kirkusreviews.com
An
elderly woman’s first visit to a prestigious (though provincial) museum
collides with the otherworldly interests of its curator.
The
buzzword nowadays in art-world circles is access—how the concerns
and biases of the institution or curator affect which individuals feel welcomed
within the museum space. In his first novel, Kirkpatrick (The Exiles,
2013, etc.) weaves a playful and compelling tale that addresses the issue
holistically. With the exception of the patrons from whom the fictional museum
takes its name, the principal characters remain unnamed. Ambrose J. and Vivian
T. Seagrave have lost their daughter, Kendall, through a boating accident
instigated by one of their artist hangers-on. Thus, the museum displays
the late scion’s dollhouses (begrudgingly) and the more esoteric favorites
of the curator (haphazardly). Kirkpatrick further addresses the
relationship between art patrons and their enthusiasms through allegory; the
curator falls in love with the “ghost” of Iris Babbitt, a painter who
appears loosely modeled on Georgia O’Keeffe. As the museum tags situating the
reader in time and space become longer and stranger, the question of what
entity is imposing order on our museum journey pops up. However, interspersed
with the onslaught of seemingly disparate information are the ruminations of an
elderly town resident visiting the museum for the first time; the woman’s
narrative, which contends with her own perspective on death and loss, undercuts
the curator’s. Rather than being led around based on the institution’s
whim and fancy, we’re forced to discern how personal interactions shade
our perceptions of art as well as whether the backers responsible for the space
have any impact on the viewer outside of financials. Plus we get the surface
pleasure of discerning how the author has constructed a plot within these
parameters.
A novel
of ideas whose appeal goes far beyond its target audience—be it literary
readers skeptical of yet another postmodern yarn or art-world enthusiasts jaded
about its ivory-tower state of affairs.
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