Visual Arts Study Complete, Seeks Integration of Fields

The highly controversial report of the Visual Arts Committee is complete and will probably be circulated by the end of the week, it was learned last night.

The eight-man committee was formed last October to find "more fruitful uses of the University's Fine Arts resources." It has urged increased coordination and integration of the Fine Arts Department, the Graduate School of Design, and the University's art museums, and bringing them into closer relation with the rest of the University.

The report is a revision of a confidential first draft which was written several months ago. Although the report was supposed to be complete last June, the delays apparently arose from the need for lengthy discussion and revision of the first draft.

One recommendation in this field deals with the need for a Visual Arts Center, and although Dean Sert said last night that it would only be important to undergraduate studies at the School of Design, other reports indicated more far reaching consequences, possibly placing the entire field of visual arts under contral direction.

Design School Rebuttal

The Design School appointed a Committee last October to study the first draft of the report, and to make the recommendations necessary for presenting a rebuttal and commentary.

The Fine Arts Department will probably consider the report at its Friday meeting, John G. Coolidge, professor of Fine Arts said.

One suggestion of the report, perhaps indicative of a search for greater emphasis on the visual arts in the University curriculum, is for supporting artists in residence, a practice now employed by several other universities. The committee has, however, apparently avoided urging instruction in painting.

In line with the effort to improve University use of visual arts resources, the report also includes recommendations on increased use of the University museums by departments other than Fine Arts.

Rockefelier Support

The committee report was originally supposed to deal not only with the visual arts here, but have relevance to the general problem of teaching and encouraging the visual arts. For this reason the Rockefeller Foundation is paying half the cost.

Despite the apparently general aims of the report and of the composition of the committee, the survey is a confidential report to President Pusey, and will be made public at his discretion.