Massachusetts College of Art and Design - Palette and Pen Yearbook (Boston, MA)

Page 8 text:

For four years you have been together here, as a unit, able, through the strength of your numbers, to face, bravely and confidently, the world ' s attitude toward art. Now you are to go out Individually to face that same attitude, and you will miss, somewhat, that strength of numbers, for It is Inevitable, that, sooner or later, you will stumble over that always existing, serious obstacle known under its own loudly proclaimed identification as the practical man. You will find that this practical man will pop out at you In many circum- stances to Insist that this Is his world and that you are In it only through sufferance. In adjusting yourself to this situation you must be careful not to do two things; you must not allow your- self to be overwhelmed by his arguments, so as to lose sight of your objectives and you must not shrink from all contact with him and retire to sulk In an Ivory tower. The practical man can get along without you, you cannot get along without him, yet to a large extent his destiny is In your hand. Because this sounds para- dox leal I would like to make It clear. If we could Isolate a group of practical men and insulate them completely from art and all Influence of art and return In something like a thousand years to see how they fared, we would find that they had survived, but were doomed to a static existence under a relentless dictatorship of unimaginative day by day necessities. And if we could, then, suddenly reln- ate the Influence of art Into that group, so that here a man would start to dream a little, and there one would lift his head In song and another to write poetry and still another put on canvas the mystery of the light in the sky and on the earth about him and catch some- thing of the spirit of longing and wonderment In his fellow ' s faces; then the quality of living would start to bubble up and Imagination would range ahead to point out possibilities for the practical man to develop. But lest the knowledge of this power Impress you overmuch with the sense of your own Importance, re- member, that If you reversed the experiment; that Is, Isolated a group of artists from all contact with the practical man, and went back In something less than a thousand years, you would fall to find them — - they would be extinct. So much does actual living de- pend upon practicality. The practical man Is both your friend and your enemy and you must learn to realize his Importance to you and that his very Indifference and antagonism make an abrasive upon which to keep your sensitivities keen. It requires a certain roughness to produce a refined surface. And yet for your own peace of mind you must be able to answer his taunts as to the futility of art; not so much to refute his arguments as to keep your own resolutions clear. It is true. Indeed, that In times of Im- pending catastrophe — such as war — people seem to turn away from art but It Is also true that they turn toward the things which have been fostered by art. Is patriotism, for Instance a practical thing? How was It built up, if not by song and story and pictured symbols into a powerful and moving force which leads men to perform beyond their common habits. It Is true, again, that the birth rate of great artists Is extremely low, but It is equally true that the mortality rate of great art is much lower. For somehow the world has learned to pro- tect Its masterpieces and in times of war displays the utmost concern and consideration as to their safekeep- ing because men know that art contains the Ingredients of civilization, so that. If all else Is destroyed. In these pictures, all compact, are contained nobility of state- ment, breadth of vision, elements of law and order with which to build anew. Let he who will, cry Impractical at the artist. We accept the term. No doubt art Is Impractical, but It works on practical things, shaping and nourishing them, as water does the land, and the question is not which Is the more Important — the practical or the Imprac- tical — the water or the land — but how weak either one would be without the other — and how dreary. Without the practical man the artist would be help- less, but without the artist the world would be hopeless.

Page 7 text:

Once again our nation has been highly instrumental in ending a World conflict. We have witnessed in this nation a material contribution and an aginations. One element of special interest to you and to me is the demonstration, during the War, of the intrinsic value of art or the use of visual methods in communicating ideas. Greater knowl- edge has been given to more people and an understanding of a more com- plete range of subjects has been made possible through techniques such as motion pictures, photography, me- chanical and exploded drawings, paintings of the fine art category and even comic strips. We are a part of a visual minded generation. Now, as never before, social eco- nomical problems are challenging American ingenuity, education, indus- try and democracy. The visual tech- niques and art stimulation growing out of our War experiences can con- tinue and be highly instrumental in solving our many problems. The Administration and the Fapulty of the Massachusetts School of Art are fully cognizant of the challenges which lie ahead. Our service to you has been and will continue to be the outgrowth of a desire to provide the best possible training. organizational unity which have far surpassed our most complete Im-

Page 9 text:

Cincinnatus, relinquishing the duties of acting President to turn again to his teaching . . . white-haired with a benign look and a glinting wit . . . deceptively soft spoken, his words are sometimes edged . . . tolerant and sapient, philosophic always and wide- minded, he administers encouragement and sympathy, or a goad to spur, in just the right dosage. He expends time and attention on each one of us as though our innumerable difficulties were of con- sequence. His is a remarkable otherness. In the different world into which we will soon be assimilated we will remember Mr. Phllbrick saying that art is not distilled from art, that ugliness is essential for balance, and that life, even as it is, is good.