Yale University - Banner / Pot Pourri Yearbook (New Haven, CT)

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A fanciful Klee poster and a tinv scrap ol' paper lmoldlv signed SCULLY distinguish the entrance to the office of Yales most outspoken art historian. There are no hours posted, for he is seldom in his office, lectures and seminars at the University. puhlie speaking en- gagements, and research for hooks and articles leave him little time to sit hehind a desk. Usually, he is in thc slide room, preparing another lecture. VINCENT SCULLY, Colonel John 'l'rumlmull ilmfilssoi- of Art Ilistory, was horn in New Haven and attended New Haven high school, which was destroyed to make Way for Morse and Stiles colleges. Hesitantlv he admits he preferred the high school. Alter receiving his B.A. from Yale in 1940, he served in the Marine Corps, and returned to complete his Ph. D. in 1949. A lfulhriglit iellowship to Italy in 1952 modeled his artistic sensi- bility, as subsequent conflicts with architects and gov- ermnent ollicials strengthened his mettle. HA lecture can he grand for imparting knowledge. lt is not spontaneous or informal. lt demands that the ., W 'ff ff 'v f i ff' ' M 'W 5 we if , iw , sm, W ' -L-Jw ,nv f :H I 4 4 ' f M2 'M Wf 'fm f'1fN w'9fs'LgQE..Uf f ,':,,2llfv, V. ' - . - ' ., I -- ' - , ' . , ,L g X ' ' 'v fl ' , ferr, -1 i av' ' , r sf K' ' .M A ' -' ,, MH-vf - f f ,l.iz'A7QE.':f4WW .6-!!l5E,Ei:55leff: , Mwww, f I f fel' . 5

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534, AJ. same intense and disciplined thought that characterized his lecture. In addition to child development, the subject now is the Psychology Department, the Course of Study Committee, of which he is Chairman, and the problems of undergraduate education. 4 16 6 Born in japan of missionary parents, jOHN W. HALL, A. Whitney Griswold Professor of History, had a direct exposure to japanese culture before he developed an historianis interest 'in it. Though his home-life was American, he was free to experience and partake of the surrounding japanese environment. And partake he did his reserved and dignified manner, his soft, well-modu lated conversation, and his sensitivity and extreme politeness are disarming when contrasted to the harsh and direct ways of Americans. When Mr. Hall returned to the United States to attend Andover it was only natural for him to feel a tension between certain of his japanese proclivities and standard American attitudes. His approach to history is somewhat unusual, and probably to some extent was conditioned by his early experience with japanese culture. He regards himself as more of a social scientist than a humanist: My kind of history deals with large spans of time and masses of data to get at structures and patterns of behavior, and this has taken me more in the social scientistis direction than the biographical approach with which I startedf, Professor Hall sees japan, a major and creative element in the modern world, as offering an alternative to the European standards which heretofore have been the sole criterion of judgment. japan brings a whole new stream of history into the modern world. Today, I would say japanis history is as significant to the world as are the histories of France and Germany. Now that japan has become a modern society on a basis of equality with our own, japanese ways of life and japanese ideas have become directly relevant to us. Their experience may help us understand some of our own problemsf, Q0-mlm

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lecturer organize it and give it form, and in this sense it becomes a work of artfi Like the works of art that he discusses and analyzes, his lectures pulsate with life and embody all forms of encounter with the envoronment. A German expressionist building confronts inan with the horrors and distortions of uDr. Caligarils Cabinetf' a Corbusier villa becomes a ship afloat in the destructive sea of nature. Architecture is not merely what man has built, but an expression of his emotions: MLe Corbusier exposes you up in space. It is as if you are in a ship. lt's as if he were saying, 'You canit merge with nature., You are a man. You want things that nature does not want. You would like to live forever, and nature will kill youf, To experience such a lecture is to become suddenly, ting- lingly alive with penetrating truth. Professor Scullyis activities extend far beyond the classroom. His primary concern is the destruction of cities that has resulted from employing already-dis- credited urban renewal principles. Returning from cere- monies dedicating the Post Office, a New Haven land- mark, he was confident that the building could be saved: K'The Cossacks have been dragged to the ground. Theyill never get that building down! ' That Vincent Scully is seldom in his office portends hope for a reevaluation. Articulate and forceful, he is the gadfly who eventually may cause contemporary planners to see their mistakes. If not, there is still hope in the next generation, for those who have studied with him have discovered the grandeur that man and his architecture may achieve. August 17, 1924-April 18, 1967 MM