LACK OF SUPPORT THREATENS LIFE OF ART SOCIETY

A formal announcement that the Harvard Society for Contemporary Art will cease to function as an exhibiting group after its current exhibition appearing in the Harvard Cooperative Building is over was tentatively confirmed last evening by Mrs. Paul Herzog, present executive of the organization. Unless what at the present time seems a hopeless financial situation is unexpectedly remedied, the present exhibit which is characterized as setting a "new high" in the association's history will close the history of this organization, which was founded by Harvard undergraduates three years ago.

The cause of the proposed step is laid at the door of the present depression, and of what the present director characterizes as the "museum habit," a wide-spread and natural tendency to visit the gallery without considering the financial burden necessary to maintain it. The Society was organized three years ago by a group of Harvard undergraduates and has been supported both in exhibits and money solely by contributions from New York. These contributions which have only recently been cancelled because of the depression, were rapidly being superceded by Cambridge and Boston aid which has, however, been found insufficient. The last exhibit, which attracted 1500 persons, was staged at a cost of $350 which is the average price of each exhibition. As five more are tentatively scheduled, the remainder of the fund must be immediately solicited to prevent the Society from disbanding.

The present exhibition, which seems doomed to be the last, is regarded, from a cultural point of view as one of the best ever staged. Particularly interesting is an original El Greco never before publicly shown. Other appealing exhibits of merit are works by O'Keefe, Picasso, Bauer, Gaugain and Brancusi. The only tangible steps to insure survival of the organization are a rapid increase in membership or other subscriptions, the director stated. Student membership in the society entails annual dues of two dollars