Art is core to who we are. But why?

Every week, The Post runs a collection of letters of readers’ grievances — pointing out grammatical mistakes, missing coverage and inconsistencies. These letters tell us what we did wrong and, occasionally, offer praise. Here, we present this week’s Free for All letters.

I enjoyed Sebastian Smee’s June 4 Great Works, in Focus column, “A meta moment at the Met captures a specific mood.”

I particularly liked his question, “Why, I wondered, do we cherish representations of things in the world when we ourselves are already in the world, surrounded by real things?”

It’s a great question — the question of art.

Art (music, dance, sculpture and drawing) is core to who we are, and it has been with us for something around 100,000 years. The powerful shoulders of the aurochs, the bristling manes of the horses and the graceful antlers of the reindeer of the Lascaux and Font-de-Gaume caves show that a keen artistic eye is an essential trait we possess as humans.

But why do we feel compelled to produce representations of what we see?

Undoubtedly, it’s a kind of manipulation — holding an object in our hands and saying, “Ah, yes, that is it, the essence of the object.” The artists of Lascaux, the sculptors of the Elgin marbles, Goya depicting the Disasters of War and Claude Monet painting Rouen Cathedral were all engaged in the same act.

I’m not saying that this is the only artistic impulse, but it’s a powerful one.

One of the enduring legacies of Edgar Degas is that he left so much unfinished work and so many studies. We can look at these drawings and sculptures and see Degas asking, “What is this; what am I looking at?” Taking his subject apart and trying to put it back together on a piece of paper with charcoal or in a small sculpture. Saying to God, “I see.”

Stuart Gallant, Boston

I enjoyed reading Sebastian Smee’s June 4 Arts & Style review of the Vincent van Gogh exhibits in Chicago and New York, “Watching van Gogh find his own voice.” However, I was angered by his snarky put-down of how they did “much to air out the ambient flatulence of cheapo experiences such as the ubiquitous ‘Immersive Van Gogh.’” His uncalled-for pan put a damper on this article for me.

It seems Smee believes all readers of The Post can easily make their way to Chicago or New York to see these exhibits and should skip any other chance to experience van Gogh. The immersive shows give fans of van Gogh the opportunity to see his works locally and learn more about the artist. Hopefully, they create new fans along the way.

Steve Lodge, Bethesda

The decline and fall of the Arts & Style section was displayed on June 4. I have been appalled on seeing the large amount of white space, huge photos and color graphics, gossip columns, and ads for special features overtaking the reviews of local arts events. On June 4, I reached for the abacus. I totaled page space for out-of-town arts activities, local arts and other reportage in the section. Here are the sad results:

Out-of-town arts: four and a half pages, including New York theater plus van Gogh exhibitions in New York and Chicago

Local art exhibits: three pages

Ads for The Post: one and three-quarters pages

Local music preview: one page

Restaurant review, movie guide, gossip, horoscope and crosswords: three and a half pages.

What was missing? No mention was made of theater or dance activities in the D.C. region.

Maybe the time has come to change the name of the paper. I suggest the East Coast Post. Or simply admit that dance and drama in Washington are limited to the halls of Congress.

Christel Stevens, University Park

It’s hard to imagine that some editor approved the two photographs that accompanied the May 28 news article “U.S. leaders gamble with pivotal asset in debt limit battle.” A photo of the Treasury Department with who-knows-what in the foreground and the photo of Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen’s head from the nose up were the best editors could find? The Post can do better — and usually does.

Robert E. Smith, Rehoboth Beach, Del.

I used to look forward to Saturday’s op-ed page because of its Drawing Board with four political cartoons.

As of May 27, they disappeared, replaced by a large, paneled cartoon on a current topic.

Losses of loved aspects of The Post make me less enamored.

Please bring back the political cartoons!

Gretchen Dunn, New Carrollton

I have really been disappointed the past couple of weeks with the political cartoons — mainly the lack thereof in the Saturday Opinions section and even the sometimes bland ones in the daily Opinions section.

Readers can go to the Style section for normal funnies. Please bring the political cartoons back. I enjoy the biting humor, seeing both sides and the tradition of Herblock in The Post.

Sandra Morris, Reston

I was perplexed to see the June 5 editorial cartoon depicting a man and woman in the front of a car, with the man saying, “Just you, me, the open road, and all the profoundly stupid things I’ll say out of boredom.”

What bothered me about the cartoon was how out of sync it was from the experiences of me and my family while driving “the open road.” My late wife and I found the discussions we had while on road trips to be some of the most interesting, consequential and fun we had during our almost 50 years together. Particularly when we both were working, our time together in the car gave us a chance to discuss things that we didn’t otherwise have the time to talk about. While we were driving, with or without our kids, we would talk about important things, including making the decision to get married. We would tell silly stories and laugh. We would learn things about each other that we didn’t know before. We would attempt to solve all the problems of the world. If we wanted to be quiet, we could, but boredom was never a problem.

