February 2, 1937

Mr. Etienne Bignou
      8 rue la Boëtie
               Paris, France.

Dear Mr. Bignou:

          I never heard of a more crass stupidity than took place in the shipping of CEZANNE'S "Leda and the Swan". Instead of sending it on a fast boat it was shipped on a very small steamer which takes nearly a month to arrive in New York.  The latest report from the shipping authorities is that the boat on which the picture was sent is somewhere, storm-crossed, in the middle of the Atlantic.

          I am telling you this so that you need not be surprised if I refuse to accept the picture when it arrives in America.  If I