The most striking features of the Harvard artists show at the Germanic Museum are not only the technical virtuosity displayed, but also the wide ranger of material and manner. There is perhaps a tendency towards too close imitation, but every artist seems to follow a different master. The usual quota of New England hillsides, the sort that too many amateurs attempt, forms a surprisingly small part of the total.

Edward Greenberg's surrealist montage, entitled "MozART is a five pointed STAR (arzica)" is perhaps the most strikingly radical work shown, but it is quite balanced by James Bishop's meticulous, if not too characterful, pencil portraits. The range between is thoroughly covered, and one can pick out Kenneth Henry's impressionistic "Study of a Model", Barbara O'Neill's powerful use of facial planes, taken from Cezanne, and J. W. Lample's "Still Life" very much a la Matisse.

But whomever they follow, most of the artists have injected into their pictures a gay note which seems to belie the state of the world. Even George Rock's "Sad Scene", almost a line exception, seems merely a tour de force. F. F. A. Bruck's caricature and John Holabrid's two watercolors are particularly happy, and done in a fresh manner. Howard Turner's watercolor "Manhattan" together with his "Nude"--a sharp study done with a minimum of line--combine to make his probably the best and most original contribution to the show.

There is much that is worth seeing at the exhibit, but the total impression that it leaves is not coherent. One is inclined to ask, "Where is all this going?" There is no observable trend, and the better the artists, the less they seem to have in common. Art, as indicated by these painting, seems to be in a period of flux, and we have yet to discover the way out.