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    Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry
    Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry
    Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry
    Ebook304 pages1 hour

    Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry

    By Leanne Shapton

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateFeb 3, 2009
    ISBN9781429958615
    Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry
    Author

    Leanne Shapton

    Leanne Shapton is an art director, illustrator, artist, and publisher based in New York. She has contributed work to The New York Times, Harper's, The New Yorker, GQ, Jane, Flaunt, andSeventeen, among others. She runs J&L Books with the photographer Jason Fulford.

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    Reviews for Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry

    3.5/5

    117 ratings16 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Blink and it's done. Remarkable example of storytelling that is way outside the normal boundaries for fiction. Given the form, the story itself couldn't be more mundane. Given that the whole point of the exercise should be "show, don't tell", there was a little too much "tell" with whole emails reproduced and the couple's prolific marginalia.

      Still, an exciting way to tell the tale that succeeds more than it doesn't
    • 4/5
      What at first glance looks like an auction catalog of bits and pieces of a person's life in essence tracks an intimate relationship from beginning to end over the course of several years. A clever and striking format that has a way of feeling very poignant and very familiar. Unforgettable. SRH
    • 4/5
      What at first glance looks like an auction catalog of bits and pieces of a person's life in essence tracks an intimate relationship from beginning to end over the course of several years. A clever and striking format that has a way of feeling very poignant and very familiar. Unforgettable.
    • 4/5
      The title is very nearly as long as the book; at 129 pages the volume barely makes it to book length. It’s constructed uniquely: it’s an auction catalog for the possessions of a couple, Lenore and Harold. She’s in her 20s, he’s in his 30s. They are hipsters who dress in vintage clothing and use precious vintage accessories. He’s a photographer, she’s a food columnist. We find that he considers his work art and very important and serious, while he considers her writing silly and unimportant. Through the book we see the couple get together, live together for a while, and fall apart. The author does this through not just their objects but through notes; him to her, her to him, her to her sister. Very short, spare notes, but still, they manage to convey the story. You wouldn’t think you could connect to a character with that few words, but I did find myself feeling a little sorry for Lenore. It’s kind of a fun book to go through. This length is probably all that the format could sustain; it’s not a format for nuance and depth. I enjoyed it, but I’m glad I didn’t buy it but read the library copy.
    • 3/5
      This is the first book that I've bought new in a very long time--I was intrigued by the concept of telling a story through items in an auction catalog instead of through a more standard narrative.

      Overall, I thought the conceit worked pretty well, though in order to succeed, the characters had to have some strange habits, like writing relevant song lyrics on the flyleaves of books, leaving unfinished letters tucked into books, and just sending and receiving a lot of handwritten letters in general.

      I was struck by how well the characters were defined by the brands, foods, and other objects that they chose. To me, this was the best, most interesting revelation of the book.

      I was expecting the book to be funnier and more ridiculous, but it took its subjects very seriously. I wanted the overall tone to be more like page 120, with the "irreparable damage...as if struck by a hammer" and the "I did not handle that at all well..."

