AN AMERICAN BEAUX ARTS

In the middle-ages and the days of the Italian renaissance it was possible for one man to learn everything that there was to know. Leonardo da Vinci was an engineer and artist at the same time, and attained a fame in both capacities which has seldom been surpassed by moderns. Then, too, he was stimulated in his work by a spirit of competition which gave rise to some of the greatest products of art and architecture that the world has seen. These influences have been embodied to a large extent in the plans of the School of Architecture, and the Department of Fine Arts, as outlined by Dean Edgell.

The School, in contrast to most, requires a bachelor's degree of all its students, and the Department calls for a wide field of distribution from its members. The attempt is being made to produce architects who will know better than to design a skyscraper of beautiful proportions, with nothing but a medieval spiral staircase to the top floor; and who may, nevertheless have a knowledge of architectural types prior to the Victorian era. With similar intent, a solid background of literature and history is required of all students concentrating in Fine Arts.

By developing a graduate school of creative art, which will include painting and sculpture, and associating this with the Architectural School and that of Landscape Architecture, it is hoped to build up in Cambridge a center of artistic study and practice. Such a group would offer a great opportunity for expert training, and "friendly competition" with Technology and the art schools of Boston would become an American counterpart of the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. In working towards such a goal Dean Edgell and his associates are materially contributing to the expansion of Harvard as a true university.