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Studies in Theology and the Arts
Modern Art and the Life of a Culture: The Religious Impulses of Modernism
For many Christians, engaging with modern art raises several questions: Is the Christian faith at odds with modern art? Does modernism contain religious themes? What is the place of Christian artists in the landscape of modern art? Nearly fifty years ago, Dutch art historian and theologian Hans Rookmaaker offered his answers to these questions when he published his groundbreaking work, Modern Art and the Death of a Culture, which was characterized by both misgivings and hopefulness. While appreciating Rookmaaker's invaluable contribution to the study of theology and the arts, this volume coauthored by an artist and a theologian responds to his work and offers its own answers to these questions by arguing that there were actually strong religious impulses that positively shaped modern visual art. Instead of affirming a pattern of decline and growing antipathy towards faith, the authors contend that theological engagement and inquiry can be perceived across a wide range of modern art French, British, German, Dutch, Russian and North American and through particular works by artists such as Gauguin, Picasso, David Jones, Caspar David Friedrich, van Gogh, Kandinsky, Warhol and many others. This book, the first in IVP Academic's new Studies in Theology and the Arts series, brings together the disciplines of art history and theology and points to the signs of life in modern art in order to help Christians navigate these difficult waters."
376 pages, Paperback
Published May 24, 2016
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January 8, 2019
[Finished on 12/31/18.]
The title of this book is a response to Rookmaaker's Modern Art and the Death of Culture. The authors believe that Rookmaaker was too negative and too dismissive of modern art as nihilistic and godless. (I have not read Rookmaaker, and one need not have read his book to profit from this one.) The authors believe that modern art has been influenced by the faith of artists, even if they have unorthodox faith.
After interacting with Rookmaaker, the authors analyze art (almost entirely paintings) from 1800 to roughly 1970. Their analysis groups artists by country and century (roughly).
The authors examine artists famous and less so, often digging into the spiritual biographies of the artists. The introduction to many artists and the interesting analysis of paintings made this book an engaging read.
However, if Rookmaaker was too negative, these authors seem to be on the other end of the pendulum swing. They seem to give modern artists too much credit. One example near the end is Andy Warhol. They describe him as a Christian (he faithfully attended Catholic churches his entire life). Yet there is no mention of his homosexuality or his pornographic works. When people are so eager to present an alternative narrative that they ignore important details, it's frankly dishonest. The authors also gave John Cage far too much credit. This came at the end of the book, and left a bad taste in my mouth.
I'm not sure that most of their analysis fell along these lines. But perhaps they presented narratives of artists that only fit their own narrative about modern art.
I suspect the truth lies somewhere between Rookmaaker and these authors. Sure, all art reflects religious beliefs (for people are inescapably religious). And there were Christian modern artists, as well as questionably Christian artists, or non-Christian artists who borrowed Christian themes. Analysis of art can and should be religious in nature, but we must be careful to be honest.
The title of this book is a response to Rookmaaker's Modern Art and the Death of Culture. The authors believe that Rookmaaker was too negative and too dismissive of modern art as nihilistic and godless. (I have not read Rookmaaker, and one need not have read his book to profit from this one.) The authors believe that modern art has been influenced by the faith of artists, even if they have unorthodox faith.
After interacting with Rookmaaker, the authors analyze art (almost entirely paintings) from 1800 to roughly 1970. Their analysis groups artists by country and century (roughly).
The authors examine artists famous and less so, often digging into the spiritual biographies of the artists. The introduction to many artists and the interesting analysis of paintings made this book an engaging read.
However, if Rookmaaker was too negative, these authors seem to be on the other end of the pendulum swing. They seem to give modern artists too much credit. One example near the end is Andy Warhol. They describe him as a Christian (he faithfully attended Catholic churches his entire life). Yet there is no mention of his homosexuality or his pornographic works. When people are so eager to present an alternative narrative that they ignore important details, it's frankly dishonest. The authors also gave John Cage far too much credit. This came at the end of the book, and left a bad taste in my mouth.
