Fans, regardless of their hero's field of endeavor, both love and loathe “the vault,” that magical repository of discards and ephemera where, if one delves deep enough into the detritus, a long-buried gem might be recovered. The particular item may be a misplaced painting, an unreleased song, or, for lovers of literature, a misfiled manuscript; but the mixture of excitement and trepidation that accompanies the search is largely the same. On the positive side, the quest promises the possibility of uncovering a work that is not simply previously unknown but one that will completely reframe perceptions of the artist—a revelation, in other words. Dampening the thrill of this pursuit, though, is the anxiety that comes from wondering whether the work has sunk to Mariana Trench depths for a reason. Maybe it does not deserve to see the light of day.
As in life, the disappointments in art tend to outnumber...
