Dear Editor,
I am tempted to salute the response to my letter captioned “The National Gallery monitors, repairs and maintains both works and building on an ongoing basis” (07.09.21). But I do indulge the Curator Ms. Elfrieda Bissember’s witty sarcasm and argumentative tone in her response, but I make no mistake when I say that I saw traces of termites on some of the paintings that were on display in May of this year and the painting of the Lotus by Persaud was/is damaged in the upper corners. There is no ‘irony’ in that. If that painting is also a ‘favourite’ of the Curator Ms. Bissember then why exhibit it in that state? Furthermore, if artworks, in a National Collection, are damaged or otherwise, shouldn’t the Artist/s, if still alive, be informed of such? I’m not sure about the procedures and I am open to enlightenment.
I do agree that wood-eating termites can be a problem in not only tropical countries but temperate ones too; the earlier being more prominent. I also agree that the ‘
