Henry Faulkner and Tennessee Williams: A Note, Telegram and Watercolor

Item Details

A lot comprised of a note, watercolor and telegram from iconic playwright Tennessee Williams (American, 1911-1983) to his friend and oft-rumored lover Henry Faulkner, the artist and poet.

The letter, written on the reverse of a cancelled telegram to Williams (the front reproduced in facsimile for the presentation of the piece, is an invitation to dinner, undated but likely from the 60s. The note reads ‘Dear Henry, Can you have dinner with me tonight – about 7:15 p.m. Leave goat. table too small. Love Tennessee’’. This note expresses a level of humor between the two around Henry’s pet goat ‘Alice’. A fine painting of Alice is presented in 18LEX034-003. The watercolor may have been gifted to the artist or was separately executed, and finally the telegram relates to WIlliams as a playwright.

Henry Faulkner and Tennessee Williams often found themselves in each other’s company, both in New York and Key West, Florida, where they both had winter homes. Recently, a Faulkner example of Williams’ home in New York sold at auction, and his former home in Key West still is adorned with an example of the artist’s work. While it was never publicly acknowledged, the two were thought to have been in an on and off relationship. Regardless, they were very close and this bit of communication, as well as Williams attempt at the landscape genre, are a rarity. An interesting assemblage of material that bears out their connection to one another.

Henry Lawrence Faulkner (American/Kentucky, 1924-1981) was born in rural Egypt, Kentucky in 1924. An orphan, and listless wanderer, the artist lived a Bohemian lifestyle and eventually arrived in Lexington, Kentucky, where he was primarily known. A lifetime of travel took him to Key West, Taormina, Italy, New York, California where he befriended the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, Ezra Pound, and many other literary and artistic dignitaries. Anecdotes abound of his pet goat and oft recurring subject in his work Alice, with whom he drove to Florida, took to his gallery openings, and elsewhere. He is remembered as a complicated modernist, who left a body of work in paintings and poetry, and a fond impression by most who met him.

Condition

Scratches to telegram, water stain to note.

Dimensions

Item #

18LEX034-004