LETTER : Howard Hodgkin deserves to be given some space

Tim Hilton's review of Howard Hodgkin's exhibition at the Hayward, "A world of his own" (Review, 8 December), mentions the artist's decision to take all the partitions away from the lower galleries, and thus throws light on why the paintings, except for the In Memory of Max Gordon section, have been hung too closely. Presumably, there was less wall space available to Hodgkin. If so, surely a bit of editing should have taken place even if it meant upsetting the paying public.

Ironically, the exhibition book has Hodgkin saying: "My pictures tend to destroy each other when they are hung together too closely." I now know what he means.

Ian Ellis

London SW18