Correspondence, 1914-1919: Artist Commissions and Sale of the House

Letter from William Gray Purcell to George Grant Elmslie (November 10, 1914)

Dear George:-

We have made a copy of the cartoon in order to preclude loss and insure promptness. It should be with you the first mail tomorrow morning.

I am inclined to think your idea of having three moons is abstractly a good one. Practically, I do not think it will go. If we could select the observers it might go, but it would certainly be a shock to every person who came into the room and they would see nothing else but the three moons, which would be diverting, or I should say, distracting.

I would like to see some of your tree drawing creep into what is shown. Bull draws foliage rather well, but I think if we could get some of the architectural character of yours into the trees, especially around the little twigs near the moon, it would be nice. My, the curves in those birds! Aren't they gorgeous! We are surely on the right track. The thing looks fine in place on the wall and every move we make adds to the effect. There is a nice little transition to be made between the cloud forms and the cloud terminals which you will discover. Also it seems to me that in addition to the horizontal cloud forms which will take on a sense of color (we are thinking of blue now) there should be other little openings between the clouds, tiny horizontal lines in which we might even have the real golf leaf. That will occur to you. The idea of the additional strips is very fine.

I will not comment at great length on your letter but will take a fall out of your philosophy of mural decoration some time.

Yours, W.P.

Annotation by George Grant Elmslie:

The cartoon arrived on time. There is little to do except obscure what is going to be a very charming thing. 3 moons were of an special interest. But 2 as commented on the one an adumbration of the other is by far the most suggestive idea of all-- It couldn't abstractly good--There is such delight in the idea. Diverting? No: distracting? Impossible. Where has Alice in Wonderland gone to anyhow?

J- Oh Mother Do you see the other moon? [1]

M- Yes, Jamie, dear.

J- Well.

M- Well, yourself.

J- Do you know who made it?

M- No, Jamie.

J- Well, I DID IT. Watch me stand on my head.

Au revoir!

1. The following script is probably meant to be between Edna S. Purcell and her son James.
 

research courtesy mark hammons