With its intriguingly tangled plot and multiple timelines, The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro is an entertaining peek into a fictionalized Boston art world – contemporary artists, dealers, and collectors – as well as a glimpse back a century and a half ago when Impressionists were the hot new thing and Isabella Stewart Gardner was collecting the art that she would eventually display in her iconoclastic museum in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood.
Living illegally in her small, untidy studio in the less-trendy end of the South End, Claire Roth is a painter still hoping to land a one-person show that will launch her career, after a scandal a few years earlier got her blackballed her with the art world’s gatekeepers. To make ends meet, she paints for a company called Reproductions.com, copying famous works that the company then sells to consumers looking for quality reproductions. Claire specializes in Degas reproductions, and is also researching and writing a book about Degas, but is mostly focused on creating her own work.
When owner of the most influential gallery in Boston, Markel G, asks to visit her studio, Claire thinks her big break may finally be looming, but she’s surprised when Aiden Markel seems more interested in her reproductions than her original work, and she is even more surprised when she finds out what he has in mind for her.
The Art Forger is loosely based on the actual history of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, especially the famously unsolved 1990 theft of several priceless masterpieces including a work by Degas, After the Bath, which figures prominently in the story. Isabella Stewart Gardner designed her home in the style of a 15th-century Venetian palace to be a museum, her own artistic legacy, displaying her extensive art collection in casual, homey style. Until she died in 1924, at the age of 84, “Mrs. Jack,” as she was affectionately known, lived on the fourth floor of the building, with the other three stories open to the public since 1903. Known as mischievous, fun-loving, and slightly eccentric, Isabella Stewart Gardner left the entire property to the public in perpetuity after her death, with the minor stipulation that the guardians of the museum never add, change, or remove anything. Ever.
To add to the sense of realism, the author of The Art Forger (who lives in Boston and teaches at Northeastern University) includes a fictional Boston Globe newspaper article and personal letters supposedly written by Isabella Stewart Gardner. The Art Forger’s fast-paced plot strikes me on the whole as extremely unrealistic and the characters are pretty sketchy; we learn a lot more about forgeries, Degas, and the minutiae of painting than about Claire herself, even though she narrates. But Isabella Stewart Gardner herself is supposed to have said “Don’t spoil a good story by telling the truth,” and The Art Forger is a good story – thought-provoking enough for a book club and entertaining enough for a casual read.
The Art Forger
Shapiro, B.A.
Algonquin Books
October 23, 2012
978-1-61620-132-6
368 pp.
$23.95, U.S.
Disclosure: I received a free advance reading copy of The Art Forger, signed by author Barbara Shapiro, from the publisher during Book Expo America last June.
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14 Responses to Art Geeks and Gardner Freaks: The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro
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No change ever? That would be something worth looking into, research-wise. Sounds fascinating, the mix of fiction and non-fiction, though perhaps non-fiction more so I think I’d want to read up on Isabella before attempting this.
The author puts a note at the end about what is fictional vs. factual in the story, but she does take liberties!
I love the ISG museum (and she would be annoyed that I reduced her name to an acronym). I will read this!
It was entertaining!
In a recent interview I read I was quite taken by the author’s comments about the link between painting and writing, and how her love of the two overlapped when writing this one. It’s a book I’ve had my eye on, but I’m undecided about whether I’ll pick it up.
Yes, there is a love of painting that comes through. I should have mentioned how the author brings in the work of forgers and the talent required to create a “true” forgery.
This sounds like an okay read but I’ll pass it up. I think I would want to know as much about the protagonist as I would about the art work. Great review.
Beth F also posted a review earlier this week I think. I like how you added more background information, it makes me want to read this book all the more
The Gardner is a local institution and the book gives readers a good feel for the museum and for Isabella Stewart Gardner.
I just finished reading a Carlton Davis’ latest book, “The Art Dockuments,” a great nonfiction book full of short fun stories about ‘The Art Dock,’ LA’s drive by art gallery in the 80′s. I didn’t realize that the life of an artist and the things that happen in gallery’s, could be so fun and entertaining to read about! “The Art Forger” looks like a fabulous read. Can’t wait to check it out! Thanks for recommending.
http://artdock.net/
I’m not knowledgeable about art, but I found the art aspect interesting, especially the parts about copying/forging artwork.
I agree, makes for a great story for sure!
I’m almost finished reading The Art Forger and am enjoying it very much for a number of reasons. . . I love art and have a fascination with Isabella Stewart Gardner, have visited the museum on numerous occasions, have read a terrific biography of her by a local fellow (whose name escapes me, unfortunately, but it was loaded with fascinating letters and documents from the era. Also just read Caveat Emptor, which was terrific and gave much insight into the world of art forgery, written by forger himself.
Anyway, just wondering if you’ve read it and, if so, would love to hear what you think about it, especially in light of Shapiro’s book.
I’ve heard of Caveat Emptor but haven’t read it. It sounds interesting, but I learned a lot about art forgery from The Art Forger. Enough for me, I think, because I’m not at all knowledgeable about art! I usually put links to other bloggers’ reviews but I see I didn’t do it for The Art Forger. There are a lot of reviews on other blogs by people who loved it and the author seems really nice.