This was taken in his home, near Lake Merritt. The
book is one he wrote about the Queen of the Netherlands. He had just
received it from the publisher on the day of the sitting. Monroe Deutsch
was a very kind and very sensitive person. This portrait was done with a
little bit of conniving on my part. Deutsch had what in dentistry they
call an inferior chin. It receded and gave him a rather misleading
appearance. They used to say if somebody had a weak chin, they had a
weak character. As fine and kind a gentleman as Deutsch was, he
certainly was not a weak one. I knew he had these inordinately hairy
hands. Yet look at the delicate taper of his fingers. I used that
masculine, and beautiful, hand to hide his chin, and I think it worked
very well. Constructing a picture this way is a very dangerous thing to
do. Once in awhile you get by with it, but more often then not, it looks
affected.
GPB
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