Jonathan Jones’s review of the Walter Sickert exhibition at Tate Britain gives fresh credence to the idea that Sickert had some connection to the Jack the Ripper murders (Walter Sickert review – serial killer, fantasist or self-hater? This hellish, brilliant show only leaves questions, 26 April). In his acclaimed 2005 biography of Sickert, Matthew Sturgis includes a comprehensive demolition of the whole myth, including a detailed examination of the matter of the letters and the matching paper, mentioned in your review. Jones gives the source of this information as the catalogue of the Tate Britain exhibition; it seems that its curators have not been keeping up with the literature.
Simon Casimir Wilson
London
• I feel uneasy about Tate Britain’s Walter Sickert exhibition. Wasn’t it possible to curate an exhibition and ignore the links to the Ripper letters? Is this most notorious crime just being exploited for attention once more? Jonathan Jones puts Sickert on a par with Edvard Munch and Otto Dix, both drawn to the dark side of humanity, but to my knowledge neither of them was an imagined or indeed real murderer.
Dr Anette Magnussen
London
• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication.
