Letter to ARC

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Letter to ARC

From

Published before 2005


Fred Ross,

How do I start this letter?

Where do I start? - well, having just seen your website It's taken me two days to calm down enough to be able to write this at all!

I was filled with a mixture of emotional outpourings from anger, frustration, resentment and bitterness through to pure joy and elation at what I saw before me I could just say - 'What a beautiful site,' or 'What a lovely collection of images,' both of these are true of course but neither could in any way begin to sum up the last 35 years of frustration that I have had to put up with due to the total domination of Modernism in painting in our society at the expense of all else.

Having read your brilliant speech to the Met in June 2001 It is difficult to put into words just how for the first time in my artistic career, since graduating from art college in 1973, I have at last read someone who is prepared to speak out in favour of realism and traditional values in Art past and present and to expose the complete myth that modern 'Art' ( if indeed it should be called that at all) is somehow so great that only the select few could possibly be intelligent enough to understand it and the rest of the mere mortals should just gaze up lovingly in awe and admiration and accept without question the pronouncements of the 'Art' establishment. For me just this one speech alone was so groundbreaking that I just had to download the entire pages, print them out and send to 4 different people ( 3 of which are realism artists like myself ) who I know will really appreciate your comments. The great strength of your site is the backup of images as well as just opinions simply because so many people will never have seen these pictures before and I am sure will be amazed at the sheer beauty and quality of the work. As both my wife and I are professional artists we are familiar with some of the work mentioned, among are favourites are Alma-Tadema, J.W. Waterhouse and J. Singer Sargent to name but a few so you are already preaching to the converted in our case.

Why then the anger and frustration mentioned earlier, well - why oh why has it taken so long for someone to say what you have said, to do what you have done!!!

We have spent so many years in a kind of artistic mental wilderness where only ourselves and a few other like minded artist colleagues have thought the same thing. Although I have always spoken my mind and openly expressed my opinions without fear of retribution when the subject of modern art comes up but it's like banging your head against a wall.