ALL THE BEAUTY IN THE WORLD

The account of ten years spent as a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

For ten years Patrick Bringley stood watch in the galleries of one of the most storied institutions in the world. In the words of one of the veteran guards who trained him: "It's a straightforward job young man. Protect life, protect property... They will ask you for the dinosaurs. They will demand the Mona Lisa. Answer their questions in two words or hundreds, that's up to you. The important thing is, what you mustn't forget, we are here to remind these people" a proud gesture indicating our working space "these are Masters." This suited Patrick just fine because what brought him to the Met in the first place is what gives THE DAY WATCHMAN its distinct and different weight. When he was 23 and just getting started at The New Yorker magazine, his beloved older brother was diagnosed with an ultimately fatal cancer. Grief-stricken after his death, Patrick chose to opt out, become a guard in the most beautiful place he knew, stand still awhile, and "lose himself in the belly of the whale." As Patrick sought solace and meaning during his posts they took him "across twelve acres (and also the earth, and back to the dawn of history), from "Egypt to Congo to Korea to Rome." Over time he found his attention migrating between those Masters and their insights about life and death (lamentation, adoration), to the community of guards who made him feel so welcome, and the patrons themselves, what he called the living museum. "These strangers had good faces. They had speaking walks. They were daughters who looked like their mothers' pasts, fathers who looked like their sons' futures." He found himself inspired to share the museum and became determined to produce a monumental Guard's Guide to the Met, an inventory of the treasures he'd discovered in his work. But as grief gave way to action he came to realize the limitations of his plan and wondered if the only way to share the museum might be to leave. Because "even in an art museum, it turns out, everything moves." Books about work are perennial best-sellers, with titles like LAB GIRL, HEAT, HEADS IN BEDS, and WAITER RANT finding both front-list review attention and solid backlist sales. There's never been an insider's look at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the third-most visited museum in the world, with 125,000 members, and 7 million annual visitors. We can anticipate reader and press interest to be strong. But the book offers far more than just a vicarious and privileged look at a storied institution. It's a heartfelt tribute to the life of his brother, Tom, the spirit looking over the book, and Patrick's honest reckoning of loss, love, grief and life finds common courage in the collection of the Met, revealing for readers the life evident in the works of those Masters and so many more besides.