Collections and Critiques

Recently renovated, the Oriental Galleries of the Fogg Museum have been opened again to the public. The new walls and display cases have been carefully chosen to show to the best advantage the priceless pieces which make the Fogg collection one of the finest in the country.

The brownish-gray walls of broad weave and the walnut background of the show cases bring out the delicate colorings of the Chinese pottery which are in most museums lost in the glare of a white-walled room. This is well illustrated in the Korean Room where there is much pottery from 5th and 13th century tombs. The vases and bowls have a unique inlay which the Chinese were never able to achieve. This inlay gives them an extra richness when it is seen with the faint blues and greens of the ordinary glazed ware. This extra richness and beautiful coloring could never be realized except in a room which has perfect display facilities.

The other two sections of the Gallery also contain many unusual pieces collected by Fogg Expeditions to the Far East.

School of Design

On display at the Harvard School of Design in Robinson Hall is an exhibition of sketches and watercolors by Eliot F. Noyes '32. Most of the paintings were done in Iran at Persepolis--a group of palaces and terrace built by Darius and Xerxes about 500 B.C. The collection also includes subjects from Kashmir, India, Iraq, and Egypt. The paintings are watercolors of landscapes and mosques, and bazaar and native village scenes. They are free impressionistic pictures, boldly handled with lively colors.

Of interest to students of archeology and ancient history are several paintings of reliefs from Xerxe's 100 column hall and other scenes on the Persepolis terrace done in the style of Joseph Lindon Smith. Some pencil sketches done in Iran and snow scenes in the Himalayas complete the collection.

Noyes, who as an undergraduate was "Ibis" of the Lampoon and an editor of the CRIMSON, spent the last two years in Iran as architect to the Persepolis expedition of the Oriental Institute.