In 1991, a BBC producer, Nicholas Rossiter, persuaded her to do a stand-up documentary about Britains National Gallery, talking about its paintings. The whole point of prayer is that it is just us, there before the loving God. Seen on PBS. I loved listening to her talk about art. The BBC said it commissioned Beckett in 1991 to host a TV documentary on the National Gallery in London. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. It was to her that we turned, in 2009, for a review of a book about the darkness in Mother Teresas life: This woman who felt that there was no God and lived in emotional anguish was also profoundly aware, intellectually, that God was her total life and that she lived only to love him. Star Wendy Beckett See production, box office & company info Search on Amazon search for Blu-ray and DVD Add to Watchlist You can also manage your account details and your print subscription after logging in. To those who regarded her life as a hermit and a TV celebrity as self-contradictory, the response lay in her sense of obedience. Born in South Africa in 1930, Wendy Beckett received her dual vocations -- God and art -- early in life. She died at the Carmelite Monastery in Quidenham at the age of 88. She soared to international stardom with her BBC documentaries on the history of art. Sister Wendy. In the 19th century, Europeans went crazy for one story: Atala, or the Story of Two Lovers in the Desert. According to The New York Times, she attended mass daily. She died on December 26, 2018. Oxford University List of Members for the Year 1972, London, OUP, 1972, p.720, which records full name. This is an exciting opportunity to oversee and further develop our formal programme for the development of curates (IME Phase 2). Beckett continued writing about her interest in icons in the second volume of her Sister Wendy Contemplates series, published in July 2011. Thank you for your help! After attending a teachers college in Liverpool, England, she returned to South Africa, where she taught for 15 years. Sister Wendy Beckett, (born February 25, 1930, Johannesburg, South Africadied December 26, 2018, East Harling, England), South African-born British nun who appeared on a series of popular television shows and wrote a number of books as an art critic. She taught in Cape Town, South Africa, and Liverpool in northern England. It contained colour illustrations of works by a range of modern artists, with her comments, which were always scrupulously truthful, our reviewer concluded. My time is for God. At an art exhibit in Norfolk, where a BBC camera crew happened to be taping a documentary about feminist author Germaine Greer, Beckett was asked to give her impression of the show on tape. The Daily Mail. Eventually, she decided to publish an art book to earn money for the convent. A natural if eccentric personality with a gift for drama, Sister Wendy helped make art accessible to the general public. She was wonderful! Sister Wendy Beckett (1930 - 2018) was the unlikely star of art history documentary programs on the BBC. David Willcock, executive producer for Spire Films, has worked with Sister Wendy Beckett on several of her series. Shame on you, Degas, she scolded the French Impressionist for portraying women in gawky poses. (You will need to register. When Randall Wright, a BBC arts producer, happened to see her on a regional network, he recruited her for a documentary called Sister Wendys Odyssey. Search by Name. When Sister Wendy Beckett took a rare break from her life of solitude to visit an art gallery, the hermetic nun didn't expect to end up a celebrity. December 26, 2018. Her novelty may have also worn off for commissioners in Britain, for her subsequent attempt to return to our screens to present a short series on Orthodox icons, a great passion, failed to find a taker. Three Jesuit astronomers and the 16th-century pope who commissioned the Gregorian calendar have recently been honored with having asteroids named after them. Anyone can read what you share. If youre already a subscriber or donor, thank you! "Bespectacled, bewimpled and with a decided lisp, the 67-year-old woman makes . Thanks to it, we will be able to sustain and grow the Magazine. There was always something contradictory about a nun, who had devoted her life to solitude and contemplation (since 1970 in a caravan in the grounds of the enclosed Carmelite monastery at Quidenham in Norfolk), but who also managed to slip away from the cloister to make large-scale TV series on (in the eyes of the world, if not Sister Wendy herself) non-religious subjects. Sister Wendy Beckett (1930-2018), contemplative nun and consecrated virgin, delighted audiences worldwide with her lively BBC documentaries on the history of art. