A Gift of Angels: The Art of Mission San Xavier del Bac (Southwest Center)

"Weighing in at almost ten pounds, Fontana and McCain's effort promises to be comprehensive, and in some ways it is. The Mission, we learn, was first Jesuit, then Franciscan, was completed in 1797 on the Northern frontier of what was then New Spain and is now outside Tucson, and was built to evangelize the native people, the O'odham, who also provided most of the labor. There follows an overview of the structure and art on display, and a breakdown covering every painting and statue found inside. Fontana, an anthropologist who worships there, discusses each saint depicted in great depth. While not uninteresting, these mini-histories aren't specific to the Mission, and this, coupled with the fact that each artwork is discussed on its own rather than in context, makes it hard to get a sense of the place as a whole. Though the diagrams and photographs are lovely, readers may wish for a better sense of the spirit of the place people call The White Dove of the Desert and the Sistine Chapel of the New World. For that, perhaps, a pilgrimage is in order. 175 color photos.
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A monumental achievement, this very big book (measuring 12.5x14"), was 15 years in the making, and yet that time period is 35 years short of anthropologist Fontana's devotion to the subject. He lives within a mile of Mission San Xavier del Bac and is a foremost authority on its history and art. His text offers thorough investigation of every facet of the Mission known as the Sistine Chapel of the New World. It was built by Spanish missionaries in the late 1700s, and has been a National Historic Landmark since 1963, visited by 200,000 people each year at its remote location in the Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona. This book is unique in that it inventories and illustrates in color (200 photos) nearly all of the painted and sculptured art (although some 180 angels are absent, for reasons of space). Photography is by Edward McCain. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Rising suddenly out of the desert landscape, Mission San Xavier del Bac's graceful art and architecture have drawn visitors from all over the world. Now Bernard Fontana--the leading expert on San Xavier--and award-winning photographer Edward McCain have teamed up to show us this glorious place as we've never seen it before.