Class of '36 Shows Collections In Display at Fogg Art Museum

The art collectors of the Class of 1936 are standouts. The superb acquisitions of men like Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., David Rockefeller and Gordon Palmer, have the scope and excellence of first-rate museum pieces. These conoisseurs have bought wisely, but much more importantly, they have bought with a flair. The safe, the everyday, has little interest for them. They are out for the most important and the most impressive paintings they can find. Today, when art collection has become so widespread a form of investment, the private collector is generally notable for his caution, his collections for their dullness. But many members of the 25th Reunion class have chosen the more adventuresome path of art collection. The rewards of their highly individual pursuits are now on display in three second floor galleries of the Fogg Museum.

Let me come to the point swiftly: it is a stunning show. From a very handsome Madonna by Annibale Carracci, owned by Sydney J. Freedberg, professor of Fine Arts at the University, to a challenging, "uncompositional" Dubuffet, part of Mr. Pulitzer's great collection, the works displayed are of a remarkably high calibre.

So many paintings are unforgettably good that it is hard to single out the best. I would certainly include among my favorites the beautiful contrasts of warm and cool colors in Monet's landscape of Montages, owned by Mr. Palmer. In this work of 1888 typically vibrant color enlivens its unconventional, simple composition. There is the stunning Cezanne of the boy in a red vest that Mr. Rockefeller owns, impressive for its fusion of linear clarity and almost overwhelming structural solidity. I was most intrigued by Picasso's 1916 still life that has none of the poster-like flatness of his other works from this period.

But there was so much more that meant equally much to me that I must call a visit to the Fogg mandatory--at least for this graduation.