?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900
(WORLD WAR ONE.) War-date letters from General Pershing and others, addressed to a noted portrait artist. 7 letters (6 Letters Signed and one Autograph Letter Signed) addressed to Leo Mielziner by John J. Pershing, Lewis Strauss, and Jean Jules Jusserand, all but the Pershing accompanied by the original mailing envelopes; mailing folds, minimal wear. Various places, 1917-1918 and 1924
These letters were addressed to the American portrait artist Leo Mielziner (1869-1935). Includes:
John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces. Letter Signed with short autograph postscript bearing his initials, one page on American Expeditionary Forces letterhead. "I am in receipt of your letter . . . and also the portrait to which you refer, and thank you most sincerely for your courtesy. . . . I think the portrait very fine and it is approved by all who have seen it." Mielziner had published a popular lithograph portrait of Pershing in 1917. France, 15 February 1918.
Lewis Strauss (1896-1974), as personal secretary to future president Herbert Hoover. Autograph Letter Signed, one page on Hoover's personal letterhead. "I am just in receipt of the portrait of Mr. Hoover which you so kindly drew for me, and I do not know at which I am delighted most--at the favor you have done for me, or at the excellent likeness of my Chief. Everyone who has seen it is astounded at the cleverness with which you have caught his expression." Hoover would shortly be appointed head of the United States Food Commission on his way to the White House. Strauss later served on the Atomic Energy Commission and as acting Secretary of Commerce. He improbably reached the pinnacle of his fame during the last year, portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. as the nemesis of the title character in the recent biopic "Oppenheimer." Washington, 16 July 1917.
Jean Jules Jusserand (1855-1932) as Ambassador from France to the United States. 5 Letters Signed on embassy letterhead. The letters discuss Mielziner's portraits of Jusserand, the Barclays, and Roosevelt, and Mielziner's proposed wartime trip to France. Washington, 1918 and 1924.
With--military commission issued to Leo Mielziner Jr. as a tank corps corporal, bearing the ink-stamped facsimile signature of Lt. Col. Dwight D. Eisenhower (the future president in his first military command). Mielziner Jr. was later a well-known actor and director under the stage name Kenneth MacKenna. Gettysburg, PA, 7 November 1918.
Provenance: Swann sale, 14 September 1993, lot 389; property of Steve Forbes.
