January 27, 1945To the Chairman of the Executive Committee
Friends of Art, Mount Holyoke CollegeDear Miss Hayes,
Through the years it has not been my custom to criticize the program of other college departments or of college organizations. The persons in charge of them have been fairly chosen for their jobs and in general deserve support. When procedures have looked odd or inadequate I have thought that probably I failed to know the whole story and have therefore not objected. It has not been my custom to "write notes" to either U.S. senators or my colleagues.
I have been for many years a member of the Friends of Art. Its exhibitions have been a pleasure and a means of instruction in a field not my own. However I have not been able to give approval to the current exhibition of Masson's work, an exhibition for which we must all in a sense share responsibility.
I have taught sex anatomy - clearly, I hope - for many years. I have taught - clearly and without side-stepping, I hope - human reproduction. I have endeavored to do this in due proportion to the whole range of anatomy and physiology. This exhibition seems to me to lack proportion, it throws a strong emphasis on one field of human behavior. Both physiology and art need to be careful where they touch these fields of human behavior. The exhibition does not seem to me to provide examples of beauty, it does not give me a sense of careful representation of truth. I do find a distorted emphasis.
It is uncertain to me whether there is to be left in the world - whether the world of the Nazis or our own - any difference between the higher and the lower in thought or action, in ideals or their realization, any difference between liberty and license. I have thought that such differences exist, that they are a guide to our human conduct. The current exhibition seems to me to put the emphasis on the wrong side, in thought, in ideals, in action.
I therefore hope such a choice of material for the exhibitions of the Friends of Art may not recur. These exhibitions in our midst are not to be lightly regraded, their presence is not a trivial matter. The help which they can give is great. Its emphasis has been, in the main, on what we are pleased to call beauty, on high artistic ideals, and they have given inspiration to sincere and worthy endeavor. This one looks like a slip.
With regrets,
A copy of this letter is being sent to Professor Saintonge as Chairman of the Department of French, and to Mr. Ham as President of the College.