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sister-Wendy-Beckett, PBS Online - Sister Wendy's American Collection. Sister Wendy was definitely not what you would expect in either an art critic or a television personality. [11], Beckett spent many years translating Medieval Latin scripts before deciding, in 1980, to pursue art. Wendy Mary Beckett [1] (25 February 1930 - 26 December 2018), better known as Sister Wendy, was a British religious sister and art historian [2] who became known internationally during the 1990s when she presented a series of BBC television documentaries on the history of art. She had regular contact with just one other person: the nun who brought her milk and the mail. By 2002, Beckett had published some 20 books and completed 11 art programs for public television. Beckett was born in South Africa and raised in Scotland. Every contribution, however big or small, is very valuable for our future. Pulse Nightclub Mass Shooting: Remembering the 49 Victims, 6 Years Later, Heaven's Gate, 25 Years Later: Remembering 38 People Who Died with Cult Leader, Clifford Alexander Jr., First Black Secretary of the U.S. Army, Dies at 88, Oprah Winfrey Shares Her Dad Has Died at Age 88 Following Illness: 'We Could Feel Peace Enter the Room', Kathryn Hays, Beloved 'As the World Turns' Actress, Dead at 88, Meet the Talented Emerging Artists That Should Be on Your Playlists This Spring, A Gallery of Great Professors Agree That An Interested Student Is What Their Job Is About, Alaska Rep. Don Young, Longest Serving Member in Current U.S. Congress, Dies at 88, We Came from the Sea: Now, Says Thomas Mann's Daughter Elisabeth, We Must Return to It, Carmelite Monastery in Quidenham, England, 25 percent share of the British viewing audience, the Vatican granting her permission to pursue a life of solitude and prayer. We love art history and writing about it. Theres little question that she caught a lot of peoples attention by walking around major museums in her nuns attire, looking and sounding like a conservative grandmother, and then saying perceptive and sassy things like this She had a musical written about her, so people clearly found her compelling. If you dont know about God, art is the only thing that can set you free., After Sister Wendys appearance in the National Gallery documentary, the Controller of BBC2 rang the films director with the instruction: Give that nun a series.. Behind her gentle, toothy smile, though, Sister Wendy could be fierce. This book, entitled The Iconic Jesus, takes the reader through scenes from the New Testament, accompanied by Beckett's reflections. [10][9], In 1970, health problems forced Beckett to abandon teaching and to return to England. Later, as an act of humility, she reclaimed her given name. Some art critics agreed, calling her amateurish. Sister Wendy Beckett, the cloistered nun who ventured out of seclusion to become a celebrity art critic and historian, died Wednesday at Englands Carmelite Monastery Quidenham in Norfolk, according to the BBC. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. But, she added: Nothing is more humiliating than being on television. Known for her witty and eye-opening commentary on art, all made while dressed in her black nun habit, Beckett led a series of documentary programs for the BBC in the 1990s and early 2000s. Wendy's family welcomes you to join a mass service at 11:00 on Thursday February 23, 2023 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) in Kamloops BC, followed by a Celebration of . Rapidly establishing herself as an unconventional and engaging commentator, fizzing with enthusiasm, she became a household name in the 1990s, in spite of the life of seclusion which she maintained between television recording sessions. (Orbis/Twitter via @carmelitespirit) Back in the 1990s, Sister Wendy Beckett (1930-2018), a contemplative nun and consecrated virgin, delighted audiences worldwide with her lively BBC documentaries on the history of art. TV art historian and nun Sister Wendy Beckett has died at the age of 88, it has been announced. This brought her to the attention of a BBC producer and led, in 1992, to the debut Sister Wendys Odyssey. The nun passed away on Boxing Day 2018 at the age of 88 - here's everything you need to know about her. She was a brilliant art critic.". She assigned all her earnings to a Carmelite order that had sheltered her for decades, and she attended Mass daily, even when traveling. I dread being someone wholl fritter it away., Her profound expositions of the paintings are deceptively simple, wrote our TV reviewer in 2013, of Sister Wendy and the Art of the Gospel. However, she occasionally made television appearances, and Sister Wendy at the Norton Simon Museum, a TV movie commissioned by the Norton Simon Art Foundation, aired in 2002. LONDON (AP) Sister Wendy Beckett, an art historian and critic who rose to prominence on TV late in life, has died. Whether thats Eve or not, theres a human face there looking straight at Adam with the eyes daring him to respond to the challenge. Smith also drove her around the country to meet the artists when Beckett was writing her book about contemporary women artists. The Carmelites offered her a home on their property and took care of her for the rest of her life. But most viewers really liked her anyway, because she had a great personality on screen, she knew her art, and she made it interesting to them. She liked wonderful sweet people who thanked her for helping them understand paintings, she told The New York Times in 1997. Her appearance in an ITV programme, Visions, described as a beautiful vignette, was followed two years later by her own programme, Sister Wendys Odyssey. Im all for atheists, she once announced. Art Critique. As he drove his spear through her throat, she said, their eyes met, and he saw how young she was and how lovely and brave. It was seen in some of her verdicts on modern artists who failed to interest her, though cloaked as ever in a show of nun-like Christian charity. After obtaining permission to study art in the 1980s - largely through books and postcard reproductions of the great works obtained from galleries - Sister Wendy decided to write a book to earn money for her convent. