Letter

CO-1315 Coiner, Charles T. [Carta] 1944 Mar. 10, Philadelphia, PA [para] Candido Portinari, Rio de Janeiro, RJ. [inglês][datilografado] Dear Mr. Portinari: We were delighted to hear from you and learn that you are interested in the Container Corporation commission. I am sending herewith two of the first proofs in this series to give you an idea of what it is all about. The idea is that paper board containers are used to ship packages of clothes, food, machinery, etc., from one end of the world to the other. There is no place so remote that it does not see these containers. We are very interested in having something representative of Brazil in this series. I do not want any particular subject as you may know of something better than we can imagine. When I go to the monthly meetings of the Board at the Museum of Modern Art I pass by your magnificent mural on Plaster. Something of this same nature would be interesting as it has a suggestion of what we are looking for. Perhaps something around the docks – rope, ships, dock workers, native modes of transportation, etc., - would be good. Please do not take from this that we want something as important as this but rather the style and method of concentrating on one or two figures, or other elements which you think would be interesting. Others that we have done are a Chinese design by Mai-mai Sze which shows Chinese cooking accessories in an interesting design. Another was for Norway showing a native with a few packages descending by parachute against green mountains. Another by an Indian painter shows a native in full costume a 50 calibre cartridge. Some of our artists have preferred not to make sketches but to make a finished work which is submitted in the same way as a sketch. I think if you would prefer to work this way in order to save much time it would be fine. I am sure our client, who has a fine appreciation of your work, would approve. Our only reason for the sketch is that if there was some technical question about it we would be able to make a correction without your having to work on your finished painting, and any misunderstandings could be cleared up in that way. Some of the artists, never having worked for publication have been trying to make their work like an advertisement. We do not want this. We want your best work and we want it to be free of any inhibitions and to in no way look like an advertisement. All of the work we have submitted so far has been approved so I am urging you, if you prefer, to make a finished work rather than a sketch. Yours sincerely, Charles T. Coiner P.S. You can make the drawing or painting any size you prefer 2