This week I’m sharing my thoughts on a new novel by Fiona Davis along with some works I found striking at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke. I’m continuing to consider some of our outings in Cary and beyond as other examples of Abroad At Home.
ENTERTAINING NOVEL: THE MET AND EGYPT
The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis
True to form, The Stolen Queen, the latest historical novel by Fiona Davis, centers on an iconic building in New York City. Earlier novels featured the New York Public Library (The Lions of Fifth Avenue), the Barbizon Hotel for Women (The Dollhouse), and Grand Central Terminal (The Masterpiece), to name just several. For this work, it’s the Metropolitan Museum of Art and specifically its antiquities and Egyptian collections.
Set in 1936 and 1978 in Egypt and Manhattan, it’s the story of two women and their search for a stolen artifact (the queen of the title), a missing jewelry collar, and a lost daughter. Charlotte Cross was a budding archaeologist in Luxor in the 1930’s when her life was upended by tragedy. In 1978, she is an associate curator at the Met, keenly focused on her study of a female pharaoh, yet still torn by not knowing the fate of her infant. Annie Jenkins is nineteen, loves fashion, and by happenstance becomes Diana Vreeland’s gopher in the run-up to the Costume Institute’s annual gala. Due to some unusual circumstances, Annie and Charlotte join forces to search for the missing antiquity which involves traveling to Egypt and excavating the demons of Charlotte’s past.
The novel is a romp in the Met Museum, fun for anyone who has spent any time at all there, while simultaneously being a complexly threaded set of relationships and events. The female pharaoh and a few other characters are based on historic figures. It’s a quick read and enjoyable, even if it all seems to be resolved too neatly!
ABROAD AT HOME: ART IN DURHAM
Nasher Museum of Art
Friends invited us to join them for an outing to the Nasher Museum of Art on the Duke University campus in Durham. I knew of this museum but had never visited, nor had I ever seen it. The building itself is stunning with a soaring wide lobby topped by angled metal trusses and lots of glass. Designed by noted architect Rafael Vinoly and opened in 2005, it’s a light-filled welcoming space. Galleries and exhibit spaces are off to the side in appropriately semi-dark rooms.
Several exhibits are currently on view and some are small so, we were able to explore them all to some extent. We spent the most time in By Dawn’s Early Light, a major exhibit marking the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 set against the historical backdrop of the Constitution and several key amendments. The exhibit is wide-ranging in its coverage of people and documents through photography, painting, and sculptural pieces. Here are several works that I found striking.
Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, a Native American from Montana, presents a map of the United States emphasizing its whiteness with white paint colors instead of state names. The countries surrounding the US are multi-colored. North Carolina is Breakwater White.
Americans have the right to bear arms. I found this Celtic cross composed of AK 47 rifles a chilling statement on what one might call “gun worship.”
Another powerful piece for me was the historic Confederate flag, part of a performance piece in which the flag was deliberately torn. The colorful threads on the shelf at the bottom are formless and perhaps available for something new.
Individuals from other lands come here seeking to fulfill the American dream for themselves. Many of these are migrant workers, often Latinos. See Diego Camposeco’s print at right.
There is also moving section, “Freedom to Assemble” with images of Martin Luther King and others gathering and facing down armed troops at the Pettus Bridge in Selma in 1965. Mounted on mirrored sienna glass, the photos are very reflective making it impossible to get a photo worth sharing.
By Dawn’s Early Light is timely and worth a visit. It runs through May 11.
The museum also has an informal café space offering tasty salads, sandwiches, eggs benedict many ways, and omelets. We four enjoyed lunch there midst the Under 25 set. We had escaped our home bubble for a student-filled campus bubble. Fun!
Note: All unattributed photos by JWFarrington (some rights reserved.) Header photo is of the massive bronze sculpture, MamaRay, by Nairobi-born artist Wangechi Muta. It was installed at the museum in 2021.
