An "exquisite" (The Washington Post) "hauntingly beautiful"
(Associated Press) portrait of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and
its treasures by a former New Yorker staff who spent a decade as a
museum guard. Millions of people climb the grand marble staircase
to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art every year. But only a
select few have unrestricted access to every nook and cranny.
They're the guards who roam unobtrusively in dark blue suits,
keeping a watchful eye on the two million square foot treasure
house. Caught up in his glamourous fledgling career at The New
Yorker, Patrick Bringley never thought that he'd be one of them.
Then his older brother was diagnosed with fatal cancer and he found
himself needing to escape the mundane clamor of daily life. So he
quit The New Yorker and sought solace in the most beautiful place
he knew. To his surprise and your delight, this temporary refuge
becomes Bringley's home away from home for a decade. We follow him
as he guards delicate treasures from Egypt to Rome, strolls the
labyrinths beneath the galleries, wears out nine pairs of company
shoes, and marvels at the beautiful works in his care. Bringley
enters the museum as a ghost, silent and almost invisible, but soon
finds his voice and his tribe: the artworks and their creators and
the lively subculture of museum guards--a gorgeous mosaic of
artists, musicians, blue-collar stalwarts, immigrants, cutups, and
dreamers. As his bonds with his colleagues and the art grow, he
comes to understand how fortunate he is to be walled off in this
little world, and how much it resembles the best aspects of the
larger world to which he gradually, gratefully returns. In the
tradition of classic workplace memoirs like Lab Girl and Working
Stiff, All the Beauty in the World is an "empathic" (The New York
Times Book Review), "moving" (NPR), "consoling, and beautiful" (The
Guardian) portrait of a great museum, its hidden treasures, and the
people who make it tick, by one of its most intimate observers.
General
Imprint: |
Simon & Schuster
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
29 October 2024 |
Authors: |
Patrick Bringley
|
Dimensions: |
213 x 140 x 15mm (L x W x T) |
Pages: |
240 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-982163-31-0 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
1-982163-31-3 |
Barcode: |
9781982163310 |
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