American Paintings and Sculpture at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute

Winslow Homer's Sleigh Ride, one of his most romantically beautiful and mysterious paintings, is rivaled by the nine other breathtaking Homer oils included in this treasure trove. The book catalogs all the American paintings and sculptures at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass., a museum known for its 19th-century French paintings. Included works range from Walter McEwen's Dutch-influenced Girl Looking in a Mirror (ca. 1890), to Nanna Bryant's marble nude sculpture Eve (1925) to Harry Watrous's eerie 1913 portrait of a black-clad woman with blackbird to Raisa Robbins's charmingly naive oil Russian Country Fair (1944). John Singer Sargent's astonishing acuity and innate artistry are on view in 12 color reproductions. There also are masterpieces by Mary Cassatt, George Inness, Louis Eilshemius and others. Lively, insightful commentaries are provided by Conrads, a curator at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Mo. (Apr.)