All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me by Patrick Bringley
As an old art history student and former employee (library clerk) at the Cleveland Museum of Art, I was eager to get my hands on this. And I loved it.
In the wake of the wrenching death of his beloved older brother, Patrick Bringley redirects his life. He quits an entry-level job in the very rarefied atmosphere of The New Yorker magazine, and decides he wants to spend his days quietly, unobtrusively, with space to breathe and think. To do so surrounded by the splendor of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is the answer. He spent ten years, four days a week, in a dark blue polyester suit, pacing, leaning, watching, musing, counting, and chatting in those halls. This lovely, open-hearted book strikes the delicate balance between the museum and the “me,” where so many writers get it wrong, coming down heavily on the side of themselves. He keeps his curious, enthusiastic, generous gaze turned outward: on the art, on the museum visitors, on his colleagues, and it is through his descriptions and observations that we get a sense of who he is. He gives us a backstage tour of the basements and hallways, light switches and locker rooms; idiosyncratic rituals of post assignments; affectionate character sketches of the diverse guard corps; and hard-earned understanding of the impact of gallery flooring (wood is comfortable; marble is not; and good socks are serious business, funded by the museum). Bringley is a friendly guide through galleries of painting, statuary, Islamic tiles, medieval armor, African sculpture, and Chinese scrolls, considering the different impacts these have when examined with a fresh and open eye, absorbed over many hours of pondering.
A gem of rumination on life, art, people, and one great and beautiful museum.
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