Sister Wendy's catholic view of art is as rare as her insightful view of Western religious painting. The work she admires is startlingly diverse, embracing Paul Revere's silver and a bodhisattva from Pakistan, an Issey Miyake metallic polyester dress and a Mayan vase, not to mention paintings by artists as remote in style and vision as John Singer Sargent and Joan Mitchell. Sister Wendy's American Collection is a highly selective tour through six major U.S. museums: the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio, the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. To frequent museumgoers, her choices initially can seem charmingly arbitrary--until they begin to inspire the urge to check out those galleries again.

With a page or two allotted to each art work (short essays in large type and 250-odd modestly sized illustrations), this is a friendly book to curl up with, as unpretentious as Sister Wendy herself. Anyone looking for detailed art historical information will be disappointed by her tendency to coast on a thimbleful of facts, yet her gift for plainspoken rapture about art remains intact on the page.

When she singles out from the Met's vast collections an Ottoman sultan's elegant logo with its "small paradise" of painted flowers, when she peers at the tense body of the young cheat in Caravaggio's The Cardsharps at the Kimbell, or ambles along the length of a Sung dynasty landscape painting at the Cleveland museum, that's when Sister Wendy proves the value of close, patient looking as a contemplative act. --Cathy Curtis

From Library Journal
Sister Wendy Beckett strikes again with this discussion of works in six of America's renowned art museums, singing high praise for her choices. The enthusiastic art critic includes a variety of media paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, armor, and other art objects and the individual works originate from a dizzying array of time periods and several countries. The main criterion Sister Wendy uses for selection (a daunting task since most of the museums possess over half a million pieces) is how the particular work moves her. She allots two pages to each piece, giving tidbits of information regarding its history and technique, some fun insights, and brief biographies of the artists. The text is readable and enjoyable. This entertaining introduction to some of the country's best museum holdings serves well as art appreciation and as a guide to the featured museums; the PBS series this spring will also increase interest. Recommended for public libraries. Jennifer Mayer, Univ. of Wyoming Libs., Laramie Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The art-lovin' nun tours major U.S. museums. Read now, see the TV series next spring.Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
Sister Wendy Beckett has been dubbed a "pop star" by the New York Times and "a phenomenon" by the Washington Post. She is certainly one of the world's best-known and best-loved art critics, familiar to millions from her wildly popular art series on PBS.In Sister Wendy's American Collection, she visits six of America's most prestigious museums: the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City), the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, Massachusetts), the Art Institute of Chicago, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Kimbell Art Museum (Fort Worth, Texas), and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In each, Sister Wendy chooses a wide variety of artpaintings, sculpture, porcelain figures-and draws attention to the small details of the work, revealing hidden meanings and symbolism. She relates the background of the artist and explains the techniques and the histories behind each work in a straightforward language that speaks to all with humor and insight.More than 250 full-color illustrations illuminate Sister Wendy's text. Sister Wendy's American Collection is a wonderful tour of six great American museums -- it is also the equivalent of taking a personal tour with Sister Wendy, studying and enjoying her favorite pieces of art, chosen from across the whole breadth of history to the present. It is a fascinating journey, one that can be taken again and again. Sister Wendy's American Collection is soon to be a PBS miniseries.

About the Author
Sister Wendy Beckett is a contemplative nun. She lives alone in a second-hand trailer on the grounds of a Carmelite monastery in Norfolk, England. She has a degree in English from St. Anne's College, Oxford, but she is a self-taught art lover. Her expert ability to critique and interpret art is recognized worldwide.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Who would ever have guessed that a shy, unassuming English nun would have risen to become one of the world's most respected and widely-read art commentators? Sister Wendy Beckett has exhibited a special knack, as evidenced in Sister Wendy's American Collection, for unfolding the joys of art to an ever-growing readership, even those, as she has said, "for whom this is a world closed."

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Dubbed a "pop star" (New York Times) and a "phenomenon" (Washington Post), the host of the wildly popular art series on PBS, Sister Wendy, is back, this time at six of America's prestigious museums: the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Kimbell Art Museum (Fort Worth), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City), the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Chicago Art Institute, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, In each museum, Sister Wendy picks a variety of art—paintings, sculpture, porcelain figures—and draws attention to the small details and the history of the artist in a way that takes the mystery out and at the same time allows the wonder in. As she says, "We know great art by its effect on us. If we area prepared to look without preconceptions, without defenses, without haste, then art will change us."

With writing that is informative, chatty, funny, and revealing, and more than 250 color illustrations throughout, Sister Wendy's American Collection offers a personal tour through the country's greatest art that will inspire readers to make their own pilgrimage to the great museums of America.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Sister Wendy Beckett strikes again with this discussion of works in six of America's renowned art museums, singing high praise for her choices. The enthusiastic art critic includes a variety of media paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, armor, and other art objects and the individual works originate from a dizzying array of time periods and several countries. The main criterion Sister Wendy uses for selection (a daunting task since most of the museums possess over half a million pieces) is how the particular work moves her. She allots two pages to each piece, giving tidbits of information regarding its history and technique, some fun insights, and brief biographies of the artists. The text is readable and enjoyable. This entertaining introduction to some of the country's best museum holdings serves well as art appreciation and as a guide to the featured museums; the PBS series this spring will also increase interest. Recommended for public libraries. Jennifer Mayer, Univ. of Wyoming Libs., Laramie Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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