Art on the World Wide Web

I must take strong exception to Ronald Martinetti’s statement (letters, Dec. 25) that art museums such as the Getty Center are “anachronisms.” To contend that a computer screen can replace the “live” experience of art is absurd. Aside from the critical fact that no monitor can reproduce the nuances of texture, color and scale that can be appreciated only when the original work of art is at hand, a computer cannot replicate the emotional pleasure of being in the physical presence of the original work or the joy of being in a beautiful setting among other people who love art, both of which add immeasurably to the quality ofthe viewer’s experience.

In spite of all the hype we hear from its boosters, computer technology does have limits; the Web is simply an alternative to the in-person experience of art, not a substitute or replacement for it.

DAVID SEARS

Playa del Rey

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If you haven’t seen the brush strokes, if you haven’t seen the chisel marks you haven’t experienced the work of art. If you have never seen a string quartet play, if you haven’t seen a full-court press executed by a great team, you can’t comprehend the game, you can’t comprehend the music; you don’t experience the art, you don’t understand the scale. If you see a picture of the thing in the morning paper, or on the Web, someone else has had the experience of the art or of the game.

PAUL E. HARRIS

Pasadena