I'm not sure that most of their analysis fell along these lines. But perhaps they presented narratives of artists that only fit their own narrative about modern art.
I suspect the truth lies somewhere between Rookmaaker and these authors. Sure, all art reflects religious beliefs (for people are inescapably religious). And there were Christian modern artists, as well as questionably Christian artists, or non-Christian artists who borrowed Christian themes. Analysis of art can and should be religious in nature, but we must be careful to be honest.
May 24, 2016
Summary: A response to the classic work Modern Art and the Death of a Culture by H. R. Rookmaker, arguing that Rookmaaker was unnecessarily pessimistic in his assessment of modern art, overlooking the religious impulses that shaped much of modern art.
A number of us of a certain age were thrilled when we came across H.R. Rookmaaker's Modern Art and the Death of a Culture, originally published by the same publisher of this work. Rookmaaker provided an analysis of modern art that made sense in terms of the wider movement from Reformation faith to Renaissance to the rise of the modern, existentialism and ultimately nihilism. Rookmaaker argued that this shift in worldview was reflected in the changing character of art. At the same time, Rookmaaker was not calling on Christians to abandon the world of art but rather to think Christianly in their art. There were just two problems with this. For one thing, almost no one outside the Christian community credited Rookmaaker's analysis, nor did it reflect the actual thinking of many of the artists about which he was writing whose art often reflected profound spiritual, and even Christian insight. It also often left Christian artists in a quandary between what their artistic practice in the studio led them to do versus what they thought Christians in the arts ought to be producing.
This book, the first in a new series on Studies in Theology and the Arts, is written as a response to and reappraisal of Rookmaaker's work. The authors, one of whom studied under Rookmaaker argue that the fundamental defect of Rookmaaker's work is that he did not grasp seriously what artists themselves were saying about their work. After two introductory chapters on the intersection of faith and modern art and the particular work of Rookmaaker, they survey the artists and periods covered by Rookmaaker moving from France to Germany, Holland, and Russia (particular work with icons and Dada liturgies) and finally on to the North American scene. They draw upon what artists themselves are saying about their work, and surprisingly, upon the spirituality, often Christian, reflected in works of which Rookmaaker was dismissive.
I was intrigued for example, with their handling of the work of Andy Warhol. They write:
"However, as with all of his other works we've seen thus far, Warhol's subversive parodies are aimed not at this subject matter but at the systems of mediation and the "handling" of that subject matter. We argue that Warhol's late religious paintings are best understood as the work of a devout Christian [earlier they cite evidence of the devotion in Warhol's regular mass attendance, service in a church's soup kitchen, and well-thumbed prayer book] wrestling with the problematic visuality of his faith, submersed as it is in a bog of visual kitsch and cliche', and profoundly vulnerable to the visual culture of commercial marketing and advertising. In the age of mechanical reproduction, religious imagery is every bit as exposed to the latent nihilism of the "vernacular glance" as photos of celebrities or of human tragedies. The sharp, ironic criticality of these religious paintings is that of a believer scrutinizing the common signage of his faith as it passes through the machinery of mass media. Warhol subjects this signage to the logic of vanitas painting, not for the sake of attacking belief but for the sake of 'labeling' one of the major modern obstacles to it."
What Anderson and Dyrness are proposing is that the case Rookmaaker made was not quite so simple. Yes, there is a devolution of worldview in the culture and yet artists often find themselves at the intersection of this devolution and deep spiritual values and their art reflects that complex response to "the givenness of things." While we may not appreciate all in the art or life of these artists, it is unjust to the work of many to simply associate it with a decaying and dying culture, when artists in fact are seeking to bring life or to question the ways of a dying culture.
The book concludes with an afterward by Dan Siedell, author of God on the Gallery, reflecting on why the work Anderson and Dyrness have done is important not only for the Christian community but also the broader artistic community. At one point he poses a question with which I'll conclude this review:
"Is it possible that scholars who are thinking theologically might be able to offer a more compelling history of modern art, one that can show the contemporary art world that the modern tradition of artistic practice is not a progression of stylistic innovation but a belief system, a way of understanding the self and its relationship to the world that continues to be viable and can address the present situation in the art world, and connect with them as human beings."
