DEPRESSION AND IMPRESSIONISM

The announcement yesterday that the Harvard Society for Contemporary Art will disband after its current exhibition because of lack of funds can only be viewed with regret. The organization in just beginning to realize its aims and purposes. Collectors are new willing to lend their masterpieces, and this year public interest in the project has grown enormously. There have been planned for the winter some unusually fine exhibitions, which unfortunately must be curtailed.

It is futile merely to deplore the passing of an institution. The Society for Contemporary Art was inaugurated in 1929 to fill a definite gap in the cultural education of Harvard, if not for the whole of greater Boston. Its avowed purpose is to show examples of modern art whose merits are still frankly debateable, objects which could not otherwise be seen nearer than New York. In several of its exhibitions, notably the present one, it has offered students a chance for comparison between contemporary works and recognized masterpieces which have characteristics in common. In another exhibition, the development of modern trends of artistic endeavor was shown. These instances show the organization's attempt at education as well as appreciation.

In the purely quantitative fact that the last showing of the society attracted 1500 people lies a recognition of the success of their aims, and the answer to the present difficulty. Manifestly unfair as it is to expect a New York group to be the sole supporters of a gallery they never view, it is obvious that the Harvard undergraduate who enjoys the advantages of the exhibits should help to support what has been a worthwhile experience. And there must be Boston people interested in cultural education who will be willing to aid the institution in its present dilemma.