Letter from the painter Pierre Soulages addressed to the General Directorate of Cultural and Scientific Relations of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs on March 5, 1980:

Dear Director,

Felix Rozen tells me that he is applying for a fellowship in the United States.
I have known him and held him in high esteem for several years and I am sure that a stay in this country in contact with museums and artistic life would be very beneficial and would promote the development of his work.
Please believe, sir, in the assurance of my distinguished sentiments.

[handwritten signature of Pierre Soulages]

Letter from the New York gallery owner André Emmerich to Serge François of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs on April 2, 1980:

Dear Mr. François,

I am happy to have the opportunity to write to you in support of Felix Rozen’s application for a grant which would allow him to live in the city for one year.
I am enormously impressed with the work of Felix Rozen as well as with the quality of the man. I’m particularly struck by what seems to me to be a truly international caliber in Mr. Rozen’s work. Of all the many artists whose work I see and have seen over the years, he seems to me an exceptionally worthy candidate for such a grant (…).

Sincerely yours,
André Emmerich,
Past President of the Art Dealers Association of America.

In 1979-80, Rozen visited New York twice. He spent many weeks in room 317 of the Chelsea Hotel. The configuration of the space pushed him to paint on long horizontal bands that respond to the verticality of the city.