1200 Washington St.
Ap’t. 10
Sept. 4th 1931

[Printed design]

[“Sin contestar” written across page in orange crayon]

Darling Frieda —

I am sure you do
not love me any more & that
you think I am a bad friend.
Perhaps you say to yourself “that
Shirley is a pig.” But your old
Shirley is not a pig. She has many
excuses. Of course I agree with
you that only weak characters
offer excuses. But I may be a
weak character. I don’t care
what I am or how often you
call me a goddam son of a bitch
if only you won’t stop loving
me.

Many things have happened.
I have been very busy moving
with this new apartment
and also I have been very
ill. My heart was very exhausted
and very little blood went to
my very big brain. (I am trying to

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write so that you can read my awful
writing). And my nerves were very bad and
I was very unhappy about lots of
things. But I won’t bore you
with my troubles. Because people
with troubles are very tiresome.
And I don’t want you to
curl up in a big chair like
a little cat and yawn in my
face.

My new apartment is quite
nice and I think you will
look well in it when you come
back to my heart and home.
Here is a rough plan of it. We have
a marvellous view across the bay to the
Berkeley hills & Mount Diablo.

[Detailed drawing of the layout of an apartment, with all rooms, halls, verandas labeled, including bedrooms for Shirley & Sydney, and Bobbie. Included is a drawing of the second floor rooms “where Peter & Laddie live.” A note explains that “servants sleep on lower floor in apartment house.”]

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We have a little roof garden & from it
we see the bay and can watch all the
big ships that pass through the Golden
Gate to Japan & to China & to Mexico.
Where my naughty Chiquita lives, the
pretty Chiquita with the big eyes & the big
beads & the big heart. And then we
have a big sun porch or verandah that
is all enclosed with huge glass windows
and each window is a picture that I
will give Diego when he comes to visit
me. I have put all my old furniture
into the living room and dining
room and our bed-room. But the
children went crazy and designed
themselves some modern furniture.
Bobbie chose two beautiful colors
of green; Laddie, black, bright blue
and silver; Peter, black, lacquer red
and chromium. And the poor old
mother is going crazy trying to
find curtains and rugs to go with
their crazy ideas. I wish you were
here. too. Because you are so
nice and crazy, too.

I had a letter to-day from
Diego’s French philosopher. It was
mailed from Honolulu. He wrote to
tell me that I was “une créature
merveilleuse”!!! Please show this
to Diego. Because I want him to

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know that a very famous man thinks
that his fat little friend is a nice
person. We all liked Elie. He is so
sweet and simple and as enthusiastic
as a child. I worked like a dog to get
him lectures and arrange dinners and
reseptions. We made a terrible program
for the poor man and kept him busy
all the time. He stayed with the Walkers
and they made him very comfortable.
He was very funny about it. He said
“Pour la première fois de ma vie, j’ai
honte de moi même, car je me trouve
comme une femme entretenue.”
You see, he was given a very chic bed-
room and a boudoir and every
day brought him flowers and fruits
and notes and all sorts of attentions.
He does not speak very well in public
but some of his ideas are very interesting.
I scolded him very much and was
very cross with him because he read a
lecture at the University of California
from a manuscript and I did not
understand a word. He promised
me never to do that again. He
didn’t while he was here and his
“causeries” were much better than
his academic lectures. But he
is one of the most delightful and
charming men I have ever met.

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[Printed design]

Everybody loved him and we
were all heartbroken when we
waved good-bye to him as he
sailed toward the Orient on
the Shinyo Maru. He said
marvellous things about Diego
himself and about his work,
both in public and privately
to me. Shall I tell you some
of them? You will repeat them
to Diego and he will become
so conceited that he won’t ever
speak to an insignificant person
like me again. But I will
sacrifice myself and tell you
anyway.

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In the first place he said
there is no art in France
to-day. Art is finished in
Europe. Civilization is dying.
Artists too narrow and
technical & try only to do
clever things for their own
vanity & to impress each
other etc. etc. You probably
know all his ideas on this
subject. then he said
how big & vital is the art
of Diego. That his [illegible] great
personality, his humanity, and
his knowledge of his own
time are in his work.
That he is the greatest artist
of our time. He tells me that of
all Diego’s murals he liked the frescos at Cuernavaca
and the frescos he is doing
now at the Palace & the
fresco at the S.F. Art School the best

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He was very deeply moved by
the wall painting that Diego
made for Mrs. Stern. He spent
a long, long time in the little
room where we all were
together. I told him of the two
beautiful days I had in Atherton,
days I will never forget as
long as I live. I shall
always be grateful to you &
to Diego for the rich gifts
that you brought to me.
Faure thought that Diego
had created a poem of
California in that picture
of orchards and laborers &
children & fruits. The
colour, the composition the
disposition of the whites, the
rich tonality of the earth —
well he was intoxicated.
And, Frieda, you cannot

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imagine how lovely it looked
when I came back & saw
it together with Diego’s
friend. It was like a
song.

My little Frieda — I miss you so
much — Our funny conversations
and our funny dinners where you
ate nothing but chicken & ice cream.
And I always had such respect
for you up to the time when you
told me you ate worms! [Drawing of worm]
I wish I could go to you. But
I can’t leave my family just now.
They eat me up, swallow me
alive, just the way Diego eats
live worms, only they don’t wrap
me up in a frijole. Some day
you’ll hear a knock at your door at
127 Avenida Londres & you’ll see a
travelling lady with eye glasses who
will have a familiar look & it will
be your crazy friend

Shirley —

[illegible] love to you both and please
[illegible] give a fat kiss to very dear fat Diego