Vigderman, Patricia 1942–

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Vigderman, Patricia 1942–

PERSONAL:

Born May 31, 1942. Education: Vassar College, B.A.; Tufts University, M.A., Ph.D. Hobbies and other interests: Visiting museums, classical art, film.

ADDRESSES:

Home— Gambier, OH; Cambridge, MA. Office— Department of English, Kenyon College, Walton House 106, Gambier, OH 43022-9623. E-mail— [email protected].

CAREER:

Educator. Kenyon College, Gambier, OH, assistant professor of English, 1989—. Taught at Tufts University and Harvard University; has worked as translator and magazine editor.

WRITINGS:

The Memory Palace of Isabella Stewart Gardner, Sarabande Books (Louisville, KY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

When Patricia Vigderman, an assistant professor of English at Kenyon College, visited the Gardner Museum in Boston's Fenway Court, she found the museum "very appealing" but "also frustrating," as she noted in an interview for the Sarabande Books Web site. "Isabella Gardner's will required that nothing could be altered … so its unchangeable idiosyncrasies can make it seem … as if she had no flexibility in imagining the future." The will to which Vigderman refers stated that not only could nothing be removed from the museum for the life of the institution, but no work of art could be moved from the exact place where Gardner herself had hung or displayed it, however unusual or awkward that placement may be. Vigderman was intrigued enough to begin research that took several years and would ultimately become The Memory Palace of Isabella Stewart Gardner.

In the interview, Vigderman states that Gardner was unable to be a member of mainstream museum boards in the late nineteenth century because she was a woman. She therefore chose to create her own collection, which she could control in whatever manner she saw fit. Her wishes for the museum's preservation have been rigidly adhered to, including a directive (made in response to the dramatic theft of seventeen pieces in 1980) that artwork stolen from the museum be replaced with merely a placard noting the loss of the work. Gardner, unfortunately, destroyed the personal writings that might reveal something of the woman she was—and Vigderman looks to her objects and the writings of her friends to determine her character.

The Memory Palace of Isabella Stewart Gardner portrays Gardner as Vigderman came to understand her and takes readers on a textual tour of the Gardner Museum itself. Barbara Bloom, in a review for Bookforum, noted that "the pleasure the author takes in roaming the building and delving into archival material is palpable." The reader is given a clear image of the jumble of artworks, placed in unusual array throughout the museum. The book begins each chapter with various objects from the museum's collection, a technique that can, according to Bloom, "act as [a] hook" to draw the reader into each section. A Publishers Weekly critic observed the way that Vigderman uses the museum's collection as a method of "looking for clues to Gardner's elusive motivations." The critic felt that this method falls short, however, concluding that overall, the book is "intriguing but unsatisfying." Booklist contributor Donna Seaman, however, appreciated Vidgerman's use of the artwork to further the narration. Seaman dubbed the author "a dream docent, offering … unexpected insights" into not only the objets d'art and Isabella Stewart Gardner herself, but also "the struggles of prevote women to liberate themselves."

Art & Antiques contributor John Dorfman observed that The Memory Palace of Isabella Stewart Gardner "in no way pretends to be an analysis of pictures or a treatise on art history." The reviewer instead found the work "a delightful and thought-provoking meditation on the meaning of biography and the nature of museology." Beth Hemke Shapiro, reviewing the book for Foreword, pointed out that the book is also not a traditional biography. Instead, Vigderman delves into the lives of Gardner's intimates and presents her own reflections on what she finds. Shapiro concluded that in so doing, Vigderman "creates an original method of bridging the gap between past and present that will attract not just fans of the Gardner Museum, but any lovers of art history."