The Art Forger by B. A. Shapiro led us to a wide reaching discussion about art, authenticity, and the creative process. The novel told the story of a young painter creating a work in the manner of her colleague/lover, under his guidance. That led her to creating a forgery of a painting stolen from the Isabelle Gardener Museum in Boston. This fictional account of a real event brought up many interesting ideas about art. Among them: how do museums authenticate the works they display and what responsibility do they have when that authenticity is challenged; what about the relationships of collectors to pieces they sell, donate, or hide from public view; what are the techniques that forgers use to create their own works. We thought the characters were not as well defined as they could have been, but appreciated the clever resolutions to the many mysteries presented. We ended by considering that perhaps we all see and believe what we want to see.
Our next book will be Educated by Tara Westover. You can read a review here. We meet Wednesday, December 4 in Richardson Library, Room 300. Please note that we no longer meet in Room 115, but will schedule in other rooms from now on. We gather at 11, with discussion from 11:30 to 12:30, so please bring your brown bag lunch! For further information contact Kathryn DeGraff or Helen Marlborough.
We continue to review the titles on our list for consideration for upcoming discussions. Please let Kathryn, Helen, or anyone else in the group, know if you have a favorite book you would like to share with your DES colleagues. As you can tell from the posts, we are interested in a wide range of fiction and non fiction. We enjoy our sessions thoroughly and always have room for more people and more insights.
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