VIVID ART

Three years ago the Fogg Museum established an admirable practice which recently has been allowed to lapse. The museum has in its possession a large collection of the best available reproductions of fine pictures. These were to be used as loans to students for the decoration of theft rooms.

In former years this practice enjoyed a considerable success for many reasons. To benefit from an art one must enjoy it, and to live with a painting is certainly the best method of coming to know and to enjoy it. The fine arts at Harvard are largely taught from the point of view of scholarship and any humanizing innovations are welcome. The Japanese recognize this principle by hanging but one picture at a time in order to draw out all that picture has to give them. In the same way the Art Department can give undergraduates an opportunity for genuine appreciation such as one can not got from labored visits to a museum.

A revival of this policy has been contemplated but as yet no action has been taken. If it is readopted, as it certainly should be, the collection might be enlarged to include works by modern artists of permanent importance. Also modern paintings could be made available which take a long time to reach the general public through the normal course of exhibitions. These would be of great benefit to a student eager to follow in pioneer paths. If a man could come to know four paintings during the year he would have an enjoyment and undering of art as lasting as any which he could draw from an academic lecture course.