Watermark Books and Cafe

Steve Martin is a comedian, playwright, scriptwriter, memoirist, actor, comedian and novelist. He's also a renaissance man with a passion for collecting art. In Martin's new novel, "An Object of Beauty," narrator Daniel Franks, an art critic, recalls the story of Lacey Yeager, his one-time lover. He is now the kind of friend who makes Lacey a good companion while she shops for dresses, brags about an opening at the Guggenheim, or when she needs a sympathetic ear. Lacy will take the art world by storm, and through her Daniel takes us on a delightful ride, up the burgeoning art market of the 1990s and down into its recession in the new century.

Martin explores the ordinary details of the gallerist's life: collecting sales tax from the rich; closing a sale; seducing worthwhile clients while cleverly brushing off the wanna-bes. He offers entertaining lessons in 20th century art as he gives us entry into the most distinct collections. Everything from Damien Hirst and Rockwell Kent, to a Warhol "Marilyn," He reveals the moment when an aficionado realizes the true value of choosing and buying paintings to fill not just places on the wall, but also places in the heart.

Whether the object of beauty, of the book's title, is Lacey Yeager, canvases unveiled each fall, or the whole world of art collecting is left up to the reader. By the end, however, Martin gets the final say in this beautiful and ill-fated tender love story.

Review by Sarah Bagby