In 18 remarkable essays, John Updike has collected together his thoughts and observations on American art. Beginning with early American portraits and landscapes, he goes on to extol two late-nineteenth-century masters, Winslow Homer and Thomas Eakins, considers the eccentric pre-modern James McNeill Whistler, discusses the competing American Impressionists and Realists of the early twentieth century and concludes with appreciations of Edward Hopper, Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol. The resulting volume is proof that Updike is still looking and seeing what only he can describe.