Description:
For those of us who are blind to the virtues of porcelain figurines--those oh-so-dainty, pale creatures with oh-so-bland little faces--the notion of using them to illustrate a book about the nine muses of classical lore seems peculiar. Why not choose from the many works of art on the subject by important classical, Renaissance, and Baroque artists? Sister Wendy Beckett, whose sprightly commentary has revolutionized art history programming on educational television, begs to differ. In her view, only ceramics can capture the muses' "enchanting blend of the divine and the earthly." Her little book is infused with the unshakable faith in the communicative powers of art that is her trademark. A particularly insipid figurine of Erato--the muse of the lyric or love song--by an anonymous French artist of the mid-18th-century prompts her to observe that the sculptor "could not quite manage" to make the figure's hair fly out convincingly as she dances or show her robe in motion. "But she does seem to move," Sister Wendy writes, "quite enough for us to sense that she gravitates toward her poets. She does not approach smilingly. Love is too serious, perhaps too painful. Those whom she inspires will need the comfort of her dark grapes." Indeed. Sister Wendy fans nevertheless may want to pass up this book in favor of two heftier volumes--Sister Wendy's American Collection and an expanded edition of The Story of Painting--which give the most famous member of the Notre Dame order of nuns considerably more artistic substance to muse upon. --Cathy Curtis
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