      And, of course, being me, I can't accept the fact that Wuthering Heights is listed as being written by Charlotte Brontë. How did that get by the editor?
    • 4/5
      I love the idea of this book, the story of a couples' relationship told through the format of an auction catalog. And Leanne Shapton carries out the project well, with a wide range of "lots" (from gifts to clothes to books to shopping lists, notes, &c.) and just enough contextual info to keep things moving and gradually fill in the narrative, which is rather a sad one overall.Of course there's something fairly odd about the pair's belongings being sold at auction like this - why would folks sell off their t-shirts and bras and books and suits and things several years after their breakup? There's no clear reason offered for this, and no context given for why an auction house would even sell such things (do they specialize in such sales?). A bit of this, just for the skeptical reader like me, would have gone a long way.
    • 5/5
      Brilliantly original and beautifully poignant. The format gave a surprisingly intimate portrayal of relationship. Such a clever concept and so brilliantly executed.
    • 3/5
      The story of a relationship told in objects, as an auction catalog. I think we could all write a book like this: the ticket stubs, the books we gave each other in the first blush of love, the dumb love notes and couple jokes, the things we bought to furnish our apartment together. After the break up those things are still around - a lot of times that's all's left - and sometimes it feels like they're sitting there taunting us with what's lost.I liked this, but didn't find it brilliant. Although we understand why they break up, the story's slanted toward the girlfriend's point of view - the things she isn't getting from him, the things she gives up. I was curious about how it was for him and we don't get to see that except for a few notes from friends reminding him that it's his pattern to miss is exes when he's with a new girlfriend. The objects themselves, though are perfect. Notes scrawled on theater programs, silly things from tag sales, vintage clothes.
    • 3/5
      The concept of this novel (photo essay? manifest? collage?) is to present the auction catalog of the property of defunct couple Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris as it relates to their relationship. Through the stark, material lot descriptions of the detritus of coupledom, the author presents the falling in and out of love in a plausible, understated manner. We see numbers exchanged on napkins, polaroids, emails, letters, gifts, menus, and agendas from the couple's 4-year courtship laid out in chronological order. Some lots speak for themselves - letters exchanged by the couple, notes sent to friends, but the subtle nuances, the underlying evidence examines the psychology of a relationship. What the couple tells one another is contrasted and contradicted by letters sent (and, more poignantly, unsent) to friends, appointments made on the sly, possible betrayals (for example, Lenore makes a date with an ex-boyfriend, and later in the catalog we see Harold carrying an umbrella we are told belongs to the ex-boyfriend, left in Lenore's apartment - when was it left? did she cheat? we don't know). In notes to themselves, private musings, Harold and Lenore are ambivalent, doubt, make lists of pros and cons, visit therapists. But all the while, for a couple of years anyway, they present a loving, happy face to one another. Only later does the relationship collapse on itself, weighed down by the crushing force of incompatibility too long ignored. Harold reminiscences about ex-girlfriends, travels too frequently, gives Lenore gifts of things that belonged to other women in his life, resents Lenore's burgeoning career as a columnist. Lenore has a short temper, is much younger than Harold, cannot decide what she wants out of life, tries to daub the cracks in their love life with thoughtful gifts and food. Like most real world relationships, it ends not with a bang, but a whimper: trips ending in tears and indecision, a pregnancy scare, indifference, and finally a break that turns into a break-up.One of the strengths of the novel is that the author has created a couple that puts on such a convincing show of functionality and appeal. If you knew them, you'd admire them. They seem so together and fun - they travel, fill their apartment with bizarre kitsch, dress in beautiful vintage clothing, photograph well, and in all respects put on the mask of perfection you so often see in couples with whom you're acquainted and wish you could be like. Perhaps the message is that underneath the trappings, the stuff, the facade, no relationship is ever what it seems.All that said, I give this novel 3 stars, as it failed to arouse any strong feelings in me either way. Like a lengthy relationship that has long since reached its natural end, this book evokes neither love nor hate, just the resigned acceptance that it was what it was.
    • 5/5
      This book is lovely and an entirely orginal way of exploring a relationship from begining to end. Set out as an auction catalogue of 'Important Artifacts' that help define the relationship of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, from an invite to the halloween party where they first met to the last polite notes and photographs that punctuate their break-up. The original layout and untraditional style of the book may put some people off but to me this book is like found treasure. It's impossible not to fall for Lenore and Harold (or Buttertart and Hal as they often refer to each other). Leanne Shapton has created a masterpiece that left me desperate for more of the couple as their story is told by engravings on antique cake servers, scribbled notes on old theatre programmes and snippets from half written letters hidden inside secondhand books (and so many more artifacts, which are both ordinary and extraordinary for the significance they had in the couple's relationship, a significance that wasn't obvious until after the relationship had ended and the items are studied, photographed and commented upon for the auction catalogue.)This is an auction catalogue but it is also a romance novel, a study of relationships, of city life in New York at the start of the 21st century and of how two people can be so right and so wrong for each other. The auction date is Saturday 14th February 2009, a clue right there on the cover that all will not end well for Lenore and Hal, but I'm not sure who (other than me) would want to buy the collection of mix-tapes (actually CD's in this day and age), vintage bathing suits, old hats, broken mugs, scribbled on post-it notes, old rugs and horrible dog ornaments in real life. But I would have gladly gathered in everything and gloated over it by the end of the book, I had grown to love Hal and especially Lenore so very much. Through these things, through the photographs and brief descriptions by the auctioneer, we know everything and noting about this couple and that's one of the things that make this book so wonderful, we learn so much, we are left to imagine so much more.I loved the book and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for something different and quietly wonderful. I will definately reread it and intend to catch up on anything else Shapton has written (although created is a more accurate word for this book).
