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April 14th, 1947

Dear Mr. Davis:

Your letter of April 11th., reaches me this minute, and as you are so very pressed for time I am forthwith answering you by airmail.

Although I appreciate your thought that by appealing to me you expect me to give you a choice of paintings by La Fresnaye, I am sorry indeed to have to disappoint you. I have but two paintings by this artist - one, the great painting of "Le Quatorze Juillet" reproduced in my book on Plate 13, belonging to my firm, [[strikethrough]] and [[/strikethrough]] but the small, very charming but early painting, reproduced on Plate 2, which is in my private collection. Though the letter is quite representative of the early period of the artist, I would hardly consider it to be the painting to represent La Fresnaye in your show. Were you to have several the situation would be different.

"Le Quatorze Juillet" is on of the capital works by this artist, and under Catalogue No. 24 you will find all data as regards its impressive size. I would gladly lend it to you and my own painting too.

[[strikethrough]] But on the other hand, [[/strikethrough]] You have in Chicago, [[strikethrough]] much closer to you as regards distance, [[/strikethrough]] another great one, "L'Artillerie" reproduced Plate 5, in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel A. Marx. Also Mr. Robert H. Tannahill in Detroit has both the superb "Portrait of Hampert" Plate 16 and "Le Petit Pont de Grasse" Plate 18. 

I have only mentioned oil paintings, but as you know, I have quite a number of watercolors, gouaches, and drawings by La Fresnaye, should I be mistaken in your desire for canvases.

Two other artists whom I suppose you will want to include are Leger and Juan Gris. Of the former I have a superb still life "Fruit on a Table" of 1912, still in the black and white of that period, and very powerful and unusual - dimensions 33" x 39".

Of Juan Gris I have just purchased an extremely interesting painting of 1917 called "The S[[strikethrough]] i [[/strikethrough]] yphon Bottle" - dimensions 25-1/2" x 13", which I would also definitely recommend for your exhibition. (I believe I expressed to you my views about considering the earlier period on Juan Gris, that is, up to Ca. 1919-1920 as the greatest one.

Of Braque and Picasso you will have no difficulty to find the necessary elements in Chicago, as well as a good many of the others such as Rouault and Matisse. I am a little more doubtful about Bonnard, but doesn't the Chicago Art Institute have, on the other hand, a Vuillard?

I hope I have been