Book review: Lines of Vision: Irish Writers on Art

Peter Murray wonders why, in an eclectic collection of writers’ responses to works on show at the National Gallery the majority of contributors chose pieces that allowed them avoid eye-to-eye contact with the subject.

IN A UNIVERSE of daunting tasks, that of assembling a group of writers and asking them to respond to works of art in a museum must rank amongst the highest. Assembling writers for any compendium is akin to herding cats, as they (writers and cats) are inclined to dart off in any direction. So praise is due to Janet McLean, Curator at the National Gallery of Ireland, for her patience and tenacity in bringing this particular task to fruition.

In Lines of Vision, no less than 56 writers respond, in verse and prose, to their favourite works of art in the National Gallery collection. The process by which the writers got to choose their work of art is not gone into in any detail.