    • 3/5
      This book deserves to win prizes for its concept which is totally unlike anything I’ve ever seen (or read) before. It’s the story of a relationship from start to finish, but presented in the form of an auction catalogue of the couple’s ‘stuff’ – so original, so clever, but does it work?Lenore is a food writer for a New York newspaper, Harold is a photographer. They meet at a Halloween party, fall in and ultimately, out of love. They’re the sort of couple who are always taking photos of themselves, individually or setting the timer and posing. They write notes too – from post-it reminders on the fridge, to endearments tucked into things, to letters expressing love, frustration, anger …Their life together is represented by 325 lots, comprising many of their photos, notes, and other ephemera (I love that word!), as well as books, knick-knacks and household items. Most are illustrated; the accompanying text gives the physical details of the lots including condition reports plus an estimate – just like in a real auction catalogue, there is no further elaboration.It was fascinating to see what was going to come up next, but I found this book so frustrating. I mean, who (except the owner’s mother), would ever consider bidding for a lot of three oven gloves, two of which were well worn, estimate $20-$45, unless they were from the top celebrity chef du jour? This couple may have been well-known within their professional circles, but outside that, who would go to an auction of their cast-offs? It was this juxtaposition of fantasy versus reality that partially put me off. It also smacks of doing one’s dirty washing in public – we can celebrate the couple’s initial euphoria of being in love with them without being too voyeuristic, but by the time their relationship started to fade, my interest did rather too as I didn’t want to intrude.
    • 4/5
      Leanne Shapton's book, the full title of which I've written once and will not do so again, has a wonderful concept. It's a catalogue of lots for an auction held on Saturday the 14th of February, 2009 (there's a clue) at a New York auction house. Each of the items on sale, few of which would have any real value at auction, represents a different stage in the relationship between two people, 26 year-old cookery columnist Lenore Doolan and 39 year-old travelling photographer Harold Morris. It begins with photographs and a party invitation and ends with collections of dried flowers. Make of that symbolism what you will. In between you'll find everything from mixtapes to diary pages, braziers to pyjamas, china dogs to salt shakers, books, ties, umbrellas, cocktail mixers, cake stands, menus, travel clocks and post-it notes... all meticulously documented with lot numbers, images, dimensions and reserve prices. It's the ephemera on which we build our lives, yet it tells an all too recognisable story of the rise and fall of a love affair, finding heartbreaking detail in the minutiae. There are times when that level of detail bogs us down - maybe not every one of these lots is entirely necessary - but after finishing this book I felt I knew these characters inside and out... though some details of their relationship are left to the reader's imagination / speculation.
    • 5/5
      Re-reading this I was struck by the richness of the story that is told in the spaces between the photographs of items from once entwined lives and the sparse objective auctionerr's lot descriptions. The technique is stretched my the electronic age (will we ever auction printouts of emails?) and obliges the couple to live in an anachronistic world of letters, postcards and polaroids that might have worked in the 1980s but is not quite in touch with the 2000s. This is such a tiny gripe about a slice of mastery.
    • 4/5
      The blurbs on the back cover from Amy Sedaris and Dave Eggers were encouraging. Sedaris – whom I love – admits jealousy over the execution of this book. It’s the same thing I feel when I wish I’d done something first. Well, rage and self-loathing for me, but I knew what she meant.Reading through the fictional auction catalog puts me in mind of my flea-market days. I always flipped through the photos, many still in albums, and wondered who these folks were and what the stories were behind the images. Leanne Shapton has put all of one couple’s pictures (as well as their gifts, clothing, household items and the like) in order and constructed a story through her well-written lot descriptions.She doesn’t flesh out the story and the items themselves have only a few, very brief details of the relationship. However, the lots are placed in chronological order and notes in some descriptions reference other lots. Photos of people playing Doolan and Morris, and people playing their friends and families illustrate how and where the items were used. The items themselves are well-chosen. The initial lots are the thoughtfully chosen gifts and romantic notes that mark the start of a romance. The items become mundane as the relationship unfolds into its rut.This graphic novel was interesting in the same way a museum exhibit is interesting to me. I was able to piece together the lifestyle of a 21st century couple living in Manhattan, who work as a photographer and a writer. The narrative is dispassionate and as objective as a catalog gets. I do not know people like this couple and do not live like them. But I loved reading about them. I loved examining their stuff. I caught myself starting to take sides as disagreements came up and recognized my own relationships in theirs. I coveted their knick knacks and criticized their choices in music. It’s well worth reading as a curious approach to a novel.
    • 5/5
      Wonderfully imaginative and original story of a relationship break-up by means of an auction catalogue.
    • 4/5
      I was instantly in love with the concept behind this. And it was more more complex than her earlier book, which I also really enjoyed. Overall, really well executed. They seemed like the sort of people who really would end up together, and really wouldn't work out. (I did keep wondering whether their incompatibility would have been so obvious if we weren't told at the very beginning that it failed.) She did clearly have a mysterious supplemental income, or a nasty credit card habit, but that's so common these days in any medium -- young characters have to be living in NYC no matter what. Giving him a job with lots of travel was a great vehicle for their interactions. And I loved the conversations on playbills. The unusual (?) habit of regularly leaving notes in books seemed a stretch, however. The truly brilliant entry was the restaurant tab towards the end, with the entrees crossed out. It said so much in so few words.

