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ij. Museo Nacional de Cuba, Habana. In the background, display pancls in thc first scction, explaining the naturc ot* a muscum, rcproductions and originals; on thc right, a display of architccturc as a prcliminary to thc sccond scction: thc arts.

14. Au fond, panneaux dc la premicre scction cxpliquant ce qu’cst un musćc, cc quc sont les icproductions, cc qu’cst un original. A droitc, cxposition d’architccture, debut dc la seconde section: les arts.

//. Museo Nacional de Cuba, Habana. Sccond scction: sculpturc display.

/ /. Deuxi&mc scction : exposition dc sculpturc.

works by Cuban artists are exhibited, so that thc public itself can appreciatc the usc madę of various clcments of design in the works (fig. 18).

Although the exhibition can be visited without a guide, owing to the explanatory texts on each display panel, it is found preferable to have a guide, so as to get closer to the culturai level of the visitors. The works and photographs on show were also selected with care, not only so as to illustrate thc leading ideas, but also to make it possible to go further into morę complcx aspeets. For example, in the painting section four pictures are shown which have a similar theme but belong to different centuries. The main idea to force home is that what is primarily important is not the theme but the manner in which it has been formally expressed. If the level of culture is very Iow, the guide must not go beyond this basie notion, but if it is high he might even venture to talk of the styles or the social factors influencing the work, etc. In the same way, the section showing ceramics, gold and silver ware, enamel ware and furniture is used to explain that though these are now museum pieces, they were once used by men in their daily lives; but it is also possible to discuss each exhibit in greater detail and speak of techniques, styles, etc.

The setting is that of a temporary exhibition, given the experimental naturę of the room. This is done by using display panels, set out in hexagons, including an area, which is the most compIex, for analysing the elements of the cxhibits and which can be taken apart. This section consists of a picture and four panes of glass of the same size as the picture. The way in which the artist has applied the elements of design in his picture is analysed on each pane of glass; the first reproducing the basie linę, the second the composition, the third the colours and shades as a demonstration of tonę, and finally, the volume, with the various planes coloured, and texture, with the areas shown in isolation. The picture is set behind the glass panes, and in this way it is possible to compare what is on the glass by superimposing it on the finished picture.

In nine months 17,000 visitors of all levels of education have visited the room. The experiment has already proved worth while and steps are bcing taken to open new art education rooms in other Cuban muscums, while the one in thc National Museum is to be redesigned with some necessary changes. Plans are also being pre-pared to give the National Museum some smali art education rooms as an introduc-tion to the permanent galleries, and a very simple travelling exhibition for education in art has been sent to outlying rural areas.