SALON

The informal opening yesterday of the first exhibit by the Harvard Society for Contemporary Art showed a restraint which should do much to ensure the success of the new project. By avoiding the sort of sensationalism which shrieks like a spoiled child for attention, those in charge have insured a tolerant attitude from the more conservative of their patrons without jeopardizing the interest of the more advanced.

Even though the admitted purpose of the organization is the sponsoring of such work as would fail to find ready acceptance in such quarters as the Fogg Museum, it is well that the point of departure be not too far removed from familiar ground. New standards of taste must at least find the bricks and mortar of their construction in the standards of the past, for even the most open minded critics find difficulty in properly appraising a work which has only a nominal relationship to the familiar.

As the project develops from its present circumspect beginning the appearance of more radical productions is to be expected, but the continuance of the present wisdom of those in charge should certainly result in a corresponding development in the taste of its patrons. Certainly false felts are quelled and a satisfactory hope for the future aroused by the initial exhibit of this most recent addition to the complex of advantages that is Harvard.