An Object of Beauty, by Steve Martin-- A Book Report

This one gets 4 stars from me, maybe even 41/2!  I love to read.  My favorite books are usually artist biographies, but this one, even though fiction, still gave me a peek inside the way things work in the world of art.  I find it fascinating to learn of an artist's process in creating an object of beauty and Steve Martin's book gives us a glimpse of how these works of art become the prize possessions, and very valuable assets, of the wealthiest people on the planet.  I'm also a sucker for a book set in NYC, which this one is, with a little travel to Russia and the west coast, too.  The storyline is of one woman's desire to make it there, and what it takes.  She's beautiful, of course, and the men she enchants are highly intelligent and very useful to her, but you can't help but like her own intelligence and determination to make her dreams come true.  The book is a little bit of a history lesson, as it follows the ups and downs of the art market from the 70's forward, including the effects of 9/11 and the recent collapse of the stock market.

There are even pictures of some of the real paintings he refers to.  I love that. In an interview with Rita Braver of CBS, Steve Martin says he insisted they be included "So I can save boring passages and have the picture already be there, which was already interesting!"  Here are a few of the paintings he referenced.  (All of the images are from Christie's with the exception of the one by Dorothea Tanning, which is from WebMuseum.)

Nude Bathers by Milton Avery, 1946

Daybreak by Maxfield Parrish, 1922

Woman I, by Willem de Kooning, 1952

Flowers by Andy Warhol, 1964

Felt Suit by Joseph Beuys, 1975

Eine Kleine Nachtmusic, A Little Nightmusic, Dorothea Tanning, 1946

I really love it when one book sends me looking for another.  This one has me wanting to read John Richardson's four volume biography of Picasso, and to find out more about Dorothea Tanning, who is a surrealist painter, the wife of artist, Max Ernst, a poet and contributor to the New Yorker and who ALSO just celebrated her 100th birthday in August of 2010!