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TERRY DINTENFASS, INC. 18 east 67th st. new york, n.y. 10021 rhinelander 4-1580

June 7, 1974

Mr. Jacob Lawrence
4316 37th Avenue NE
Seattle, Washington 98105

Dear Jake,

First of all, I want to thank you again for the wonderful show at the Whitney. There has been nothing but overwhelmingly positive response, and it is a pleasure to hear what people are saying. The prints are selling well, and after the ad appears in "Art in America", things should get even better. I am sending a sample copy to each museum that the show is traveling to, in advance of the exhibition so that we can line up sales. The Whitney has put up a framed print in a prominent place at the sales desk, which also helps. 

Now for a new purchase-commission. Mr. Edward Russell, of the Champion Paper Company, which is an international concern, wishes to commission a Lawrence gouache for their executive offices. The picture is to be reproduced in a special book they are doing on Kenya. You will receive copies directly from them of similar books they have done on Australia and Hong Kong. The only requirements are that the picture should be horizontal, and should contain animals. The size of it should be approximately 24 x 16 inches, and the agreed price is $4,000. Their deadline is the end of August.

The Lorillard Tobacco Company wants, as you know, you to do a silkscreen print, which relates to the centennial year. It is the same project that Mr. Lion discussed, but they have now agreed to pay $10,000 instead of $5,000. We will be able to retain the original painting. The edition will be 125, and will be donated to 100 museums and universities throughout the country. I think you should do this, as the fee is now a sizeable one, and the artists participating are of considerable stature: Robert Indiana, Richard Lindner, Thomas Hart Benton, Antonio Frasconi, and others of equal calibre. They are not all being done in silkscreen, but I feel that as long as you will be doing a painting, and that since Sillman-Ives did such a good job on the print we did with the Whitney, it would be wise to use them again. I think they are very reasonable in terms of price, and as you know this depends on how many colors are used.