Description:
How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? How many Sister Wendy books can be squeezed from this seemingly indefatigable art enthusiast? Only time will tell, of course, but look! Here's another! My Favorite Things is characteristically warm and readable, with 75 reproductions of a wide range of paintings, sculptures, and miscellaneous objects like a Delft cup and saucer. There are many works that would be on any list of favorites, such as Woman in Blue Reading a Letter, by Vermeer, but there are also some lovely surprises. A little-known bronze fragment from first-century Rome is one, and Sister Wendy perceptively describes the mixed expression of wistfulness and petulance of this head of a young man. Many of her choices are fresh--like the Portuguese tile depicting a scowling owl or the 15th-century painting of Cicero as a little boy, poring over his books, looking eerily like one of Balthus's 20th-century children, but without the latter's whiff of sensuality. Unfortunately, the book was designed by someone with perhaps too much time on her hands, whose goal seems to have been to try out every typeface in her computer kit. The frantic result is like bad makeup, insulting to both the art and the text. The book's title, with its reference to the singing nun from The Sound of Music, has a cynically commercial cast--and think how long that song would have been if raindrops on roses had led off a list of 75. No wonder Sister Wendy's asides on the works reproduced here seem rushed. However, they're also vintage Sister Wendy and draw the reader in with piquant, personal observations. For Sister Wendy aficionados, the book's charm will far outweigh its editorial shortcomings. --Peggy Moorman
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