Customer Reviews

A Short Life of Trouble: Forty Years in the New York Art World

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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I stayed up most of the night reading this book the day it arrived at our house, and the next day my partner did the same. If you are a woman professional in your 60s interested in the arts, I bet you will have the same response. I assume just about everyone else will enjoy this book also.

With none of the proper credentials in a time when a woman, even with those credentials, could expect little from the patrician New York art world, Tucker simply forged ahead, determined to follow her own interests and with a flair for developing friends and mentors with the money and power to enable her to realize her vision. As John Baldessari quips, only Marcia when fired by one major museum [the Whitney] would respond by starting her own museum.

To thine own self be true has become a hackneyed phrase. Marcia in this always amusing memoir reminds us that this need not be true. A passion for a subject and a determination to pursue that passion despite not knowing where it will lead provides the basis for the memoir and her life. The book ends as she dies of cancer at a relatively young age, but even this ending is not particularly sad. She led a full and challenging life right to the end. How many of us can really say that?

Brilliant. Philosophical and personal, touching, funny, sexy, eye-opening, compelling. Anyone interested in women, or in art, or in women in art will find a treasure here. If you didn't know Marcia, you will after reading this extraordinary memoir. If you did, as I did, you'll be reminded once again how much you miss her.

I tend to be an escapist in literature and rarely venture into non-fiction, so I was surprised by how engaging this book was for me. I was fascinated by the personal depiction of a very exciting time period--especially in the art world and in the early struggles of feminism. Most of all I was delighted to experience this vibrant, gutsy, indomitable personality. Recommended definitely!

I bought this book with the hopes of being inspired by one woman's life in the art world and boy did she deliver! Marcia was a powerhouse of a person whom I wish I could have known. She's the kind of person every young woman wishes they had as their mentor... not over bearing, smart and witty, caring, interested and just a touch of crazy. Her story was touching and inspiring and I have begun recommending it to every female I know living, working in the art world or being an artist.

Marcia Tucker's life is a life to be reckoned with. Entwined with museum politics, brilliant perceptions on art, this is a read of a woman's vulnerability as a child transformed into charismatic star status in the art world at a time when Dylan and Warhol were also breaking onto the scene. Tucker's insights on art -"If you hate it it is probably great art", family loyalty, insistance on music as art reveals a life that is poignant yet very real. How she created museum exhibitions that challenge based on reading what the artist is reading and an exploration of his or her life, how she worked with crews to hang those exhibits in creative ways, and how she respected all who have eyes to see bring this extraordinary woman to life. Art will never be the same for you, nor will any visit to a museum.

This is a powerful memoir by Marcia Tucker, who founded the New Museum. Much of the book is about her struggle to promote avant-garde art, but my favorite parts are more personal, particularly the second chapter--a tragic love story between Marcia and a French count, who dies in the Algerian war.

I don't know her but I love her. The writing in this book is at times abrupt, but the story fascinates nonetheless.

I'm so glad there was such a person as Marcia Tucker. And I'm even more glad that she has written a book about herself. Is it possible in this world of chasing after status and money to live deliberately? Yes. She did. And maybe we can learn how from her story.

Kudos to Liza Lou for putting in the hard work to bring us this story. Kudos to Marcia Tucker for living it.

I came to read this book via a Twitter recommendation and WOW it was fabulous. Marcia Tucker is/was the perfect example of positiveness in the face of what would normally crush an ordinary person. More than 3/4's through I thought she was still with us and I wanted to find out more only to be devastated when I googled her to learn she's no longer taking the world by storm! What a loss! However, what a tribute to Liza Lou for writing a book that is completely Marcia. I grew up as an artist myself in that era and if it wasn't for women like Marcia we'd still be "left out" and sadly still often are as it's very much a boys club in the arts but she DID make a big difference. I was continually awed by her endless energy & optimism with all the other stuff she did too...singing, comedy, raising a family and her all abiding commitment to art. There's so much more I could say and it would all be gushy - bottom line...I loved this book and wish there were lots more Marcia Tucker's in the whole world...not just the art world!

I bought this book for a class and enjoyed reading it. Marcia Tucker was a fascinating individual in the museum world. The book arrived on time in the condition described by the seller.

The voice of a strong feminist applying her beliefs to her work and life. One person can do a lot to change the world, or at least the arts, as Marcia Tucker has through starting the New Museum in NYC.