‘Soviet Art Exhibit’

Art and genocide do not mix well. We are lovers of art, especially Impressionist paintings. As members of the County Art Museum, we took advantage of the invitation to get complimentary tickets to the current exhibition of paintings.

However, upon receiving the tickets, we reflected as to whether in 1943 we would have sent away for tickets to attend a local art exhibition sponsored by Nazi Germany. The answer was clearly no. Why then, we asked, should we attend the Soviet exhibition at the museum?

In 1979, 15 million people lived in Afghanistan. Since then, more than 1 million Afghans, mostly women and children, have been killed as a result of the Soviet invasion, and another 5 million Afghans have been driven from their homeland.

I trust that if the artists represented in the exhibition were alive today, they would raise their brushes in unison to protest the unnecessary taking of lives in Afghanistan.

DONALD and SUSAN SILVER

Santa Monica