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Becoming a television star certainly seemed like an unlikely path for Beckett who was raised in Edinburgh when she joined the teaching order of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur at just 16. Faced with poor health, Sister Wendy asked to pursue a life of solitude. [32], In 1993, Sister Wendy recorded an abridged audio version of Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich. She spoke very comfortably and often highly of such works. Some of her art world colleagues criticized her lack of exposure to original works of art, but she had at least as many admirers. Sister Wendy Beckett the Roman Catholic nun who became an unconventional television star died on Wednesday at the age of 88, the Carmelite Monastery in Quidenham, England confirmed to. After Sister Wendys American Collection and Sister Wendy at the Norton Simon Museum had made her name with US TV viewers in 2001-02, she declined any further offers. She died at the Carmelite Monastery in Quidenham at the age of 88. She would get up at 1am, the best time for prayer and contemplation, she said. Following up in 1992, the BBC produced the six-part Sister Wendys Odyssey, with a wider focus on museums across England and Scotland. She graduated from Oxford with high honors in English literature, and one of her original jobs in her monastery was translating Medieval Latin texts. Alexandra believes that enjoying the art of the past is the closest she can get to time travel, only much safer. Sister Wendy Beckett: an unlikely star with an inspirational faith in beauty. I was impressed by the depth of her knowledge, even of artists who are not well known, he said. Sister Wendy Beckett, the TV star and art historian, has died at the age of 88. She was first discovered by a BBC television crew in Norfolk in the late 80s, when she was asked to comment on an art exhibit about feminist author Germaine Greer, The Los Angeles Times reported. She wrote, asking for a catalog of a George Segal sculpture exhibit. The piece caught the eye of a British Broadcasting Company (BBC) producer, and in 1992 Sister Wendys Odyssey made its debut. Terms of Use She was, by her own account, a frail girl. She knew many of these artworks only from reproductions, and the part of the shows magic was capturing the moment she encountered these works for the first time in person. Church Times 2023. Visitation was held on Thursday, February 23rd 2023 at 11:00 AM at the . She would find time for a couple of hours of work, writing the occasional article and a series of well-received books on prayer, St Paul and the religious festivals. Video, Isabel Oakeshott: Why I leaked minister's messages, Harry and Meghan told to 'vacate' Frogmore Cottage, Whiskey fungus forces Jack Daniels to stop construction, Explosive found in check-in luggage at US airport, Messages reveal battle over Covid school policy, Covid messages leak a massive betrayal - Hancock, Rare Jurassic-era bug found at Arkansas Walmart, India PM Modi urges G20 to overcome divisions, Aboriginal spears taken in 1770 to return to Sydney. She was 88. She had a gift for storytelling and drama, as well as a clear passion for her subject matter. From the time she appeared in her first art appreciation program on BBC in 1991, Becketts provocative and witty commentaries captured the attention of museum curators, book publishers and art critics as well as art lovers around the world. I find myself saying to myself firmly that I might not have been interested or excited or challenged by what Ive seen, she said on a rare trip to London in 2008 to see an exhibition by those on the Turner Prize shortlist, but the artists who made these installations must have been. Sister Wendy Beckett (1930-2018) was the unlikely star of art history documentary programs on the BBC. [9] Later she moved to Johannesburg where she was appointed the superior of the local convent, while she also lectured at the University of the Witwatersrand. But her insightful, unscripted commentaries a blend of history, criticism and observations on Leonardo da Vinci, van Gogh, Botticelli, Rembrandt, Monet and other Western masters connected emotionally with millions in Britain and America. Please visit ourmembership pageto learn how you can invest in our work by subscribing to the magazine or making a donation. 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