Letter from Marie Laurencin, Paris, to Paul Rosenberg, 1949 November 27 : autograph manuscript signed.

She's very happy that he has arrived in Paris with his children and granddaughter. She finds him very courageous in view of all he suffered. She has often tried to put herself in his place. André Gide is at the center of everyone's attention, along with Jean Cocteau. She has received a commission for a portrait of a baby, and she's putting in the mother, too. The baby is turning out more the way it really looks than the mother, but she says it's always like that. Nothing too exciting is going on in Paris. There are many books in store windows on [Fernand] Léger and Braque. Also [Marcel] Gromaire. She is working on the set for a production of Sapho [probably Gounod's opera]. She says that it looks as though it will be pretty good. There's not much to see in terms of theater, and not many interesting books are coming out. People are talking about La 25e Heure [The 25th Hour]. Laurencin has bought Les Contes du chat perché, by Marcel Aymé (which she loved). She dined the previous evening at the home of the Flegs [probably Edmond Fleg] with Arnaud Tzanck, who was sad and annoyed about a campaign against blood transfusions by workers. She says that to live happily, one must hide one's self. They wanted to have her speak on the radio about Guillaume Apollinaire, but she politely refused. She asks Rosenberg to write to her about the state of his health. She's concerned about his legs and about how shaky his voice is.