Student Artists

The return to an old tradition of house art exhibits is marked by an exhibition of paintings, ink and pencil sketches, etc., at Kirkland House this week. This show is scheduled to last until Wednesday or Thursday when another exhibit will start in Eliot House.

Among Kirkland House student artists, Mahommed Mossadegh, '56, seems to have the most difficulty coping with the recurrent problem of using but not being overcome by established styles. In paintings covering three years he goes through Van Gogh, Oriental, Cubistic and Miroesque phases. He has some fine ideas, resting boats by the water's edge or a montage of wrapped heads beside a chinese tower. But these are weakened in their effectiveness by poor draughtsmanship, muddy colors and slovenly design.

Copying the masters can be instructive as well as opportune for personal expression as Fernando Texidor demonstrates in his work done mostly for courses. The study of figures from a painting by Piero della Francesca indicates Texidor's understanding of the artist's monumental style, but his own color sense is none too inspiring and his feeble attempts at design make the noble Italians into something approaching jail birds.

David Austin '56 has a nicely angled pencil drawing a Trawler at sea. His other boat drawings are more prosaic though he has an obvious appreciation for good boat design.

Another artist following course exercises is Gil Cautrecasas, '57. His copy of an African head is a rather high class doodle. In a pencil study of a nude torso, Cautrecasas is fairly skillful at describing the feminine anatomy, but his graphic treatment is thoroughly unimaginative.

Michael Biddle is the exhibit's most imaginative contributor. His pictures tend to be ghoulish or cartoonish. Charles Addams is a notable influence. The ink and wash study of a farmer looking at a hanging man struck this reviewer as one of his better works, in many ways reminiscent of Ben Shahn. The skating waiters are drawn with delicate line and much wit. Biddle's work can be characterized as naive and childish. This does not preclude some clever sketching. His main fault is sloppiness.

The last of the artists represented, Alden B. Christie '57, is the most accomplished painter. He has a good sense of design and fine knowledge of color and texture. The mechanical red flower (pictured) is the best picture of the show except perhaps for his other highly colorful, erupting abstraction. There is nothing particularly new in his style. He is nevertheless, very much in control and is already a capable abstractionist with rocking color.