Manet to Bracquemond

The second volume in Ad Ilissum's The Fondation Custodia Studies in the History of Art series, this book is a collection of letters from douard Manet (1832-1883) to his friend and fellow artist F lix Bracquemond (1833-1914). The correspondence, for the most part previously unknown, surfaced at a sale in Paris in 2016 and was acquired the next year by the Fondation Custodia museum. The letters are presented in their original French and edited by Jean-Paul Bouillon, whose lifelong occupation with Bracquemond's life and work enabled him to situate the mostly undated letters in their proper time and context. An introduction explores the friendship between the two men and highlights the principal subjects and themes around which the correspondence revolves, and the meticulous text is accompanied by nearly fifty color reproductions of the artwork referenced in the letters. Published here for the first time, the correspondence proves an important new source for our knowledge of Manet's life and dealings which, after more than a century of intense scholarship, still presents many gaps.