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Collections and Critiques

Notable Exhibitions Brought to Harvard by Fogg Art Museum in 1936

Art enthusiasts and students were well served by the Fogg Art Museum in 1936 through the notable exhibitions which it brought to Harvard.

The major undertaking was that in honor of the 300th an university of Harvard, a demonstration of the permanent collections for the use of the students, and of the activities in Technical Research. During the celebration all the rooms and Halls were filled with exhibits. Yet especial mention should be made of the Old Master Drawings from the Paul J. Sachs and the Looser Collections: a small group of El Greco's works; 19th century French paintings, and drawings largely loans; the most important Prints from the Museum's collection; paintings by Dr. Ross and a selection from his gifts of Oriental art.

Technical Research

The Museum's studies in the X-ray and in Technical Research were presented to the public, for the first time, by paintings together with their X-ray shadow-graphs, also X-ray studies of forgery, repaint and restoration; paintings in different techniques, and cases of pigments used in different countries and periods.

Among the year's exhibitions should be noted the unusual "Style and Technique." Planned, arranged, and fully catalogued by the students in Professor Sach's course on Museum Work and Problems, from paintings, drawings, mosaics, and other material, it made an impressive demonstration of its theme as applied to western European painting. But the most notable exhibition in initiative, size and public interest--in fact the popular event of the last three years--was the Work of Paul Gauguin, including both paintings and prints. It was arranged by the newly formed Boston Chapter of the Museum of Modern Art, under the auspices of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Germanic Museum, and the Fogg Museum.

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Expeditions

Expeditions were carried on in two fields. In Tarsus, Cilicia, a second season of excavation was conducted jointly with Bryn Mawr College and the Archeological Institute of America. It was under the direction of Dr. Hetty Goldman, the Museum's Excavator in Greek Lands. Another expedition is now in the field in India, Ceylon, and Afghanistan, under Dr. Benjamin Rowland, Jr. His purpose is to photograph in color and to publish the outstanding wall paintings in the cave chapels, an original undertaking whose results will be eagerly awaited by all Orientalists.

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