The gallery and the assassins. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)

SIR: Anyone who writes criticism for a living must be prepared to take it, not merely dish it out. I usually let the most appalling insults go through to the keeper, but in the case of Gerard McManus's article (July-August 2001) a reply is in order.

It is hypocritical in the extreme for Mr McManus to say that Brian Kennedy has been the victim of a "character assassination" while sticking the knife into my character: His article is nothing short of libellous in the way he implies, time and again, that my actions were motivated by the worst and meanest impulses. He writes that I became Head of Australian Art at the NGA, "from all reports after heavily `angling' for the job for months beforehand". But I did not "angle" for the job, and I defy anyone to produce any evidence to support such a claim. Why would I have applied "after applications closed" if I had spent months in such mythical "angling"? Such suggestions are patently malicious and conspicuously self-contradictory.

The truth is that I had not even considered applying for the job, and only became interested after Brian Kennedy rang and talked me into applying. In those days I believed that Dr Kennedy was saying and doing all the right things in Canberra, and I saw this as a chance to help change the Australian art scene for the better. It took a relatively short time to find out that the exterior view of Dr Kennedy's leadership was very different from the inside view. I don't believe I have any need to "repay" Dr Kennedy for giving me the worst year of my life. Having thrown in the job in Canberra, I do not feel that I should withdraw into my shell when I see the gallery's problems continuing to escalate. For all his cheap, glib rhetoric--the "free-wheeling life of a Sydney (arts) journalist", "trying to blame everyone else for his own failure"--Mr McManus's article is based on the most complete ignorance about the gallery. It is an uninformed piece of opinion-mongering, dressed up in arrogant and insulting language.

The Federation show, put together under extreme pressure, received one of the highest approval ratings ever for an NGA exhibition. Mr McManus is prepared to call on "most critics" when it allows him to launch an insult, but apparently does not believe that Dr Kennedy should be criticised. I would be surprised if Mr McManus has seen the show that he is prepared to dismiss so completely.

Even more disturbing is the author's sneering attitude towards the air-conditioning saga. The reports on the NGA's air-conditioning problems released through the Senate estimates process make for harrowing reading, but because air-conditioning is a boring topic for intellectual giants like Mr McManus, he dismisses it with a contemptuous flourish. Will it take an ...