MILLE (Pierre) (1864–1941). - Lot 234

Lot 234
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MILLE (Pierre) (1864–1941). - Lot 234
MILLE (Pierre) (1864–1941). Important signed autograph letter. Paris, September 10, 1936. Important signed autograph letter, 16 pages in-4 (8 numbered double-sided sheets), dated September 10, 1936, addressed to a friend. A lengthy letter entirely devoted to an analysis of the novel *La Famille Pérouse*, which Pierre Mille transforms into a comprehensive study of the evolution of the bourgeois home, interior architecture, and the French decorative arts from the 18th century to the present day. After apologizing for the delay in reading it, he writes: “I have finally read *La Famille Pérouse*…” He immediately highlights the originality of the work, whose irony is consistently underpinned by remarkably precise observations: “One could not achieve such irony with such precision in observation.” This reading became the starting point for a wide-ranging reflection on the dining room, considered the heart of family life and a mirror of social evolution. Pierre Mille successively examines its architecture, furnishings, lighting, proportions, decor, and the arrangement of windows, sideboards, display cabinets, tables, chairs, tableware, and even the color of the walls. He shows how changes in the home reflect the profound transformations of the French bourgeoisie: “When there’s no hay in the rack, the horses fight.” and offers a penetrating analysis of the disappearance of great fortunes, new forms of family life, and shifting attitudes. The author devotes several pages to the influence of electricity, modern lighting, and the decorative arts on contemporary living spaces, contrasting the grand 18th-century reception halls with the everyday dining rooms of the modern era. He also dwells on the psychological effects of light, colors, materials, spatial organization, and furniture. His observations extend to wall decorations, paintings, porcelain, glassware, rugs, sideboards, objets d’art, the arrangement of artworks within interiors, and the role of comfort in domestic life. The letter concludes with a general reflection in which the author asserts that the objects in a home reveal more about a civilization than words alone. A writer, journalist, foreign correspondent, and literary critic, Pierre Mille presents here a text that goes far beyond mere private correspondence. This long letter constitutes a truly original essay on the history of bourgeois living and the French decorative arts, written on the eve of World War II. Through the richness of its observations, the subtlety of its analysis, and the artistic culture it reveals, it offers an exceptional account of how a leading writer perceived the relationships between literature, interior architecture, and civilization. A very important autograph letter, of genuine interest for the history of the decorative arts, interior architecture, the sociology of housing, and French literary criticism of the interwar period.
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