Madam, – The reappearance of the Jack Yeats painting A Horseman Enters a Town at Night("Unseen Yeats work owned by Graham Greene up for auction", Front page, November 2nd) is exciting at a time when good news is thin on the ground. Full marks to the Model, Sligo for seeking to ensure that the work is made available for its exhibition next year.
It is a timely development as the Bank of Ireland sets about flogging off the bank’s art collection.
The promise of some type of new grant scheme is not an adequate response to the legitimate protests at the sale of such a valuable part of our heritage. Why not donate the collection to the State, on the understanding that regional galleries such as the Model would have access to these important works?
I have been struck by the apparent silence on this issue by the public interest directors Tom Considine and Joe Walsh. The art collection may not be top of their agenda, but it would be nice to know it is on their agenda! – Yours, etc,