DERAIN ANDRE: (1880-1954) ´ I wonder if I will ever paint again´

DERAIN ANDRE: (1880-1954) ´ I wonder if I will ever paint again´

DERAIN ANDRE: (1880-1954) French artist, painter and sculptor, a co-founder of Fauvism with Henri Matisse. A.L.S., A Derain, one page, 4to (feint squared graph paper), Lisieux, 31st May 1915, to a gentleman, in French. Derain states that he was touched by the expressions of friendship contained in his correspondent´s letter although continues to write in a sober manner, ´depuis la guerre j’ai été très abandonné des milieux de peinture, je me demande même s’il m’arrivera jamais d’en refaire´ (Translation: ´since the war I have been very much abandoned by painting circles, and I wonder if I will ever paint again´) further displaying his disillusionment, ´Je serai aussi très reconnaissant si par une mission quelconque vous pouviez me tirer d’ici le plu tôt possible et me faire passer soit dans l’aviation soit dans l’automobile mais je crains que cela ne soit pour vous la source de multiples ennuis. Mais vous me rendriez un réel service si vous pouviez me faire partir d’ici par n’importe où même aux Dardanelles dans un emploi quelconque ou sur le front´ (Translation: ´I would also be very grateful if by some mission you could get me out of here as soon as possible and get me into either aviation or motoring, but I'm afraid that would be a source of a lot of trouble for you. But you would be doing me a real favour if you could get me out of here anywhere, even to the Dardanelles in some job or at the front´). Derain concludes by offering his gratitude and thanks his correspondent for the kindness that they have shown to the absent artist´s wife. Some very light, minor age wear and a couple of small tears to the edges of the folds, about VG

At the beginning of the World War I, Derain was mobilised in the artillery, in the Lisieux infantry regiment. He served in Champagne, the Somme, Verdun and the Chemin des Dames until 1917, then in the Aisne and the Vosges. The years immediately before the war are sometimes described as Derain´s gothic period and during the war itself the artist produced little work although did provide a set of illustrations for Andre Breton´s first book, Monte de Piete, in 1916.