Take Note

An exploration of note-taking in Harvard University Collections
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Interactive Exhibition

5. Student drawings and color study

Notes without words

Perry Rathbone

Harvard University, 1905-1949

Three student drawings and a color study by Perry T. Rathbone (Harvard class of 1933; subsequently Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston from 1955-1972). Rathbone’s studies in drawing and color theory may well have been done in Fine Arts courses taught by Arthur Pope, who was on the Harvard faculty from 1905-1949.

English.
Paper.
Harvard Art Museums
. Perry T. Rathbone Papers (SC 7); files 1 and 2.
HOLLIS Catalog: 012610614
Keywords: 
Perry Rathbone, color theory, drawings

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ryanski1@aol.com's picture
Submitted by ryanski1@aol.com on

Science exists within art and note taking; essentially these drawings relate to the study of color and perspective. The students taught in Arthur Pope's Fine Arts courses at Harvard could have benefited from the personal observations of Perry T. Rathbone because they belong to him. These notes exist without the presence of words and I don't think it does a class or person examining Rathbone's notes much justice because they don't explain anything; however, 'Notes without words' can affect the educational experience of viewing these given the time period and need for explaining art in a technical style at a modernizing university like Harvard University in the first half of the 20th century.

Brendan Ryan

The Brendan Ryan Company
Houston, Texas

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