TAHITIAN IDYLL

The praise with which Paul Gaugin's painting, "Tahitian Idyll," has been received at the Fogg Museum this week well suggests the students' appreciation and endorsement of the service that the New York Museum of Modern Art is rendering to colleges through its circulation of one picture exhibitions.

Gaugin was the third and last artist in the present series of displays. The "Tahitian Idyll" admirably represents his style, largely developed during his life in the South Seas. The break with the Impressionistic influence of his early period, his indebtedness to Egyptian art, as well as his habits of composition are clearly represented in this work. Notwithstanding the influence that his technique has had, it was his greatest triumph to suggest that the function of art need not be to copy nature.

The current exhibition indicates on the part of the Fogg authorities an interest in vitalizing artistic education and on the part of the Museum of Modern Art an admirable desire to extend its influence into academic circles. Harvard's interest should encourage the continuation of the exhibitions.