Authorities Emphasize Rewards, Difficulties of Fine Arts Career

Art as a career consists of "part madness, part love, part curiosity," declared Francis H. Taylor, director of the Worcester Art Museum, last night at the Career Conference on Fine Arts. Taylor agreed with the other panelists that a career of music and painting is financially risky. He suggested, however, that "if you're sufficiently interested, you'll find a way."

The panel agreed that the arts were a highly exacting profession and that, in the words of Randall Thompson '20, Walter Bigelow Professor of Music, "You shouldn't go into music unless you're passionately interested."

Their reasons for admiring the fine arts varied. Taylor noted the inter-relation of art and history, and maintained that the purpose of the artist was to bring about a "cross-fertilization between the two." Ben Shahn, Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry, said that in art "it is the intent that counts."

Thompson termed an M.A. in music desirable for many fields, including reviewing and teaching at the pre-college level. The need for music teachers, he said, was "acute" and "will increase."

John P. Coolidge '35, professor of Fine Arts, director of the Fogg Art Museum, and moderator of the panel, described the University's art studio facilities as "inadequate" for the student who wants to devote himself to painting during his college career.