A love story told in the form of an auction catalog.
Auction catalogs can tell you a lot about a person -- their passions and
vanities, peccadilloes and aesthetics; their flush years and lean. Think
of the collections of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Truman Capote, the
Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
In Leanne Shapton's marvelously inventive and invented auction catalog,
the 325 lots up for auction are what remain from the relationship
between Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris (who aren't real people, but
might as well be). Through photographs of the couple's personal effects
-- the usual auction items (jewelry, fine art, and rare furniture) and
the seemingly worthless (pajamas, Post-it notes, worn paperbacks) -- the
story of a failed love affair vividly (and cleverly) emerges. From first
meeting to final separation, the progress and rituals of intimacy are
revealed through the couple's accumulated relics and memorabilia. And a
love story, in all its tenderness and struggle, emerges from the
evidence that has been left behind, laid out for us to appraise and
appreciate.
In an earlier work, Was She Pretty?, Shapton, a talented artist and
illustrator, subtly explored the seemingly simple yet powerfully
complicated nature of sexual jealousy. In Important Artifacts and
Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold
Morris--a very different yet equally original book--she invites us to
contemplate what is truly valuable, and to consider the art we make of
our private lives.
