Correspondência

CO-144 Dear Maria This of course is meant for Portinari as well as for yourself and the rest of the family. We received your letter last month and were so glad to hear that you were all well. We knew of course that you had arrived home safely, and felt thankful indeed in view of the things that have happened since along the seaboard. Our thoughts were with you on the journey, and we wished so much we might have taken the trip with you; however, that can wait until after the war. Beatrice penned the enclose lines to you before going to South Carolina, and I requested her to leave them with me so that I might enclose a letter too. She will be away for perhaps ten days or two weeks. She needed a rest, and thought it would be best to go where the season in farther advanced than is the case here. If possible to get away from my work in time, I expect to fly down and join her for the return journey in the car; but I am not yet sure whether I shall be able to do this, as I am rather busy at this time. I miss her very much when she is away, even though or is for a very short time. It has been wonderful to have the paintings in our house; it was a great honor to be asked to keep them for you, also it makes us feel confident that you will be back here soon. It also makes our life fuller to have them to look at. The more I look at Portinari’s work, the more I find in it of meaning and depth as well as aesthetic pleasure. I believe that is the test of greatness in an artist, though it was obvious from the first that he is one of the immortals, of whom there are few living at any one time. We will talk of this sometime. Several persons have asked to see them and we have permitted this, believing that you and Portinari would have wished it. Florence has been here once and looked at them, but said she would not take any of them to New York at this time, as she had rented her house and did not wish them to be in the care of tenants. Perhaps she will do so later. In the meantime, we have hung three of them (it seems the safest way to store them); and stored the balance in a spare room with the exception of one which Mrs. Franzos admired o much that I allowed her to take it for a while. You perhaps remember her. She came with me at noon-time one day to the Roosevelt Hotel when you were preparing to move into the apartment at the Portner. With anyone else I would not allow this, but she is entirely reliable and a friend who can be trusted to take care of the painting and have it available at any time, that we or Portinari may wish. Also, I think I should tell you that, soon after your departure, Jimmy Whyte spoke to me about the possibility of selling one of the paintings to a customer of his. I told him very frankly that, inasmuch as he (Whyte) is a dealer in works of art, I did not wish to have anything to do with such a transaction as I am anxious to keep our relationship mine with you one of pure friendship. I explained to him that he would be welcome to come and see them if he liked, but should correspond direct with you in regard to any matter of business. He may have written to you; I do not know. That is what Florence also advised – that he get in touch with you direct. She gave him your address. You may recall the conversation that I had with you at the time you left, when I stated that if any of the pictures were for sale, you should indicate which ones so that I would know in case anyone inquired. However, it was my intention, in such eventuality, to have the party deal direct with Portinari. That is a very easy thing, nowadays, with the air mail, which makes communication so much easier than it used to be. In that way, there would be no embarrassment for me; yet at the same time I have the means of repaying his friendship in a very small way by holding the paintings subject to his order. However, nothing has come of it yet, and probably will not as we live, after all, a rather secluded life. That is all the more reason why we feel signally honored. I was grieved to read of the tragic death os Stefan Zweig while living in Rio. Did you hear about it? I had read some of his books, which were very fine; the last one to be published concerning the explorer, Americus Vespucci, for whom our hemisphere was named. I also read in the paper that Orson Welles is in Rio, making a motion picture. That excited me very much, as he has such affine talent and I am looking forward to the result with eagerness. I hope he has filmed the carnival, which I am looking forward to seeing myself sometime. Does Joao Candido remember us? Although he is still a baby, I bet he does remember because he has such a precocious mind. You know, Florence is crazy about him, and we tease her by declaring she is his mother. It is odd, there is actually a slight resemblance in his countenance. When he is older, we must remember to tell him this joke, it is so amusing. I hope Loy is happy and busy. What is he doing now? And Maria Clara, is she in school? Tell her, the photos we took in the Blue Ridge Mountains are still in my camera; I will send her them later when I get them out. And what about Inez, I hope she is not thinking of getting married like her sister. Ruth particularly wishes to be remembered – you know Inez was her favorite – and she talks about you all constantly. She will never forget you. She is just the same, I do not know what we would do without her, she is such a treasure. Let us hear from you occasionally; I wonder if you realize how much it means to us to have the people of Brazil our friends. We are very lucky, for we need them, so much. (Believe me, this is not mere “good neighbor” talk.) With love to all the family, Yours faithfully Mildred