Minor Black Figures by Brandon Taylor: A Review of a Working-Class Artist's Struggle
Brandon Taylor's third novel, Minor Black Figures, delves into the life of Wyeth, a young painter from Virginia navigating the art world in New York. Following his Booker-shortlisted Real Life and 2023's The Late Americans, this book is rich with themes of touch and isolation, set in a post-pandemic era where human connection feels scarce.
A Portrait of Isolation and Artistic Ambition
Wyeth's background is marked by hardship: born in Virginia, where Black farmhands suffered health issues from tobacco picking, he grew up fatherless in a trailer park with his white mother. This upbringing fostered a sense of exclusion, leading him to believe that "the future and history belonged to another species of human." Now in New York, he works at a Chelsea gallery and as an art-restorer, but his own paintings—small-scale canvases reimagining European auteur films with Black figures—face criticism as mere "thought experiments" or "bourgeois" betrayals.
Stacked with Ideas but Hampered by Language
The novel is stacked with Wyeth's reflections on Black art and aesthetics, including sharp critiques of "diasporic grifters" and artists like Kehinde Wiley. Taylor echoes arguments from critics like Rachel Hunter Himes, questioning whether Black art can escape historical harm and move beyond identity politics. However, these important issues are often presented in clumsy, academic language that feels inert and reminiscent of art journals, detracting from their impact.
An Exhausting Protagonist and Unengaging Relationships
Wyeth himself is a cynical and exhausting character, whose observations range from hackneyed to overly finicky. His relationship with Keating, a former priest, unfolds tentatively but lacks emotional depth, making it hard for readers to invest in their affair. The novel's use of free indirect speech adds to the confusion, with awkward phrases that may reflect Wyeth's gaucheness or the author's own stylistic missteps.
Final Verdict: A Missed Opportunity
While Minor Black Figures aims to preserve the "insignificance of the ordinary," it ultimately fails to bring its ideas to life due to stilted prose and a tedious narrative. Published by Jonathan Cape, this novel offers a portrait of a working-class artist but struggles under the weight of its own academic didacticism.
