Harvard Considers Modernist For Position in Fine Arts

President Bok and Dean Rosovsky met with Jean Sutherland Boggs, director of the National Gallery of Canada, on Wednesday to discuss Harvard's offer of a full professorship in the Fine Arts Department, the department chairman said yesterday.

If Boggs accepts the position she will be the "department's only modernist and the first regularly tenured woman," Oleg Grabar, head tutor in the department said Tuesday.

"Her appointment would be of great magnitude and importance," John M. Rosenfield, chairman of the Fine Arts Department said yesterday. "And I'm optimistic about her coming here."

Rosenfield said he expected an official acceptance and confirmation of the appointment within two weeks. Tenure appointments must be approved by Bok and the Board of Overseers before they are official.

Bok would not comment on the possible appointment until it is approved by the governing boards, his secretary said yesterday.

Boggs, a specialist on 19th and 20th century European and American art, was considered for the directorship of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) until she withdrew her name last week.

Prior to the meeting with Bok, Boggs would not say whether her rejection of the MFA position indicated that she would come to Harvard. She was unavailable for comment yesterday.

A spokesman for Howard Johnson, president of the MFA, said yesterday that Boggs made no reference to the Harvard offer when she refused the directorship.