A $350,000 bequest has "considerably improved" the shaky Fogg Art Museum financial situation, John P. Coolidge '35, director of the museum, announced yesterday.

The bequest was received from the estate of Archibald Alexander Hutchinson.

Coolidge also announced that friends of the museum had contributed approximately $22,000 since last December. Most of this money came as a result of Fogg's annual December appeal. The museum will make a follow-up appeal early next month.

The money from the Hutchinson bequest will be used to augment the salaries of the museum's employees and to enlarge the staff. A severe cut in the Fogg budget two years ago caused many employees to be laid off. Coolidge said he hoped the new funds would provide for the full replacement of the employees lost then. By next year, the staff will have new workers in the museum's library and secretarial departments.

Lowland Art Exhibit

The $22,000 received from friends of the museum ha been designated by the staff for current use. This will include payment of expenses for maintenance and improvement of the museum's exhibitions.

Coolidge also said that the museum will present next month an exhibition of Dutch and Flemish Drawings lent to Fogg by the Belgian government.

The museum plans to supplement this exhibit from its own Lowland art collection.