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FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY 
PUBLIC BUILDINGS ADMINISTRATION 
WASHINGTON

OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER
IN REPLYING, QUOTE THE ABOVE SUBJECT, BUILDING AND THESE LETTERS, FA 

June 3, 1941

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:  

  I have known Mr. Yasuo Kuniyoshi since the beginning of his career as a painter.  As Art Editor of the NEW YORK WORLD and THE ARTS magazine I had the great pleasure of reviewing many of his exhibitions and many of his pictures in various national competitions held in the great museums throughout the country.  This has given me an opportunity to realize fully the steady progress by which during the past twenty years Mr. Kuniyoshi has risen to a high position in American painting. 

  Many authorities consider him if not the best American painter at least one of the men who occupies the top three or four positions in American painting today.

  Besides knowing Mr. Kuniyoshi as an artist we have been friends for many years.  I have been a fellow guest with him at various museums and at various important social and other occasions.  

  Despite the technical reasons which prevent Mr. Kuniyoshi from being a citizen of the United States all of his friends, including myself, consider him a staunch American at heart and a true exponent of the highest ideals of American art.  Mr Kuniyoshi plans to tour various parts of the country drawing and and painting whatever interests him.  The results of this tour would have great value for everyone in America who cherishes art.  Anything done to help him carry out his plans to the best advantage will be done for a painter who has the admiration of his fellow artists both as a painter and as a man.

Forbes Watson
Forbes Watson 
Special Assistant
Section of Fine Arts