Student Artist

Jim Herbert '60, subject of these few paragraphs that follow, is a student artist. If one pauses here, surely you will conjure up thoughts of a bearded Beatnik, Dartmouth style. Yet this is not the case with Herbert. Dartmouth does have its share of beards this fall, but Jim is a clean-shaven, slight young man, full of effervescence and vigor. Though he appears to be an average undergraduate, he is exceptional among them and among young artists. He is that rare student among business, law and science oriented undergraduates, who is dedicated to a career in art.

During this school year, all of Jim's energies are directed towards his Senior Fellowship project. He is investigating the "Attitudes and the Evolution of Style in Abstract Expressionism" without the formal disciplines of classroom work and instruction. Plans are to travel to visit galleries and artists of his choice, returning to Hanover to continue his own painting. Jim feels that the better time this year will be spent painting and that by studying both the aesthetic attitudes and experiences of other painters, his own work as a student artist will be significantly broadened, intensified, clarified. More than anything else, he hopes to find his own artistic limitations. His paintings to date run from realistic pen and ink drawings, to gay, bold abstractions. Jim has the talent, and has mastered several techniques, knows composition, design and color; one tends to be thrilled with the limitless possibilities of a Senior Fellowship when granted to a young man with his capabilities.

Enrollment men will be interested to know that Jim Herbert came to Dartmouth because he spent the majority of this life "eating from Dartmouth plates." This quick retort to the question is typical of Jim's alert, wry personality. However, in matters of a more serious nature, he never gives a quick answer, and all judgments are carefully arrived at. He has a wonderful faculty for verbalizing about art, though not glibly. Recognizing that art is most often emotional and that all paths leading to the finished work are not consciously selected, Jim can in retrospect analyze both his steps and solutions critically. He makes a conscious effort for honesty in his work, and this itself is a bright spot in an age where some contemporary art relies heavily upon gimmick and accident.

Herbert is from Wickford, Rhode Island and his father, James A. Herbert, now deceased, was a Dartmouth graduate, Class of 1929. Jim's art work found him a spot as Art Editor of the Jack-o-lantern early in college and he also was an announcer for WDCR. He is secretary of Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity, where his paintings have enjoyed an interested acceptance. As evidence of this, not only do three brothers own Herbert paintings but the fraternity house itself possesses a 4'x 8' abstraction. Jim was a leading figure in the establishment of a downtown gallery for student work on Main Street which flourished briefly last year. There are plans for this venture to be continued later this fall.

Among other notable achievements for Jim was the winning of the Marcus Heiman Award in the creative arts, for his contribution to art at Dartmouth, and for his demonstrated promise for doing creative work. Immediately after winning this award last spring, Jim's drawing "Halted Riders," received first prize in an exhibition of student art from eastern colleges at the Springfield (Mass.) Museum of Fine Arts.

This Senior Fellowship year will be for Jim Herbert a year of self-exploration. His obvious quality of self-discipline will surely make it a productive year. Amid the smells of oil, gesso, and turpentine, Jim will be meeting the ultimate challenge of the liberal arts education - the search for truth.

Jim Herbert '60