Set in 1973 London, this brilliant novel focuses on two women: Diana, the first female Director of the Modernist Collection at the Tate Gallery; Lily, her assistant director who emulates Diana. Pablo Picasso has just died, and Diana wants to put on an intimate show of some of his works. On opening day, Lily's job is to listen to the crowd talk about the exhibit and report back to Diana. Lily is a painter and hopes for Diana to look at her portfolio and offer her a slot in her Emerging Modern Artists exhibit. But everything goes downhill quickly when Lily looks at the paintings in order and says aloud what she thinks: that the painting Woman Laughing is a fake.
The Tate's director fires her on the spot, as the London Times is there and has heard her. Diana tells her to go wait in her office. She decides to put off firing Lily, for the time being. Meanwhile, an art insurance detective from New York, Connor, arrives to investigate, and the two get closer, even as Lily becomes a suspect in the forgery. The real forger is setting her up as a fall guy.
But this book is about more than art. It's about relationships. Lily has locked her family out of her life because she feels to blame for an accident that took place twenty-two years ago that left her mother in a wheelchair. Diana and her husband have a relationship where his ego is so big that there's no room for hers. Both characters have difficulty with their families. It is also about the relationship between Lily and Diana. Lily, who got her start working at St. Martin's art school cleaning and filing, gets her paints and canvases from the students' trash, and her "studio" is a utility closet. Diana, meanwhile, is wealthy and has everything she could want. She sees Lily as Eliza Doolittle and herself as Henry Higgins.
I fell in love with this book on the first page when it mentions the Tate Gallery. It is at the top of my list of places to see. I also love art, though the Modernist Movement is not one of my favorites; I do appreciate it, and I once had a print of Picasso's Old Guitarist on my wall. This book is set in a time when Nazi-stolen art is beginning to appear on the art market, as well as a lot of forgeries. While labs exist to test paints and canvases, they are rarely used, and it makes it easier to sell a forgery.
I really related to Lily, and even Diana. They are two women trying to make it in the male-dominated field of art at a time when women's rights were a growing concern, and you had to work twice as hard for half as much. Diana works hard to get to where she is, as does Lily, who started out as Diana's secretary and was promoted to assistant director. These strong female characters must fight to find their way in this world, and while some may cheat to do so, sometimes it's necessary. These two women have problems with family members that everyone can relate to, and problems in their relationship with each other. This is a very relatable book and a good choice for a book club read.
Quotes
We live with our lies because we must.
Katherine Reay (The English Masterpiece, p.38)
Is love merely a covering for despair? A plaster that doesn't quite cover the edges of the wound? Does darkness always creep around the corners of joy and press upon it? Shrink it?
Katherine Reay (The English Masterpiece, p.114)
Families are complicated, Lily. You can love them and hurt them, want them to draw close while shoving them away. Those two states--the pull and the push--can be true simultaneously.
Katherine Reay (The English Masterpiece, p.145)
Art is the singular soul, the flaws, the vulnerability, and the many all on display.
Katherine Reay (The English Masterpiece, p.153)
But feeling something and having the courage and vulnerability to act upon it are very different things.
Katherine Reay (The English Masterpiece, p.166)
We don't get to choose what life throws at us. I suppose we only choose our reactions, our responses to it.
Katherine Reay (The English Masterpiece, p.202)
Link to ThriftBooks:https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-english-masterpiece/55263073/?resultid=9d321c4e-2f01-4ed1-9e99-73e7bd340170#edition=72052803&idiq=86061292
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