All the Beauty
Janaury 2025
Recently, I read All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me by Patrick Bringley. The writer shares his experiences being a security guard for the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) for 10 years.
Bringley slipped into the museum’s galleries and took his post after his brother died. He took refuge among centuries of artists, skilled artisans, and “fifty centuries” of artworks. What a place to be when one needs to step away from the outside world. It is an interesting position, though. Think about it— to be seen and not seen, be visible and not on display, calm yet ready to pounce if someone touches or leans too closely to an object, and willing to answer all types of questions from visitors from around the world, like “Hey, is this real?”
He met many people in the department (600 in this department alone) from all over the globe. Other guards are from Poland, Ghana, Iran, among other countries. A mini United Nations from “five continents and five boroughs”. He talked about the hiring process, training, probation period, and union. At this job, all the guards actually do walk in the same shoes and blue jackets, yet as his guard friend, twice his age says, “so many stories under the blue jacket”. Each person has their own resume of work experiences, families at home (or abroad), and back stories beyond the museum doors.
Who do you ask for help when you are in a museum? One may reference a map, look to others you are with, or ask a security guard. Sometimes he also “functioned as a scarecrow” or as a “traveler in a strange and distant land” or jokingly some said “we aren’t security guards, ma’am … we’re security artists”.
Bringley shares many observations from his tenure. He categorized the various visitors from their behaviors and questions: Sightseer, Art Lover, First Timer, among others. He observed and basked in the art and objects before reading the wall labels. His curiosity overflowed into reading books in conjunction with exhibited objects or special exhibitions. For example, Bringley read about Sufism while artworks and objects were exhibited in the Islamic wing. He witnesses the overlap of museum and devotion when a Muslim visitor asked if he could pray when he saw a prayer niche exhibited called a mihrab. Bringley beautifully weaves history, art history, and everyday stories.
A snapshot I took on the steps in 2000 with a film camera.
It has been nearly 25 years since I visited the MET so it was nostalgic to read. I have sat on the stairs outside the front doors to eat a hotdog, people watch, and upon entering I have felt my eyes grow larger at the sight of the Grand Hall. I liked to greet the Greek and Roman sculptures, and always found myself staring into the splatters and raw canvas of a Jackson Pollock.
I visited with classmates, on my own, and with family. I thought of my sister continuously while I read this book. Just as he sought refuge in the museum, I was seeking refuge in this book. She loved art museums. I wish we went to more museums together and imagine us hashing out our favorites and why afterwards. I thought she was an artist, even though she didn’t say so. From childhood, I recalled her coming home from the Girls and Boys Club with wet flower paintings. Another moment in the book that made me think of her was when Bringley’s wrote about the time Michael Stipe, lead singer of the band R.E.M., approached him asking for directions to a particular artwork. We were both huge fans. Gawd, I wish we were at the museum that day. Swoon.
This is a gentle book to read with delicate illustrations by Maya McMahon, yet I needed to remind myself to breath in the hallways of my mind. As he walked the galleries, I walked through my memories. There came a point for him when he was ready to go back to the “outside world”. His thoughts were pushing him outside, he was feeling stronger, his young family was growing, and “the loss that made a hole at the center of his life was less on his mind.” The hole at my center is very much there. Although, I am out and about, my sister is ever present in my daily life.
P.S. Thank you for the recommendation, Adele! :)