Renowned ethnologist Claude Levi-Strauss authorizes the pioneering magazine Neuf to photograph a mask that interests the surrealist André Breton.
- Handwritten letter from Claude Levi-Strauss to Robert Delpire from Neuf magazine.
- One page.
- In French.
- 21 cm x 26.8 cm.
- Paris, May 20, 1950.
- Excellent condition of conservation.
- The two images of masks are merely illustrative, the first represents the cover of issue 1 of Neuf magazine and the second most likely shows the mask that is the subject of this letter.
- Unique piece.
Extract
(...) I would be happy to authorize the photographing of the mask that interests Mr. Breton. Therefore, it would be prudent for him [the photographer] to confirm his visit by telephone, calling me at home during lunchtime or at the Museum of Man.
Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908 - 2009) had a decisive influence on the human sciences in the second half of the 20th century. His best-known work, Tristes Tropiques , was written based on two expeditions to observe the indigenous peoples of Brazil, between 1935 and 1939, and made him known worldwide. The discovery of Brazil and the encounter with the Indians who inhabited it, the Caduveo, Bororo, Nambikwaras and Tupi-Kawahibs, were "the most important experiences" of his life. At that time, he did not feel comfortable, as he felt he was disturbing the Indians, and he began to really analyze his discoveries years later, in the United States, where he had taken refuge during the Second World War. His methodology and conclusions revolutionized modern ethnology.
Robert Delpire (1926 - 2017) was a fifth-year medical student when he created a new artistic magazine for the medical profession, entitled Neuf, which had 9 publications between 1950 and 1955. Neuf was initially reserved for the medical profession; many writers of the time began practicing as doctors (including Céline, Segalen), while others (including Cendrars, Breton and Aragon) began medical studies without completing them. Delpire was also interested in surrealism and ethnography, and invited André Breton to be one of the magazine's editors. Breton agreed to write an article on some masks from the Pacific Northwest for the magazine's first issue. A Haida mask from his personal collection made the cover of that first issue, another (the subject of this letter, see the third image) was photographed and used as an illustration inside the magazine.
Claude Levi-Strauss and André Breton (1896 - 1966) had met in 1941 on a boat, fleeing the war to the United States. Both collectors of primitive art, their friendship grew on the streets of New York. Back in France, Lévi-Strauss easily joined André Breton's small group of friends who, very early in the morning on weekends, went to haggle at the flea market in Saint-Ouen. Levi-Strauss said: "In contact with the Surrealists, my aesthetic tastes were enriched and refined. Many things that I would have rejected appeared to me in a different light."
A letter written by a famous person and mentioning another famous person is often valuable. This letter from Levi-Strauss talking to André Breton about masks they both collected is a good example of one of these particularly interesting associations.
In this case, an additional interest (the cherry on the cake!) is this photograph for the first issue of the pioneering magazine NEUF, from June 1950. Furthermore, the ethnologist worked in Paris and we can appreciate the heading of the letter from the Laboratory of Ethnology of Present-day Men and Fossil Men, of the Museum of Man.
Entirely handwritten and in excellent condition, this letter will attract the attention of collectors familiar with Claude Levi-Strauss's exceptional work on Brazil and ethnology.
