STAN COGGIN,
Sir, - The letter of March 8th from Barbara Dawson, director of the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, contained the sad news that she considers the Francis Bacon Studio to be a permanent installation at the Municipal Gallery. I sincerely hope not.
Installed, perhaps, in a Dublin house, owned by the Bacon family, it might serve as some form of monument to the artist. Installed in the Municipal Gallery, it is a monumental error.
Minimalist works, soiled beds, lists of past lovers, animal bodies in formaldehyde and elephant dung arrangements are, at least, planned by their originator to have some contrived effect on the beholder. The studio "happened" through years of sheer neglect. Dublin gained a cleaner's worst nightmare and, in exchange, lost a small but long-admired showing of Roderic O'Connor's work, which -- dare I suggest, from an Irish and tourist point of view - was every bit as important as the well advertised and over-vaunted "Impressionist" exhibition at the National Gallery.
As regards the National Gallery extension, I have read glowing "architectural" reports. They seem to ignore the "mean streets" entrance, the labour exchange lobby, the darkest, most characterless shop I've ever seen, the labyrinthine passageways to the old gallery and the truncated and now claustrophobic old shop.
Perhaps someone might give an opinion on whether the external stone facing is completed! - Yours, etc.
STAN COGGIN,
Howth Road
Clontarf
Dublin 3.