Letter: Exciting pictures at an exhibition

Sir: Surely, omitting so many significant works from their exhibition while overpraising lesser ones in it, is a ploy by Messrs Rosenthal and Joachimides to counter American cultural dominion. They have scented an opportunity following the collapse of the art investors' market. The explicit question they are putting to us is: 'Was this all that those vanished megabucks were about?'

Most sensible, if less knowledgeable, people will see that the art on show does not seem as impressive as they may have been led to believe. They may then become more receptive to European art; at least these two heroes, Rosenthal and Joachimides, may hope so.

Sadly, they have done even better hatchet jobs on European art in 'A New Spirit of Painting' (1981) and other shows, so that no artist, American or European, is likely to benefit from their current effort.

The chief beneficiaries, of the publicity and other spin-offs, will be 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern' themselves, which presumably was the object of the exercise if not the Zeitgeist.

Yours faithfully,

JOHN COLEBY

Farnham,

Surrey

2 October