It seems to me that an affirmative answer to such a question might indeed be life and life-giving to our culture.
________________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
A number of us of a certain age were thrilled when we came across H.R. Rookmaaker's Modern Art and the Death of a Culture, originally published by the same publisher of this work. Rookmaaker provided an analysis of modern art that made sense in terms of the wider movement from Reformation faith to Renaissance to the rise of the modern, existentialism and ultimately nihilism. Rookmaaker argued that this shift in worldview was reflected in the changing character of art. At the same time, Rookmaaker was not calling on Christians to abandon the world of art but rather to think Christianly in their art. There were just two problems with this. For one thing, almost no one outside the Christian community credited Rookmaaker's analysis, nor did it reflect the actual thinking of many of the artists about which he was writing whose art often reflected profound spiritual, and even Christian insight. It also often left Christian artists in a quandary between what their artistic practice in the studio led them to do versus what they thought Christians in the arts ought to be producing.
This book, the first in a new series on Studies in Theology and the Arts, is written as a response to and reappraisal of Rookmaaker's work. The authors, one of whom studied under Rookmaaker argue that the fundamental defect of Rookmaaker's work is that he did not grasp seriously what artists themselves were saying about their work. After two introductory chapters on the intersection of faith and modern art and the particular work of Rookmaaker, they survey the artists and periods covered by Rookmaaker moving from France to Germany, Holland, and Russia (particular work with icons and Dada liturgies) and finally on to the North American scene. They draw upon what artists themselves are saying about their work, and surprisingly, upon the spirituality, often Christian, reflected in works of which Rookmaaker was dismissive.
I was intrigued for example, with their handling of the work of Andy Warhol. They write:
"However, as with all of his other works we've seen thus far, Warhol's subversive parodies are aimed not at this subject matter but at the systems of mediation and the "handling" of that subject matter. We argue that Warhol's late religious paintings are best understood as the work of a devout Christian [earlier they cite evidence of the devotion in Warhol's regular mass attendance, service in a church's soup kitchen, and well-thumbed prayer book] wrestling with the problematic visuality of his faith, submersed as it is in a bog of visual kitsch and cliche', and profoundly vulnerable to the visual culture of commercial marketing and advertising. In the age of mechanical reproduction, religious imagery is every bit as exposed to the latent nihilism of the "vernacular glance" as photos of celebrities or of human tragedies. The sharp, ironic criticality of these religious paintings is that of a believer scrutinizing the common signage of his faith as it passes through the machinery of mass media. Warhol subjects this signage to the logic of vanitas painting, not for the sake of attacking belief but for the sake of 'labeling' one of the major modern obstacles to it."
What Anderson and Dyrness are proposing is that the case Rookmaaker made was not quite so simple. Yes, there is a devolution of worldview in the culture and yet artists often find themselves at the intersection of this devolution and deep spiritual values and their art reflects that complex response to "the givenness of things." While we may not appreciate all in the art or life of these artists, it is unjust to the work of many to simply associate it with a decaying and dying culture, when artists in fact are seeking to bring life or to question the ways of a dying culture.
The book concludes with an afterward by Dan Siedell, author of God on the Gallery, reflecting on why the work Anderson and Dyrness have done is important not only for the Christian community but also the broader artistic community. At one point he poses a question with which I'll conclude this review:
"Is it possible that scholars who are thinking theologically might be able to offer a more compelling history of modern art, one that can show the contemporary art world that the modern tradition of artistic practice is not a progression of stylistic innovation but a belief system, a way of understanding the self and its relationship to the world that continues to be viable and can address the present situation in the art world, and connect with them as human beings."
It seems to me that an affirmative answer to such a question might indeed be life and life-giving to our culture.
________________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews