Lithograph and stencil on vélin Foreign Affairs paper mounted on Foreign Affairs museum board, as issued. Paper Size: 10 x 7 inches. Excellent condition. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Notes: From the folio, Édouard Manet, Letters with Aquarelles, 1944. Published by Pantheon Books, New York; rendered and printed by Raymond and Raymond, Inc., New York. Excerpted from the folio, The twenty-one letters of Édouard Manet were reproduced in Pochoir Process by Raymond and Raymond, Inc., New York. CCCXLV examples were printed. Suddenly, at forty-eight, after a life of effort and struggle, Édouard Manet found himself under doctors' orders to quit Paris, where alone it seemed to him he could exist. He was to rusticate quietly who detested the country. Before leaving for Bellevue where he was to spend the summer, Manet at the close of May 1880 insisted on arranging an exhibition of his pastels in Paris. It was held at the gallery of La Vie Moderne', a bi-monthly sponsored by the publisher Charpentier, or rather, by his wife. A pastel portrait of Mme. Charpentier's sister, Mile. Lemonnier, figured in Manet's exhibition, the last of his to be arranged in his lifetime. It would appear that though the painter had only recently made the young lady's acquaintance, she had made a deep impression on him. For, scarcely had he arrived in the country than he began sending her the little illustrated notes which form the greater number of the twenty-one letters here reproduced. Mlle. Lemonnier showed herself in no particular hurry to respond. Eager, however, to keep in touch with the world from which he was in exile, the artist refused to be discouraged and frequently met her silence with fresh sketches. The majority of the letters reproduced here are the property of the Louvre. ÉDOUARD MANET (1832-1883) was a French modernist and impressionist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Born into an upper-class household with strong political connections, Manet rejected the naval career originally envisioned for him; he became engrossed in the world of painting. His early masterworks, The Luncheon on the Grass (Le déjeuner sur l'herbe) or Olympia, "premiering" in 1863 and '65, respectively, caused great controversy with both critics and the Academy of Fine Arts, but soon were praised by progressive artists as the breakthrough acts to the new style, Impressionism. Today too, these works, along with others, are considered watershed paintings that mark the start of modern art. The last 20 years of Manet's life saw him form bonds with other great artists of the time; he developed his own simple and direct style that would be heralded as innovative and serve as a major influence for future painters.