An accidental blog

"If God is sovereign, then his lordship must extend over all of life, and it cannot be restricted to the walls of the church or within the Christian orbit." Abraham Kuyper Common Grace 1.1.

Friday 10 February 2006

Hans Rookmaaker

There is an interesting piece on Hans Rookmaaker in Jan/ Feb 2006 Books and Culture . William Edgar writes:



During his lifetime, Hans Rookmaaker guided a great host of students into a strategy for understanding their times and working within their society with courage and creativity. His best-selling Modern Art and the Death of a Culture (IVP, 1970) was nothing short of a ground-breaking study of the surrounding culture, both in its threats and its promises. He dared to make sense of the steps to modern art by noting the general trend from a theocentric world to an absurd universe that lay behind the pictures. Malcolm Muggeridge, himself a returned prodigal, gave it a ringing endorsement on the pages of Esquire. Following in the tradition of the historian Groen van Prinsterer, the theologian-statesman Abraham Kuyper, and the philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd, Rookmaaker believed there was a spiritual background to Western painting which was the key to unlocking its meaning. However, unlike amateur attempts to reduce art to philosophy, Rookmaaker led the reader on a visit to hundreds of paintings, writings, and musical numbers, pausing to scrutinize their composition and motifs.

In another article Richard Russell has written:

Dooyeweerd's ideas profoundly influenced Hans Rookmaaker, playing a crucial role in his conversion, explicitly shaping his academic works like Synthetist Art Theories and implicit in his more popular writings like Modern Art and the Death of a Culture. In turn, Rookmaaker introduced Francis Schaeffer to some of Dooyeweerd's themes---a dependency that Schaeffer rarely, if ever, acknowledged.


Also on Rookmaaker:
Tapes available:
http://www.englishlabri.org/christianityandthearts.htm
http://www.englishlabri.org/thechristianlife.htm
http://www.soundword.com/l-abri-rookmaaker--hans.html

Biography

Linette Martin Hans Rookmaaker: A Biography (Hodders, 1979)

Laurel Gasque Hans Rookmaaker: An Open Life

A brief bio and description of the Rookmaaker archives held at Wheaton college here.


On Rookmaker

The importance of Hans Rookmaaker


Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker (editor) The Complete Works of Hans R. Rookmaaker (Piquant, 2002/3)


details
reviews


Art needs no justification (IVP, 1978) on-line version

Update: thanks to Gregory Baus the links have been updated and should work now.

6 comments:

Baus said...

your web archive link for Art Needs No Justification didn't work but I found one that does work HERE.

stevebishop said...

Thanks Gregory

Baus said...

uh... and "The Importance Of Rookmaaker" article at WRF/Comment...
try this one:
http://wrf.ca/comment/article.cfm?ID=88

fred said...

I've been told that The Saint H.R. Rookmaaker collected in secret the pornographic lithographs of the Dutch artist Aat Veldhoen.
Reformed christians are histori cally only interested in money and sex.

Josh said...

Hi steve, I'm an artist trying to start an email based journal for the discussion of christianity and contemporary arts.Like an edited email blog, if you like. I have read rookmaaker and find it really interesting. I would really appreciate your input. please forward your email address to stowawaysterling@hotmail.com
Many thanks,
Josh Young
Chelsea Art College.

Josh said...

Hi steve, I'm an artist trying to start an email based journal for the discussion of christianity and contemporary arts.Like an edited email blog, if you like. I have read rookmaaker and find it really interesting. I would really appreciate your input. please forward your email address to stowawaysterling@hotmail.com
Many thanks,
Josh Young
Chelsea Art College.