Autograph letter and a postcard, both signed (‘Pepe’), to ‘Pío’ [Álvarez], Paris, c. 1909

Juan Gris (1887-1927)
Autograph letter and a postcard, both signed (‘Pepe’), to ‘Pío’ [Álvarez], Paris, c. 1909
In Spanish. Five pages, 222 x 140mm and 133 x 88mm, the letter on a bifolium. Provenance: Sotheby's, 12 & 13 May 1981, lot 16.

Correspondence with an old friend from Spain, in which Gris reminisces on his childhood. In the letter of 21 May 1909, Gris declares his intention to restart their correspondence, which had apparently been cut off for some time. He believes that it is Pío's turn to write, but since seeing a photograph sent by another friend, Enrique, which had arrived the same day, Gris could not ‘resist picking up his pen’. He comments on the facial expressions of the men photographed, particularly that of a 'newcomer' to the group who he feels must have taken his place. He updates Pío on his work and life in Paris, where at the time of writing he had been living for three years. The postcard, not dated, instructs Pío to be at the Café de Madrid (6 boulevard Montmartre, Paris) the same afternoon.