio Rodr\u00edguez Luna, an artist who had shown in the Pavilion of the Spanish Republic at the Paris International Exhibition of 1937. At that time his friend was being held in a concentration camp in Argel\u00e8s, in France, and his health was failing: \u201cSa sant\u00e9 est si pr\u00e9caire et de rester l\u00e0 sa vie serait en danger\u201d [His health is so poor that if he stays there his life will be in danger],<\/span> wrote Mir\u00f3 in perfect French. He then requested if Tristan Tzara could intercede as well for his friend and patron Joan Prats, to have him freed as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Tristan Tzara: Le surr\u00e9alisme et l\u2019apr\u00e8s-guerre, 1947. On loan from Successi\u00f3 Mir\u00f3.<\/p>\n

One month later, on 21 March 1939, Mir\u00f3 wrote to Tzara again to thank him for his efforts, and explain to him that Rodr\u00edguez Luna had already left the camp and was living in a flat in Paris belong to Monsieur de Jouvenel (most likely Renaud de Jouvenel, a communist writer and member of a renowned family of French politicians): \u201cC\u2019est pour lui comme un r\u00eave apr\u00e8s un cauchemar\u201d [For him it is like a dream after a nightmare].<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The biography of Rodr\u00edguez Luna includes the intervention of Mir\u00f3, but not that of Tzara. For his part, it would seem that Prats had indeed been held prisoner, but not in a French concentration camp\u2014he was in Spain. After this episode, the letters exchanged between Mir\u00f3 and Tzara returned to commenting on art-related subjects and artistic techniques.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Tristan Tzara: Indicateur des chemins de c\u0153ur, 1928. On loan from Successi\u00f3 Mir\u00f3<\/p>\n

A single letter has corrected a version of history, but this is not its sole worth. The letter reveals the face\u2014perhaps the true visage\u2014of a friend helping other friends in a moment when writing to the wrong person at the wrong time could lead to someone\u2019s death. The only evidence of Mir\u00f3\u2019s gesture to assist Rodr\u00edguez Luna and Joan Prats is from this written correspondence with Tristan Tzara. It is a letter that does not reveal an artist\u2019s usual concerns, as would be habitual for Mir\u00f3, but another aspect of his personality that could point to untold, subtle features in his artistic work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

1<\/sup>\u00a0 Jacques Doucet Library, Paris, signature MsMs 43972.
\n2<\/sup>\u00a0 Jacques Doucet Library, Paris, signature MsMs 44005.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In late 2016 and early 2017, thanks to a permit obtained from Christophe Tzara, son of the great poet Tristan Tzara, the architect Marc Marin and I obtained access for a few weeks to the modest Jacques Doucet Library, in the Latin Quarter of Paris (Christophe would die a year later). In doing research into … Continue reading Letters that matter<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":1811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,441],"tags":[56,98],"class_list":["post-1824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miro-en","category-poetry","tag-archive-en","tag-avant-gardes"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLetters that matter - Blog Fundaci\u00f3 Joan Mir\u00f3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fmirobcn.org\/blog\/en\/2021\/02\/16\/letters-that-matter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Letters that matter - Blog Fundaci\u00f3 Joan Mir\u00f3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In late 2016 and early 2017, thanks to a permit obtained from Christophe Tzara, son of the great poet Tristan Tzara, the architect Marc Marin and I obtained access for a few weeks to the modest Jacques Doucet Library, in the Latin Quarter of Paris (Christophe would die a year later). 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