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ROBERT CARLEN
APPRAISER
323 SOUTH 16TH STREET / PHILADELPHIA, PA 19102 / KI 5-1723

October 6, 1976

President, 
Howard University,
Washington, D.C.

Dear Sir:

I am sure the following data will be of great interest to you.  It relates to Horace Pippin who, to-day, is acknowledged universally to be the most famous Black painter known in American history.

Dr. Alain Locke, Professor of Philosophy for many years at your colledge, I had the pleasure of introducing him to Horace Pippin and sold Dr. Locke one of the first paintings sold out of my first exhibition of Horace's paintings, "HEAD OF CHRIST", and which painting I believe Dr. Locke presented to Howard.

The Museum of the Phillips paintings in Washington is scheduling a large retrospective show of Pippin's paintings sometime in the year 1977.  They are also planning to do a hard back book with all reproductions in color. Mr. McLaughlin who is the curator of paintings at the Phillips in very excited about Pippin's paintings and he has come to Philadelphia several times to have me talk to him about Pippin as he considers me the most truthful source on Pippin's career as a painter. I was his dealer from 1939 to the time of his death in July 1946. The Terry Dintenfass Art Gallery in New York City is also scheduling a large show of Pippin's work the early part of 1977. The Chadd's Ford Museum in Chadd's Ford, Chester Co., Penna. has also contacted me and has expressed a great desire to put on a retrospective show and also are anxious to have me talk with them about Horace as a man and as an artist.

Then just the other day I had a letter from another important educational institution inquiring information on Pippin the artist. This same institution is also planning on printing a series of prints in color of the work of Jacob Lawrence and also expressed great interest to include in this group three (3) of the paintings of the series that Pippin painted on "JOHN BROWN".

I can frankly say it was the important recognition that Pippin's work received on his first show here at the Carlen Galleries that was the real first break through for the Black painters in this country.

I take pleasure of enclosing with this letter the catalogue on Pippin's first one man exhibition in which Dr. Albert C. Barnes wrote the intro-duction, and eveything as Barnes predicted in his foreword has literally come to pass.

Sincerely yours,

Miss Sue Corlette 
N J State Museum
205 W. State St. 
Trenton 08621 

Member: 
The Art and Antique Dealers League of America, Inc.        
American Society of Appraisers