A collection of essays on art by John Updike, penned during the 1980s. Some of it feels dated -- little mention of women artists, for one, not to mention that several of these essays are based on exhibits shown back then. Still, Updike does discuss art in an interesting way.

I especially liked his thoughts on the Helga Pictures -- titled "Heavily Hyped Helga" -- mainly because my husband and I saw that exhibit on our honeymoon in San Francisco; and now we live in what could be considered Wyeth country. ( )

What do great writers do when they're not writing books? Updike is among those financially successful in their own lifetimes who wrote for whatever magazine would pay well for their work, and happily, in the case of Updike, that included many essays on art. Without apology, venom, or regret, he tells it like he sees it—chastising Renoir for not being quite as great as Monet and Degas and unself-consciously, yet fondly, labeling a Diebenkorn Abstract Expressionist painting as "an expensive variety of wallpaper" (p. 80). Updike is teaching us, by example, how to view a painting. In Richard Estes's "Telephone Booths" the viewer may see a well-executed, realistic painting of people in telephone booths, a common urban sight. Updike sees "The sun is shining on a car hood. A fat woman is striding past a mannequin. Merchants are proclaiming their names and wares in visual shouts reduced to isolated letters" (p. 21). He offers us models of contemplative essays. Just Looking is richly illustrated with full-color plates of the paintings discussed. Through Updike's words, the masters become our familiars, and we care that they painted—and what they painted. Updike's knowledge indeed seems to come from a lifetime of "just looking," and he sees with an eye that the uneducated art observer can understand. He is accessible. He offers a way to view art that allows us to appreciate what we initially could not understand—and to dislike it if we must. ( )

This beautiful volume is a lavishly illustrated tribute to John Updike's primal artistic interest, drawing and painting. For a deeper understanding of Updike's work, the interesting essays on John Singer Sargent, Ralph Barton, Jean Ipousteguy, and Andrew Wyeth are particularly noteworthy, as is the final essay on the interrelations of writing and the visual arts. ( )

Dubiously qualified. Pot-pourri of art that captures Updike's eclectic attention. ( )