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III

Raphael Soyer
526 West 111th Street
New York 25, N. Y.

one man exhibition, is a big event in an artist's life, and I still have a mental picture of the [[strikethrough]] little [[/strikethrough]] Daniel Gallery room with my shyly intimate paintings on its walls. Charles Daniel was one of the first [[strikethrough]] victimis [[/strikethrough]] victims of the big crash of 1929. His Gallery which introduced so many of our foremost artists closed down. I then transferred my paintings to the Valentine Galleries where I exhibited for several years That was where in 1933 the painting mentioned above "Under the Bridge was shown also [[strikethrough]]the [[/strikethrough]] a double portrait of my parents. This latter picture which hangs now in my home while I am [[strikethrough]] ta [[/strikethrough]] writing these lines is a penetrating study of my father & mother revealing their environment their past years & their daily mood. It was exhibited throuout the country & reproduced a great deal. After this 1933 show [[strikethrough]] the & [[strikethrough]] I had exhibitions on & off and their novelty wore off.

Other details [[strikethrough]] of [[/strikethorugh]] in my life are - marriage in 1931, trip to Europe in 1935. In 1936 our little girl was born.

As I look back and examine my work as objectively as I can, I find that I have followed a definite pattern. It is a picture of the life I have known, painted unassumingly. I find, as I look back again that I have never been swayed by any innovations, cubist or abstract, [[strikethrough]] one [[/strikethrough]] or by any [[strikethrough]] east [[/strikethrough]] esthetic [[strikethrough]] es [[/strikethrough]] speculations for that matter. Rather has the emphasis in my work been on content and mood. As time went on I naturally lost some of the naive charm of my early work, but I think I have retained the more enduring quality of frankness of outlook and technique.