Evening star., 1936-09-12

III AhNhND UNI NEhol Is cell
- ebrating. at this time, with
elaborate ceremony, the 300th
u - anniversary of its establish
ment. It was in the Sur,ner of 1886,
just six years after Massachusetts, Bay
Colony had been planted" on the
none too hospitable shore of New
England, between the beach and the
UNEMPLOYED forest that the Great
and General Court of Massachusetts,"
with amazing audacity, as well as
foresight, voted to establish on the
"Charles-side marshes of Newtowne."
q college, Harvard by name, the first
In the English colonies, Ito advance
Learning and perpetuate it to Pos
terity."
In commemoration Of this event
scholars have gathered from all parts
Of the world, the mere list of whom
would, 1t is said. constitute an inven-
tory OF the present state of the world
learning, an unparalleled gathering of
the wise and the great. 1t is profoundly
interesting that, in the midst of this
aggregation of learning, special en-
phaSis should have been placed, not
merely on scholarship, but the arts,
and with full recognition of the fact
that how man lives is as important
as what he knows. or in short, that
knowledge has a direct bearing upon
life.
Harvard College-now University
has consistently stood for the ad-
vancement of the boundaries of knowl--
edge-scholarship at its best-but one
of the chief exhibits set forth in cele-
bration of its tercentenary, is of the
art Of the past 800 years, as it found
expression, not only in portraiture.
but in furniture, silver. glassware and
those other articles of daily use by
which the men of Harvard were sur
rounded in their homes.
This exhibition, assembled by COM
mittee of graduates, occupies a large
gallery at Robinson Hall, School of
Architecture, which stands almost op-
posite the Fogg Museum, but within
the Yard" 1t is a remarkable dis
play. Portraits hang on the walls:
furniture is placed beneath them, in
orderly array: in the center of the
gallery are cases containing silver,
pewter, glass. china, etc, indicative
OF the skill of the makers and the
taste Of the users.
WE HEAR much today of American
folk art. but here is to be seen
art which truly deserves this name
and which reflects credit upon the
Colonial settlers and their descend
ants. AS Edward w. Forbes, director
of the Fogg Museum, says in his fore
word to the catalogue of this exhi-
bition. IF one beautiful object of a
past century may succeed in stimu-
lating us to sense of the spirit
OF those days. this room, so richly
filled with precious works of the past,
ought to multiply the impressions
and give q cumulative effect, which
will really stir the imagination"
To combine portraits with house
furnishings was happy idea. Here
are the men who not only made Har-
ward, but who helped to mold our
Nation. From these walls look down
upon the visitor. John Hancock. John
Adams and John Quincy Adams, Ed
ward A. Holyoke, Timothy Pickering.
Joseph Warren, Joseph Willard and
others-presidents of Harvard and
Presidents of the United States, am
bassadors to foreign countries, states
men, scientists. men who have brought
honor to their college and their Nation.
Some of these portraits are by
such painters as Copley and Gilbert
Stuart; others are by artists less ca
pable and of less renown, but collec-
lively they give emphasis to person.
ality and stress individual character.
This is, Of course, the dual appeal of
portraiture. And when all is said,
this collection of 81 portraits, lent by
private owners and public institutions.
gives very fair idea of the achieve
ment of our earliest painters in this
field.
There are six portraits by Copley,
including that of John Hancock,
which is most striking; there are
three by Gilbert Stuart, one of which
is of John Adams at the age of 90.
Peter Pelham, Copley's stepfather and
teacher, better known for his mezzo-
tints, is represented by a painted por-
trait OF Cotton Mather. Feke, Black
burn and Smibert are all seen here at
their best, and there are notable can
vases by Trumbull, Allston, Morse and
Sully, which hold their own in COM
pany with a Lely and a Kneller. OF
great interest is a portrait, by the
last, of Jeremiah Dummer, jr., said
to have been the first Colonial to have
received the degree of Ph.D from a
European university, the son of a sill
versmith and painter, and chiefly re-
spons1ble himself, it is said, for secur-
ing from Elihu Yale the gift of money
which placed on permanent basis
the newly founded college at Say
brook, Conn.
The handsomely printed and illus
trated catalogue gives enough bio
graphical data concerning both those
whose portraits are shown and the
artists by whom they were painted. to
create, on the part of the visitor, a
feeling of something more than ac-
quaintance. and this is well, for the
keynote of this entire exhibition is
personality. 1t may be remarked also,
in this connection, that not all those