false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171681551m/113834.jpg 113834 5 For those who've enjoyed the original, the good news is that the new edition of <I>The Story of Painting</I> has grown by more than 300 pages of photographs--magnified close-ups of details from nearly half the 450 paintings in the book. Fauvist paint strokes become mighty slabs; sparkling light on a Dutch still life is revealed as a series of tiny dots; the cheeks of a young man in an Italian Renaissance portrait betray a touch of five o'clock shadow. This kind of close looking is seductive, and it's an important part of Sister Wendy's direct, unpretentious approach to art.<p> As a history of painting, Sister Wendy's book has its strong points (works with religious or spiritual themes and those that lend themselves to psychological interpretation) as well as its lapses (a very skimpy discussion of Cubism and inadequate treatment of works from the late 20th century). Even the title is a bit of a misnomer. The painting in question is purely Western; there is nothing here about Indian or Persian miniatures, or the great tradition of Chinese landscapes.<p> But what Sister Wendy alone offers are vivid, personal interpretations that come from a deep well of emotional sympathy with works of art. Who else would notice the way the bagpiper in <I>The Wedding Feast</I> by Pieter Breughel "stares at the porridge with the longing of the truly hungry"? Who else would point out how Venus--the "older woman" pleading with "virile" Adonis not to go off to war in Titian's "Venus and Adonis"--shows us "her superb back and buttocks, beguilingly rounded, full of promise." Rather than portraying Western art as the dutiful production of "masterpieces," she revels in the physicality of paint and the variety of human experience these works represent. <I>--Cathy Curtis</I> 109603 1994 Sister Wendy's Story of Painting (Enhanced and Expanded Edition) total:59|5:36|4:15|3:7|2:0|1:1| 59 262 90 7 3 2 false false Sat Feb 07 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 07 13:27:45 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 07 13:28:55 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Wed Sep 23 19:04:59 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 23 19:08:08 -0700 2009
And since I'm in that frame of mind as...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Feb 17 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 22 21:30:53 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 19 08:14:45 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Dec 26 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Jun 25 17:46:13 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 25 17:48:48 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Tue Oct 06 13:47:52 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 06 13:48:20 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue Aug 25 00:04:16 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 18 17:12:02 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Sat Jul 11 15:47:44 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 18 17:22:32 -0700 2009 Good for reading once, but too big t...more...]]> 0 0 false false Wed Nov 04 19:33:22 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 04 19:33:22 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Fri Oct 23 20:54:11 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 23 20:55:17 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Thu Oct 22 18:33:44 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 18:33:44 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Oct 20 16:47:49 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 20 16:52:57 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Oct 18 11:12:10 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 18 11:12:10 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Oct 17 17:42:11 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 17 17:42:11 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Oct 13 02:50:25 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 13 02:50:25 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Oct 06 21:48:00 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 06 21:48:00 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Oct 03 12:22:56 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 03 12:23:04 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Thu Sep 24 09:32:55 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 24 09:32:55 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Thu Sep 17 11:42:03 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 17 11:42:03 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Sep 09 14:55:42 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 09 14:55:42 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sat Aug 22 14:45:11 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 22 14:45:11 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=113834