One Book One Community: Patrick Bringley on "All the Beauty in the World"

Patrick Bringley

Patrick Bringley was 25 years old when his younger brother passed away after a battle with cancer. Grief-stricken, Bringley couldn't face the idea of continuing to work in public relations at The New Yorker. How could he muster the energy to promote events when all he wanted to do was stand still? He quit his PR job and became a security guard at the Met. Ten years later, Bringley turned in his badge and wrote "All the Beauty in the World" about the experience. But I've gotten ahead of myself once again. 

Each year, the Sarasota County Libraries team selects a book as its One Book One Community selection. If you're not familiar with the program, the idea is for members of the community to read the same book and then participate in events related to the book's themes.This year's selection was "All the Beauty in the World", and the programming culminated with a talk by Bringley. Hearing from him was a real treat. 

All images photos of Bringley's slides 
Apologies for the quality and lack of identification 

Bringley shared that his first assignment at the Met was watching over works by the Old Masters. (Think artists like Rembrandt and Rubens.) The mood and themes of these works seemed appropriate given what his family had been through. In fact, he recalls his mother gazing at her dying son with adoration and lamentation as he laid in his hospital bed. "Look at us," she said. "We're a fucking Old Master painting." You have to laugh or you'd cry. 

How, you might wonder, did it feel to be in the midst of such great works of art day after day? Humbling, of course. But Bringley also felt like the people depicted in the paintings had become his friends.They certainly were good listeners. And, in keeping with his mother's comment, I can imagine he felt they could empathize with the loss his family had suffered.   

Before you start thinking the evening was a downer, let me assure you that it was not. Bringley also shared some funny stories from his time at the Met. Imagine, for instance, a visitor stumbling around in the Old Masters section when what he wanted to see was Van Gogh's "Irises." Bringley, standing watch over his wards, heard the man mutter, "GD it. I'm in the Jesus section again." I don't know how he kept a straight face. (As an aside, I can definitely feel the visitor's pain. One wrong turn at the Met and you're off on an adventure not of your choosing.)

And of course there were the occasional questions that revealed the visitor had no clue where he actually was. "Where are the dinosaurs?" was a popular one. Luckily for the visitor, all he had to do to see T. rex was take a bus straight across Central Park to the American Museum of Natural History. A bit more on point, although geographically more challenging, was "Where's the 'Mona Lisa'?" "Well, sir, you're actually on the wrong continent" is one potential response. (The "Mona Lisa" can be found at the Louvre.) Diplomacy is required on the part of the guards. 

I'll end this post with a couple of tidbits about the guards at the Met. Despite the best efforts of the Met's security system, there have been some thefts over the years. (Click here for more on that topic.) For many years, the Met issued the guards guns -- with live ammunition -- to combat against this threat. In fact, there was even an annual competition between the upstairs guards and the downstairs guards. Bringley never carried a weapon. 

Each guard is paid $80 annually as a sock allowance. You've got to take care of those feet when you're standing eight+ hours a day. He didn't share his favorite brand.

Some of the guards do more than watch over art; they make it. Sometimes they create visual art; other times their creativity takes the form of writing fiction, short stories or art criticism. Some of this work has been published in periodic editions of SWIPE Magazine. For a bit more on that undertaking, click here. The work shown here is a mixed media work made primarily from guards' uniforms. I love it. 

Thanks to the Sarasota County Libraries team for bringing yet another engaging author to our area. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. I'm already looking forward to the Off the Page celebration in November that will feature big name authors including Nathan Philbrick, Brad Meltzer and Kate Quinn. Keep an eye out for more on those festivities. And keep on reading! 

 

.