New York Art Show Planned
ON the night of February 9, Dartmouth will enter the glamorous world of art on 57th Street in New York, and be host for the benefit opening of an exhibition of works of art drawn from the collections of alumni and friends, and from the Dartmouth College Collection itself.
Entitled "The Protean Century: 1870-1970," the exhibition will be under the auspices of the Dartmouth Arts Council and will be held at the Knoedler Gallery, 14 East 57th Street, from February 9 to 25.
Governor Nelson Rockefeller '30 is to be Honorary Chairman for the exhibition. in which approximately sixty works of art will illuminate certain aspects of the changing, or "protean," visual imagery in the past century. These aspects are demonstrated by selected examples from some of the key art movements during this hundred-year period.
Proceeds from the exhibition will be .for the benefit of the Hopkins Center Art Galleries Acquisitions Fund as a way to supplement the existing permanent collection and therefore improve the teaching resources for the Art Department.
This exhibition comes at a most appropriate time as the College celebrates its Bicentennial and looks ahead to its third century. With the spreading influence of the Hopkins Center on the entire College community since it opened in 1962, it seems fitting that Dartmouth's involvement in the arts should be brought to the attention of the highly critical art world of New York.
An important part of this effort to find ways for the College to make significant contributions to the arts was the establishment, in 1966, of the Dartmouth Arts Council under the chairmanship of Frank L. Harrington '24. The Council is made up of twelve knowledgeable individuals, concerned with the arts, who have been willing to take the time to learn about the work at Hopkins Center and help in the various programs and projects. An example of this help is the Knoedler Exhibit which came about through the good offices of William B. Jaffe, L.H.D. '64, a member of the Council and chairman of the Hopkins Center Art Advisory Committee.
Locally, the Hopkins Center has been greatly enhanced by the establishment, through efforts of the Council, of the Friends of Hopkins Center, a volunteer service organization whose president, Mrs. Walter C. Griggs, is an ex-officio member of the Dartmouth Arts Council. The Friends perform an invaluable service to the Center all through the year.
Over these past seven years since the Center opened, the arts at Dartmouth have reached a new level of excellence, and by becoming a cultural focus for northern New England, Dartmouth is bringing the arts to the surrounding countryside. The visual and performing arts at Dartmouth have achieved a quality that is beginning to take on national and, in some cases, international significance.
This is particularly true of the summer Congregation of the Arts, held at the Hopkins Center, which had its seventh session this past summer. With the new interstate highway system as efficient as it is, Dartmouth can no longer be considered the isolated country college it used to be. As a result, the cultural fare offered at Hopkins Center increasingly draws the interest of critics and professionals in the metropolitan areas of New York and Boston.
The Congregation presents a fine repertory theater company, a unique music program that examines in depth the works of contemporary composers from all over the world by inviting them to the Center for extended visits, and a program to explore with resident painters and sculptors the world of visual arts. All this contributes to a cultural experience that was unheard of prior to the existence of the Center.
Therefore, on 57th Street on the night of February 9, the Dartmouth exhibition will be a further recognition of the College's cultural distinction and will mark another milestone in its 200 years of liberal arts history.
Plans for the black-tie gala opening night are in the hands of Mrs. William Bright Jones, chairman of the benefit committee and wife of Bill Jones '49, who is a member of the Hopkins Center Art Advisory Committee.
The evening will start at 9 o'clock at the Knoedler Gallery with champagne being served until 11:30. For those who would like to make an evening of it, a buffet supper at eight dollars a person will be served at the St. Regis, a short two blocks from the Gallery. Arrangements have been made to reserve the Library on the mezzanine and, if necessary, an adjoining room to accommodate the Dartmouth party.
Tickets to the opening at $25.00 per person are available at the Dartmouth Club of New York, or by writing H. A. Dingwall, Hopkins Center, Hanover, N. H.
Shown at a New York meeting of the Dartmouth Arts Council and the Knoedlerexhibition benefit committee are (l to r) Miss Joan Fontaine, Mr. and Mrs. WilliamB. Jaffe, and Council chairman Frank L. Harrington '24. Beekman H. Pool, a member of the Dartmouth Arts Council, is seen at the rear center.
