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I would go back to the quattrocento at least and some of the great paintings of the early Renaissance or pre-Renaissance period. They would be, for me, something to live with. I would rather live with a Giotto. I think I even prefer the Giottos to the fourteenth century, partly because they are simplified. They are simplified by necessity because Giotto didn't know how to do these more elaborate things. One of the great things that the modern painters have introduced into the field of art is the idea that simplification is in itself an art. They, knowing how to do the most complicated kind of painting, with every little detail all shown and jewels painted like jewels, velvet like velvet, have nevertheless reduced it all to the simplest possible terms - a few lines. I think that is in itself a good movement, although it's often been carried too far.

But all this has nothing to do with the President and the artists that were out of work in the 30s. I did stir the President. It so happened that Henry Morgenthau came in during our conversation. The President was responsive to the idea that artists should also be put to work. I had said to him, “They could be put to work on government buildings, and so forth. They could decorate this and that.”

He said, “That's true.”