André DERAIN / Signed Autograph Letter / Painting / Fauvism / War / 1915

  
Autographed letter signed "A Derain" to a gallery owner in Lisieux, May 31, 1915, 1 page, in-4 on checked paper. Trace of folding, tiny stains, small splits at the folds. Letter sent from the front where Derain was mobilized in the infantry regiment of Lisieux - Marked by disillusionment, the painter questions his own future as an artist. I was very touched by the marks of friendship you expressed in your kind letter. Especially since, since the war, I have been very abandoned by the painting community, I even wonder if I will ever be able to paint again. I would also be very grateful if you could somehow get me out of here as soon as possible and transfer me either to aviation or to the automobile, but I fear that this might bring you multiple troubles. But you would be doing me a real service if you could get me out of here by any means, even to the Dardanelles in any job or on the front. Finally, I must thank you again for the kindness you have shown to my wife. Believe in my gratitude and receive a warm handshake. Yours, A Derain 26th 119th Lisieux It would be better if you were well aware of the extent of the possibilities you could use on occasion. At the beginning of World War I, Derain was mobilized in the artillery, in the infantry regiment of Lisieux. He served in Champagne, in the Somme, at Verdun, at the Chemin des Dames until 1917, then in Aisne and the Vosges. On November 11, 1914, he wrote to his wife Alice: "I had always thought, even hoped, quite a bit about war and I believe that I am nevertheless not up to it. I don't really understand anything. This continual, daily, uneventful war is truly terrible. That is why it will be difficult to get out of it." He was once reported dead. Celebrated as the pioneer of Fauvism before the 1914 war, he turned towards a renewed classicism in realism after 1918.