The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 5 of 10)

p>Mr. London's article is delightful; I couldn't agree more. I also liked his quoting Robertson Davies, one of my favorite authors. When I saw Velasquez's "Rokeby Venus" in London, I thought it was the most beautiful rendering of the female body I had ever seen; even more than Botticelli's "Venus." I recently strolled through the Hirshhorn Museum (modern art) in DC and most of what I saw was pretentious ugliness. To me, art must be beautiful, no matter what it is depicting. In his wonderful sendup of modern art, The Painted Word , Tom Wolfe cites Tom Stoppard's definition, "Contemporary art is imagination without skill." Perhaps, but why does so much of it have to be ugly and even vicious? br> -- Mike Novak /p>

The correct title of the Robertson Davies novel mentioned in the article is What's Bred in the Bone. It is the second novel of his outstanding Cornish Trilogy. Davies is well worth the time if you haven't made his acquaintance already.

p>Thank you for a wonderful magazine and website. br> -- Peter Dietz br> Wilmington DE /p> p> Paeans to Mr. London for such a great essay! br> - Dennis J. Flanagan

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