I Work From Fatigue To

The '20s Ended In An Era Of Extravagance, Sort Of Like The One We're In Now. There Was A Big Crash, But Then The Country Picked Itself Up Again, And We Had Some Great Years. Those Were The Days When American Believed In Itself. I Was Happy And Proud To Be Painting It.

My Best Efforts Were Some Modern Things That Looked Like Very Lousy Matisses. Thank God I Had The Sense To Realize They Were Lousy, And Leave Paris.

I Didn't Know What To Expect From A Famous Movie Star; Maybe That He'd Be Sort Of Stuck-up, You Know. But Not Gary Cooper. He Horsed Around So Much... That I Had A Hard Time Painting Him.

I Talk As I Sketch, Too, In Order To Keep Their Minds Off What I'm Doing So I'll Get The Most Natural Expression I Can From Them. Also, The Talking Helps To Size Up The Subject's Personality, So I Can Figure Out Better How To Portray Him.

The Story Is The First Thing And The Last Thing.