155 - Gunter Böhmer. Handwritten letter with two watercolors. Montagnola, October 1946. Three pages in total.

Gunter Böhmer. Handwritten letter with two watercolors. Montagnola, October 1946. Three pages in total. Call time: approx. 1:29 p.m. (schedule subject to change) To the Swiss writer and patron Carl Seelig (1894–1962). — “Dear Friend, now that the hot season is over and before the cold weather sets in, I’d like to finally send you my regards again […].“ Böhmer reports on his work at the “drawing and commercial design desk.” Max Picard, whose visit he mentions, had written to him, telling him he “should now spend five years just painting, and no longer illustrating. This pleased me so much because it confirmed my deepest desire. Unfortunately, Picard just happened to forget to tell me how I’m supposed to go about it. For despite Ursula’s skill and magic—which I admire anew every day—we still need the bare necessities, which I can barely manage to provide through my graphic work. ... I would have to let them [the paintings] mature first; I need to be able to paint fifty so that five can truly stand on their own.” He said he would be patient, but: “Art is long, and our lives are short.” - “Once, the dear, fantastic Emmy Ball visited us and spoke with the greatest enthusiasm about Georg Heym, which brings me to the question: how far along is your work on Heym, and can I still count on my modest contribution?” The *Collected Poems* were published in 1947 by Arche, Zurich, without illustrations by Böhm. - He mentions various exhibitions he would have liked to attend and hopes for a reunion in Zurich or in Ticino (“That would be the very best thing for us”). - Page 1 features a half-page still life; page 3 features an equally large view of a house and garden; the lower halves of both pages, recto and verso, contain text. - Also included: Two additional handwritten letters from Böhm, including one about his portrait drawings of Hermann Hesse. - Three watercolors on two sheets (approx. 23 × 14 cm). The letter, on two mounted sheets, is slightly browned due to the nature of the material.