-2-

The last exhibition that he had at An American Place was
in 1937. At the time I told him he ought to find some dealer
who could push him. So he tried several and gradually, this
year, arrived at Rosenberg's, Picasso's dealer. I need tell
you nothing about it.

No, Hartley was full of life as he left me. Still, he
had grown very heavy and I knew he wasn't particularly robust.
Still, he got around to concerts and theatres and art exhibi-
tions and could walk Fifth Avenue and 57th Street in real
Hartley fashion. And I was ever glad to hear him tell me a-
bout all the things he did and saw. As you know, he talked
well. Hartley as a figure will be missed by many Hartley
as an artist will take his place in America.

I have quite a few of the earliest Hartleys that were or-
iginally shown at 291 and I could easily create quite a stir
by showing them with a few notes quoting the critics and art-
ists of that time. He was hailed with derision by nearly all
of them. But I feel that although the temptation to hold such
an exhibition - how I hate the word "exhibition" - is great,
I don't think I'll do so. Let officialdom take this course.

I often have thought of you - very often. As a matter
of fact, when I heard of Hartley's death one of the first
things I thought: would Ronnebeck here? Well, you have
heard and now I have heard from you. And I wonder how you
are getting along and how is your family. O'Keeffe is in the
Southwest. She is far away from the madding crowd. She is
still O'Keeffe and that is good. I am sure she has done some
great work this summer. I somehow sense it. As for me, I
have not been able to photograph in the last six years, nor
even make a print. I am lucky to be able to lie in state
and guard the Place.

Love to you and yours -

Your old

509 Madison Ave.
New York City

Sept. 9, 1943

Dear Ronnebeck,

It is good to hear from you, even though it is because of
our mutual friend Hartley's death. I think I was the last to
see Hartley in New York before he left for Maine. He had been
coming to the Place nearly every day. He seemed to like to
come even though his pictures were elsewhere. He had great
plans for next winter, going to the Southwest & he felt it
would be good for him to go there. I did not know that he was
in touch with you. You know Hartley's way as well as I do. He
simply said that the climate there would be better than the
climate here, although he had grown to love New York. At the
Place not so many weeks ago he said that the place he loved a-
bove all others in the world was New York.

I had not heard from Hartley after he left, which was at
the end of July, or in the first week in August, just before I
left New York for Lake George for a short stay - driven out by
painters who were to paint the Place. The first I knew of
Hartley's death was that the New York Times called me up, ask-
ing me certain questions, telling me that he had died that day.
Was I shocked? Not at all. I felt that Hartley was a most
lucky man. He had an amazing financial success during the
year. He even got $2500 prize in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art. And other institutions had begun to buy. Rosenberg, that
prince of art dealers from Paris, had taken him up (him and Web-
er). And Lipschitz had immortalized Hartley, making three
busts of him. And Kelekian, the connoisseur amongst Oriental
antique dealers, gave Hartley treasures of Oriental art that
Hartley coveted, in exchange for some Hartley paintings (of
course not his best). And Hartley lived well. He had arrived.
He was writing poems and so many other things. I didn't see them.
I don't know where they are. I don't know what's to become of
his paintings - how many there are. None belonging to him are here.

As I know Hartley, he made no will or any arrangements.
The dealers will now get busy and Hartley's praises will be
sung to the skies. Too bad Hartley won't be here to witness it
all from a proscenium box seat. How he would glory in it! I
think, as I have said before, that Hartley is one of the luck-
iest men that I have ever met. He died at the right moment.
I haven't seen any of his work that he did in some years. I
don't go to exhibitions and I never asked him to bring any here
to the Place. I don't think he ever thought that I might want
to see it.

I have quite a few of the earliest Hartleys that were or-
ginally shown at 291 and I could easily create quite a stir
by showing them with a few notes on nothing the critics and art-
ists of that time. He was hailed with derision by nearly all
of them. But I feel that although the temptation to hold such
an exhibition - how I hate the word "exhibition" - is great,
I don't think I'll do so. Let officialdom take this course.

I often have thought of you - very often. As a matter
of fact, when I heard of Hartley's death the first
things I thought: would Ronnebeck here? Well, you have
heard and now I have heard from you. And I wonder how you
are getting along and how is your family. O'Keeffe is in the
Southwest. She is far away from the madding crowd. She is
still O'Keeffe and that is good. I am sure she has done some
great work this summer. I somehow sense it. As for me, I
have not been able to photograph in the last six years, nor
even make a print. I am lucky to be able to lie in state
and guard the Place.

Love to you and yours -

Your old