PICTURE AHEAD

The experiment adopted by the directors of the Fogg Museum in loaning pictures to students who wish to use them in decorating their rooms is in the nature of an attempt to popularize fine arts. Coming as it does close on the heels of the opening of the first exhibit of the Harvard Society for Contemporaneous Art, it is an encouraging sign to those who hope for more knowledge of the beauties of art among students.

The purpose of the innovation is to permit students to familiarize themselves with works of art and to give them the opportunity to form their own judgments on the pieces in question. It should encourage the development of appreciation of art, for a student is more likely to take advantage of the opportunity to procure pictures to hang on his wall than to make regular excursions to Fogg. A better sense of value for pictures will also come from seeing them in one's own room in surroundings of comparative comfort rather than in the more severe background of a museum.

The future success of the plan depends, of course, on the use made of its opportunities and the care taken of the loaned pieces, but under careful management it is capable of great and productive expansion.