Sir, – I was interested to see Justine McCarthy’s piece titled “Irish writers, thespians and thinkers are having a renaissance” (Opinion, December 22nd).
Notably absent from her piece was reference to the visual arts. Indeed, The Irish Times used to have extensive weekly coverage of new exhibitions. For your paper now, however, the visual arts are enjoying the opposite of a renaissance. They are either dying or already dead. Without regular art criticism and coverage, there will be few resources for future art historians to assess how art exhibitions were received at any given time. The public will be unaware of much that is going on culturally. Artists young and old will be denied the opportunity to hear how their work is perceived by anyone other than their friends and peers.
The public expects better, more extensive coverage and critique of the visual arts. Then, perhaps, we might enjoy a real cultural renaissance. – Yours, etc,
GARRETT CORMICAN,
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Monkstown,
Co Dublin.