Madam, - Your bizarre Editorial "Art sales in Ireland" (January 15th) is a splendid example of a backward-looking, provincial, snobbish attack on Irish art, its sales room values and where it stands in the canon of international taste.
You may not know it, but there are art sales rooms in Paris, Geneva, New York, Florence, Hong Kong, Florida and Monte Carlo offering Irish art to willing buyers. You obviously think that only London sales rooms matter.
There are those of us who think your own dear journal is overheated and overpriced for what it offers in comparison with other Irish newspapers, and several overseas ones.
You have rendered no service to Irish art and Irish artists and quite possibly done some damage. If the mirror you hold up to Irish art is your own then it's cracked from side to side. As the son of an Irish artist and as someone working in the field it is I suggest time for repair, renewal and greater reflection on your part.
- Yours, etc,
CIARÁN MacGONIGAL, Ballymahon, Longwood, Co Meath.