    Book preview

    Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry - Leanne Shapton

    We have decided to introduce this catalog with text from a postcard written in 2008 by Harold Morris, whose items are being auctioned off here, along with those of Lenore Doolan, and objects given to the couple by friends and family.

    —Strachan & Quinn, 2009

    Dear Lenore,

    I’ll be in town for a few days next month on assignment. It would be good to see you. I’ve written letters to you, but they are still here in my drawer.

    Remember we ran into each other at the Oyster Bar a year ago, and walking home that night you asked: Is there a relationship you ever had that you regretted ending? I didn’t say anything, but I wish I had said, Yes, you. That would be my answer.

    I don’t know what your situation is now. Jaclyn and I are taking a break. Alone again!

    Your

    Hal

    LOT 1001

    A photograph of Lenore Doolan, age 26

    An original color print of Doolan at her desk at The New York Times, 2002. Taken by Adam Bainbridge, a coworker. 4 × 6 in.

    $10–20

    LOT 1002

    A passport photograph of Harold Morris, age 39

    An original print of Morris, taken in 2002 prior to a photography assignment in the Philippines. 2 × 2 in.

    $10–20

    LOT 1003

    An invitation

    An invitation to a Halloween party, October 31, 2002, given by Morris’s close friends, photography agents Rekha Subramanian and Paulo Vitale. 4 × 5¼ in.

    $5–10

    LOT 1004

    A group of photographs

    Lenore Doolan and her college friend Kyle Kaplan are seen dressed up for Halloween. 6 × 4 in.

    LOT 1005

    A photograph of Morris and Doolan

    A photograph of Morris and Doolan at the Subramanian-Vitale Halloween party. Morris is dressed as Harry Houdini and Doolan as Lizzie Borden. First known photograph of the couple together. Photographer unknown. Small tack holes in corners. 4 × 6 in.

    $25–30

    LOT 1006

    A handwritten notation

    A short handwritten notation in ballpoint pen on a green cocktail napkin. Reads: lenore_doolan@nytimes.com. Some wear and creasing. 5 × 5 in.

    $15–20

    LOT 1007

    A handwritten letter

    A handwritten letter from Ann Doolan to her sister Lenore, dated November 1, 2002, reading in part: That’s crazy you’d met him before—goes to show it IS all timing. I like the sound of him. Probably what you thought was badgering was just plain old-fashioned ardor. Should we be alarmed he was Harry Houdini? Perhaps he’ll always come back to you OR he’s a master of escape . . . Pale pink G. Lalo, Vergé de France paper. 8 × 5¾ in.

    Not illustrated.

    $15–20

    LOT 1008

    A colorful shirt and postcard

    A brightly patterned cotton shirt with unique large sequined appliqué. Label inside collar reads Marjan Pejoski. Some fading and wear. Size S. Included is a postcard of a Wolfgang Tillmans photograph from the Museum of Modern Art, enclosed with the original gift. Morris’s short note to Doolan in ballpoint ink reads in full: Nobody ever buys me clothes.

    $20–30

    LOT 1009

    Board game pieces and board

    Eight Scrabble letter pieces in a paper envelope, spelling out "THANK YOU." Included is an original Scrabble board game (copyright © 1987). All pieces intact, some wear to corners of board.

    $20–30

    LOT 1010

    Queneau, Raymond

    Exercises in Style (New Directions, 1981), paperback edition. Laid into page 114 is an unfinished letter from Harold Morris to his closest friend, photographer Jason Frank, on Hotel Chicagoan stationery, dated November 4, 2002. Reads in part: She gave me Scrabble letters that spelled out thank you, I arranged them to say okay hunt, a hunk toy, and yank thou before I figured it out. The next day she gave me the rest of the board . . . 10 × 7 in.

    $10–20

    LOT 1011

    A printout of an e-mail containing directions, with a handwritten notation

    An e-mail dated November 25, 2002, from Morris to Doolan giving directions to a house in Croton Falls, NY. Handwritten in ballpoint pen in Doolan’s hand is a note reading in full: Thanksgiving / Croton Falls / Friday / Grand Central Metro-North / Sweet potatoes / Dessert . . . pumpkin cake / banana loaf / buttertarts?/Gma’s recipe / Wine? / HIM / HIM / HIM / HAL. 11 × 8½ in.

    Not illustrated.

    $15–20

    LOT 1012

    A group of Polaroids

    Six Polaroids of Doolan trying on various casual outfits, taken by her friend, fashion stylist Jessica Frost. 3½ × 4 in.

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