Patrick Bringley
Auteur de All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me
A propos de l'auteur
Crédit image: Uncredited image found at author's website
Œuvres de Patrick Bringley
Étiqueté
Partage des connaissances
- Sexe
- male
Membres
Critiques
All the beauty in the world : the Metropolitan… par Patrick Bringley
This was a fantastic little tour of the Metropolitan and , at the same time, something of a coming of age story and a primer on dealing with grief. You’ll definitely want to keep a device handy so you can see all the works referenced in the book. The author provides a helpful list at the end of the book
This memoir provides a fascinating glimpse into the world of the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Through the author's eyes, we go behind the public spaces to view the work of the huge cadre of museum guards. Details about the training and support of the guards (including a sock allowance!) provide insights about museum operations that patrons would never guess. Bringley's back story about grieving the death of his brother make this book all the more memorable.
1 
sleahey | 13 autres critiques | Feb 6, 2024 |
sleahey | 13 autres critiques | Feb 6, 2024 | I didn't read very far into this.... Bringley writes beautifully about art and the impact it has on him, but I just don't like memoirs.
“...definition of art: something more beautiful than it has any right to be.”
“Much of the greatest art, I find, seeks to remind us of the obvious.”
Patrick Bringley has written the most kind-hearted and touching memoir I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. If you are after crazy museum escapades and tall tales, this is not it (there are some ;)). If you are after art history, this is not it. This is a book of grief and heartache; of love, grace and slow healing.
When your parents give you the love of art, it is a blessing. Patrick’s first visit to the Met as a child is beautiful. “What was beautiful in the painting was not like words, it was like paint – silent, direct, and concrete, resisting transformation even into thought. As such, my response to the picture was trapped inside me, a bird fluttering in my chest.” (The painting in question is Pieter Bruegel’s The Harvesters.)
The mundane details of the museum guard job are described in ways that are not mundane at all. After you’ve had this job for a while, you can tell who is a New Yorker and who isn’t, who has been to a great art museum before, and who is here for the first time. The author has respect and patience and care for them all. There is a lot of pride in a job well done.“I’m surprised at the meaning I begin to find in even small interactions with guards and visitors.”
Oh, by the way, would you prefer a twelve-hour day on a wood floor or en eight-hour day on a marble floor? (Hint: pick the former.) There are days when you hope that your post will be beside Titian (I would cherish the same hope, if I were a museum guard ;))
I love, love, love the way the author writes about art. It’s so personal, so universal, so humane. I’m happy to have walked through the museum with him. Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece. Chinese paintings and music. Art from the African continent. The Renaissance. The impressionists. Etc...
“In a typical gallery, ten or twenty gold-framed windows are blowing holes through the four walls.” Yes, great paintings tend to do that...
I wish that this book were longer. Patrick Bringley, your memoir was a beautiful and unexpected gift. Thank you.
… (plus d'informations)
“Much of the greatest art, I find, seeks to remind us of the obvious.”
Patrick Bringley has written the most kind-hearted and touching memoir I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. If you are after crazy museum escapades and tall tales, this is not it (there are some ;)). If you are after art history, this is not it. This is a book of grief and heartache; of love, grace and slow healing.
When your parents give you the love of art, it is a blessing. Patrick’s first visit to the Met as a child is beautiful. “What was beautiful in the painting was not like words, it was like paint – silent, direct, and concrete, resisting transformation even into thought. As such, my response to the picture was trapped inside me, a bird fluttering in my chest.” (The painting in question is Pieter Bruegel’s The Harvesters.)
The mundane details of the museum guard job are described in ways that are not mundane at all. After you’ve had this job for a while, you can tell who is a New Yorker and who isn’t, who has been to a great art museum before, and who is here for the first time. The author has respect and patience and care for them all. There is a lot of pride in a job well done.“I’m surprised at the meaning I begin to find in even small interactions with guards and visitors.”
Oh, by the way, would you prefer a twelve-hour day on a wood floor or en eight-hour day on a marble floor? (Hint: pick the former.) There are days when you hope that your post will be beside Titian (I would cherish the same hope, if I were a museum guard ;))
I love, love, love the way the author writes about art. It’s so personal, so universal, so humane. I’m happy to have walked through the museum with him. Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece. Chinese paintings and music. Art from the African continent. The Renaissance. The impressionists. Etc...
“In a typical gallery, ten or twenty gold-framed windows are blowing holes through the four walls.” Yes, great paintings tend to do that...
I wish that this book were longer. Patrick Bringley, your memoir was a beautiful and unexpected gift. Thank you.
… (plus d'informations)
2 Alexandra_book_life | 13 autres critiques | Dec 15, 2023 |
Alexandra_book_life | 13 autres critiques | Dec 15, 2023 | Listes
Prix et récompenses
Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 2
- Membres
- 297
- Popularité
- #78,942
- Évaluation
- 4.0
- Critiques
- 14
- ISBN
- 6