A Letter From The Publisher: Oct. 29, 1965

“WHEN my eyes become dim with age and I shall not be able to see the world around me,” wrote Boris Artzybasheff some years ago, “I can paint nonobjective abstractions and abstract non-objections.” But until he died of a heart attack last July at 66, he did not cease to see the world around him. He resolutely refused to paint abstractions, tirelessly refining the unique style, sometimes bordering on the surrealist, that for over a quarter century he brought to more than 200 TIME covers. A sizable sampling of these original cover paintings, and more than 100 other Artzybasheff works in several media, have now been brought together from all over the world in a retrospective show at the Time & Life Building Exhibition Center in New York City. The show represents our tribute to a friend and colleague—and to one of the most original and imaginative artists of his time.

Artzybasheff’s art is dominated by his famous anthropomorphic machines and his reified visions of various pretensions, neuroses and complexes in sometimes nightmarish forms. But just about anything could set off Artzy’s imagination. A Nude with a Snood is his interpretation of an unfathomable phrase overheard at a cocktail party; a primitive piece of sculpture called Connecticut African came from bits of wood picked up in the barn of his Connecticut farm. Artzybasheff’s deep hate of tyranny is exemplified in the show by the extraordinary swastika shapes into which he twisted his caricatures of the Nazis. Above all, his humor and joie de vivre are revealed in countless ways, including a large eye containing a tiny sparkle that, in turn, contains the precise reflection of an attractive female.

“The Worlds of Boris Artzybasheff” will be open to the public through Nov. 18. We feel that many of our readers will want to join us in revisiting those extraordinary worlds.

A MEMORIAL of a very different sort is a special report published last week by TIME-LIFE BOOKS entitled The Pope’s Visit, a 96-page recapitulation of the Pontiff’s historic journey to New York. Along with 64 pages of color photographs, the volume includes the full text of his U.N. speech, his life story, accounts of earlier traveling Popes, and a summary of the work being done by the Vatican Council. The book is on sale at newsstands but may also be obtained by sending a $1.95 check or money order to: TIME-LIFE BOOKS, Time & Life Building, Chicago,Ill. 60611.