An exhibition of Lewis Rubenstein '30, in Leverett House is the newest addition to House personality and a very worthy one. It includes pastel studies for his Germanic murals, a few wash drawings, and some painstaking water colors, most of which are done in gouache. If the exhibition seems a sketchy presentation of Mr. Rubenstein, it is only because many of the pictures are either studies for murals of pure exercises in body composition. The sponsors have naturally been limited in their choice, but for future exhibitions,--and there certainly should be many of them,--they should attempt to gather a more coherent representation of an artist's work.

The most striking thing in Mr, Rubenstein is the three-dimensional solidity of his bodies. It is evident in his muscular studies, as "Thor" and "Hand Grenade Throwers," and in the fine plastic anatomy of his faces, particularly "Negro's Head" where greatest strength is centered in the eyes. His sense of line is splendid. It is strong, almost fiercely so, in his pastels, but more subtle and still as effective in such drawings as "Gobs." The two sailors with hands in pocket at the lower left and the pugnacious face at top-center are marvels of characterization. In that native young animal, "Sitting Burro," Mr. Rubenstein expresses the height of his ability to characterize in a few, sure lines. His pen sketches show extreme accuracy. Rarely does he discard a stroke. Instead of water colors, he favors the use of gouache which gives his figures greater substance. Mr. Rubenstein's skill in drawing is best in his charcoal, "Jimmy," and in "Miner's Daughter," the prized of the exhibition.

Not only is Mr. Rubenstein's exhibition a successful one, but in its presentation its sponsors have hit upon a valuable function of the House common room. Informality is the essence of the show. The undergraduate can sip coffee and converse at the same time as he enjoys Mr. Rubenstein's work, and surely this is the truest spirit of art, not forced upon one stiffly from museum walls, but blended into normal and everyday surroundings.