But whether my experiences are the norm or unusual, a cartoon complaining about “stupid” comments during a car trip hardly qualifies for the editorial page of a first-rate newspaper.

Randell Hunt Norton, Washington

Would The Post and its columnists please, please use plain English in articles? In his June 2 op-ed on German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, “At least one German politician is serious about arming Ukraine,” Lee Hockstader wrote, “Some Germans think of him, admiringly, as stinknormal.” I have no idea what “stinknormal” means; on first glance, it sounds rather oxymoronic. My first guess — normally stinking — was far off-base, and I couldn’t find the term in any English dictionary. Apparently, judging from online translation sites, it’s a German word meaning boringly normal or totally ordinarily.

The use of such obscure foreign terminology in The Post should be verboten.

Steven P. Levine, Bethesda

When I was looking at the May 29 Metro article “Bikers’ event returns to Pentagon,” it was clear to see that the return of a Memorial Day tradition deserved more photographs and, perhaps, an appearance on the front page. Nevertheless, seeing Rolling to Remember (formerly Rolling Thunder) was a sight to behold.

My mother and I arrived in D.C. to watch Rolling to Remember pass along the traditional route used by Rolling Thunder. We last went in 2019, when Rolling Thunder went out in style by having hundreds of thousands of motorbikes roll down Constitution Avenue. It appeared there were fewer motorcyclists this year, and it took only three-quarters of an hour for them to pass by our spot.

There was plenty to see, from booths with memorabilia to the occasional tourist who asked people to pose like models and the unexpected sighting of Marine One and its escort.

I am thankful to the motorbikers for an impressive display worth four years of waiting. I am also thankful to the law enforcement officers who helped.

Casey Emmer, Great Falls

Regarding the June 5 news article “Amid feud with DeSantis, Gay Days still strong at Disney”:

The extreme right is targeting corporations that support Pride and LGBTQ people. Please stop using the term “culture wars.” When store employees are being threatened with scissors and shooting, it’s not about bluegrass vs. classical music. Using doublespeak obscures the danger.

These are hate campaigns designed to stir up fear and hatred of “the other.” They are succeeding; anti-LGBTQ violence is on the rise. If you were reporting on Germany in the 1930s, would you term Brownshirts threatening Jews a “culture war”? That’s where we are.

Mindy Oshrain, Durham, N.C.

Though I was happy to see “Intoxicating performances in ‘Days of Wine and Roses,’” Peter Marks’s glowing June 7 Style review of the new Broadway musical adaptation of “Days of Wine and Roses,” I was shocked to discover that nowhere in the review did the name of the author of the original screenplay appear. For the record, it is the great television writer JP Miller.

Christopher Conlon, Takoma Park

So Anne Frank survived Bergen-Belsen?

A caption with a photograph that accompanied the June 4 Book World article “Anne Frank, as her friend remembered her” contained the following: “Pick-Goslar holds a photo of Frank a few months before her death in 2022.”

That’s burying the lede.

Terence Byrne, Gaithersburg

Such a discouraging comparison:

An article on American men losing the third round of the French Open was written by a staff reporter and was on the June 4 Sports section front [“American men are done in Paris, but there’s hope”]. Meanwhile, an American woman advanced to the fourth round and was relegated to a wire bit buried on the sixth page of the section [“Playing role of veteran, Gauff makes fourth round”].

Seriously, how is this still going on?

J.M. Shearer, Annapolis

I was dismayed when The Post stopped providing even limited information about daily movements in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, etc., because such information is of interest to me and, I suspect, to many other readers. But I was dumbfounded when the print edition of The Post completely ignored the significant 700-point surge in the Dow on June 2. Didn’t The Post consider this a newsworthy reflection of the impact of the enacted debt ceiling legislation and the unexpected 339,000 jobs added in May?

Maurice Axelrad, Bethesda

The June 4 Post had almost five full pages devoted to either describing or opining on the negotiations on the debt ceiling bill, and this was on top of days of coverage of the process as it happened. However, I didn’t see a single article devoted to what’s in the bill. Any information on that came in bits and pieces in the process articles.

Could we please have at least a little bit of coverage of the sausage and not just the sausage-making?

Kevin W. Parker, Greenbelt

I really enjoyed the extended story about Big Nate and his girlfriend in the comic strip “Big Nate.” It keeps the strip’s humor and adds warmth. Thanks to The Post for carrying the comic.

Larry Ozanne, Washington