Scope and arrangement
Letters from French avant-garde artist Henri-Pierre Roché to American poet and art aficionado Jeanne Robert Foster from 1924 to 1925 and 1958 to 1959 .The letters focus on their mutual friendship with John Quinn during the period of his declining health and death, Roché's participation in the appraisal of Quinn's estate, reactions of various friends and colleagues to Quinn's death, and arrangements for the 1926 memorial exhibition. The letters imply a close romantic relationship between Foster and Quinn. Roché also discusses his affair with Helen Grund Hessel, wife of German writer and translator Franz Hessel, and one letter contains an enclosure from Helen ("Helaine") to Foster. Many letters also pass along greetings and news regarding "Germaine," presumably referring to his friend Germaine Bayle rather than his former wife, Germaine Bonnard. Other letters acknowledge that Roché had burned Foster's incoming letters at her request.