Dearest Braque,

If I had to choose between Picasso and you, I would choose you in a heartbeat. To be a fly on one of your still life set ups would bring me utter contentment. Oh, and to be able to touch one of your paintings; actually feeling a brush stroke of yours. Well, hold me up because I would be sure to pass out. Whack! My head just hit the ground. In graduate school, I had to go on a Braque diet, and hide all your books. Looking at your work over and over it got in my head and just imprinted on my brain like a stamp. Braque I am sure I was meant to only explore your paintings in small doses. In person, the presence of your paintings cannot be denied. I remember walking into The Center Pompidou, in Pairs rounding a corner and there was your painting, In Full Flight (A tire d’ail), I stopped. I could not move. It was like rounding a street corner in Chicago and being confronted with an elephant. Your paintings have presence, they have strength and they demand to be reckoned with. Words I can only hope will one day be used to describe my own work.

With Love and Much Gratitude,

Sarah

(Picture taken by me in Pairs at The Center Pompidou, Braque's In Full Flight (A tire d’ail) paint in 1956-61.)