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Before an audience of nearly 200 people Robert D. Feild '30, assistant professor of Fine Arts, last night described the purpose of teaching the fine arts as an interpretation of their "basic significance and inner reality," an interpretation which must be based on, but must go beyond, history and archaeology.
Speaking on "The Function of Art in a Changing Social Order" before a general membership meeting of the Student Union in the Fogg lecture hall, Feild defined art as skill, based on four essentials: the incentive, or final cause; the image, or formal cause; the materials, or material cause; and the tools, or efficient cause.
After he had emphasized the tremendous importance of the historical approach as an aid to understanding art, Feild said, "We are holding on to the past, while new forms are growing up too fast to be appreciated."
In conclusion Feild urged the "building of art back into the University."
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