Sir: Richard Shone and I have never met, and I
know as little of him as he of me. Had his biographical notes in The art of criti- cism' suggested that I have reached the sad end of a once promising career, none could disagree, but he preferred mischievous dis- tortion for the sake of irony, omitted much of substance from my earlier years, and betrayed a museum's privacy — fine and fair behaviour for the deputy editor of a scholarly magazine. He mocks my contribu- tion to a televised advertisement, but it seemed to me a more honest means of putting jam on my gingerbread than the ekphrastic bilge written for art dealers' cat- alogues by most other critics ( and is far less well paid). He praises Richard Dor- ment as an exemplar to the errant — Dor- ment, who in praising Damien Hirst, described himself as a 'thrill junkie'. This is, alas, a level of critical insight and language quite beyond me.
Brian Sewell
19 Eldon Road, Victoria Road, London W8
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