Modern Art and the Death of a Culture

The Complete Works of Hans R. Rookmaaker #5

by Hans R. Rookmaaker

This disturbing but illuminating classic is a brilliant perspective on the cultural turmoil of the radical sixties and its impact on today's world, especially as reflected in the art of the time. Rookmaaker's enduring analysis looks at modern art in a broad historical, social, and philosophical context, laying bare the despair and nihilism that pervade our era. He also shows the role Christian artists can play in proclaiming truth through their work. Rookmaaker's brilliant articulation of faith and scholarship is insightful and inspiring. The book moves freely and with a sense of urgency between the worlds of high culture, popular art and music, and Christian faith. This reissue makes his foundational work available to a new generation.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Cultural, Theology, History, Christian

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Associate of Francis A. Schaeffer.

Reviews

[Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extraordinary study of the development of painting and sculpture from the past to the 1990s present. Professor Rookmaker has some interesting opinions and there is much to learn from this lively volume.

[Abrahamus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published almost forty years ago, this work has certainly lost none of its relevance for those seeking an understanding of the forces behind the downward trajectory of both western art and western culture over the course of the last three centuries or so. This assertion in itself might seem a rather odd one to most folks—didn't the problems (for both art and culture) really start during the 20th century? Actually, no.

Rookmaaker argues quite persuasively that the seeds of nihilism and despair were actually sown during the "Enlightenment" period of the 18th century and the obvious problems which began to manifest themselves in the 20th century were the resultant harvest. The intervening 19th century may be viewed as a period during which these matters were working themselves out and during which much art that might be deemed "beautiful" was still being produced, but the problems were there nonetheless, and with increasing clarity, as a mere scratch to the surface reveals.

Beginning in medias res, with the medieval period (it isn't really necessary to go back further in time to prove his point), Rookmaaker demonstrates that there was a time when physical and spiritual realities coexisted comfortably and formed a seamless whole, both in the thoughts and lives of people and on the painted canvas. This view persisted, remarkably in some respects, even through the Renaissance and Reformation periods.

It was the Enlightenment, with its dogged insistence upon rationality and empiricism as the only standards for gauging "reality", which drove the seemingly irrevocable wedge between the natural and the supernatural. Artists (and everyone else, for that matter) since that time have come under increasing pressure to choose between the two. The predominant approach has been to reject the latter in favor of the former, resulting in a growing crescendo of meaninglessness and despondency. Certain movements (Romanticism and certain enclaves of Christian art) have sought the opposite approach of asserting the supernatural over the natural, but with limited success, largely because at heart they have continued to accept the fundamental dualism of the Enlightenment view.

My only reason for not rating the book more highly is that, although Rookmaaker's insights are keen, I find his style a bit exacting, and the increasingly depressing nature of the material begins to weigh down on you after a while. (I actually started this book a good while back and had to take an extended break about two-thirds of the way through before finishing.) There's great stuff toward the end though, so don't fail to persevere if you encounter the same difficulties!

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

this review first appeared on [http://intraspace.blogspot.com]

looking on the title page of my copy of this book, i see i have dated it 1998 - which means that it's taken me almost 10 years to get around to reading it. the daunting and critical-sounding title made me wonder if i wanted to. i'm glad i did.

the field of christianity and the arts is beginning to grow these days (both academically and in practice), but 30 years ago most christians didn't want to touch modern art with a ten-foot barge pole. into that gap stepped francis schaeffer and his friend hans rookmaaker (a jazz critic and art historian). 'modern art and the death of a culture' was rookmaaker's major work in this area, and the lack of other writing by christians on this subject at the time makes his book a seminal masterpiece.

the book was published in 1970, just as modern art was climaxing - by that year, virtually everything that you could do in art (barring technilogical developments) had been done. this of course included some extreme and freaky work, but even at the less extreme end, people (especially the majority of christians) found contemporary art to be distasteful and abhorrent - many of them were still 'coming to terms' with modern art that had come out in 1910 (some of them still are).

rookmaaker's masterstroke was engaging with the art world rather than condemning it. in this book he heavily critiques modern art, but he mines out what he believes is essentially at the heart of the apparent destructiveness of it - a sense of loss and despair. and again, rather than condemning this fact, rookmaaker examines that this is the natural result of the process of humanism and the enlightenment. and so, he says, modern art accurately represents where western society has come to as a result of the enlightenment framework. he doesn't dislike modern art at all - he simply wants it to have more hope and beauty.

he argues that bourgeois niceness is not the answer - it is equally as bad, if not worse, than the negative elements of modern art. instead he challenges christians to meet the modern world where it is, and offer alternatives.

there is so much in this book, that i couldn't possibly summarise it all here - in fact what i have just written is really only my take on what rookmaaker is saying.

for me, what i found interesting was examining rookmaaker's predictions about the future as he saw it in 1970. i'm not an expert in this, but i think some of rookmaaker's predictions have come true, and on the other hand, i feel that the art world has stepped back from the precipice it was on the edge of in 1970. the main reason is that there is nothingness over the edge. and so the art world has struck camp 100 metres or so from the edge, and stretches back from there. if this is true, then we can see what modern art accomplished as being a true revolution, complete with violence and harm but in the end creating significant freedom.

the other great thing about the book is the challenge it lays down for christians - the challenge, as i have said, not to retreat into bourgeois niceness but to get out there and engage. i believe there is now a definite christian arts movement under way - i can see it gathering momentum even since the late 90s when i was at university - and i think rookmaaker would have approved. but his challenge still rings true and relevant.

for it's on-going relevancy and its historical importance, i think 'modern art and the death of a culture' should forever remain a crucial text in the tradition of christian cultural study and practice.

highly recommended.

[Emma Whear · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for NSA's MFA.

Out of the three we read that we relatively similar (State of the Arts, Saving Leonardo, and Modern Art & Death...) this might just be my favorite. That said, it was a crime that my edition was printed in black&white.

Rookmaaker is largely intelligible (not too much academic high-snobbery), clear, and cutting.

Love his discussion on form and content and his no-nonsense "this is trash" approach to much of modern art. You can tell that he really just wants to do art analysis the whole time, which is where he shines. At the end, he has a chapter that is pure Schaeffer (which makes sense, as they were good friends) and it falls flat. Better to just read "How Should We Then Live."

Here's the biggest interesting takeaways:

-According to Rookmaaker, at least, the large majority of missteps in art history were well-intentioned fools, searching for meaning without God. Most of them weren't "burn it down" sorts
-Where are the Christian artists today? What has happened to the art movements of the present? Is all that is left a sort of return to classic Rembrandt/Dutch style/landscapes?
-Paintings say things. They can't not. The trouble is, what is the truth?
-Nudity has a real place in art. A nude can often be more modest than a fully-clothed prostitute

[Nicolas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aos 17 anos, Story foi um divisor de rios pra mim. Naquele início de noite de algum dia, em algum mês em 2016, eu finalmente percebi que não conseguiria não ser escritor.

5 anos depois, A Arte Moderna e a Morte de uma Cultura veio pra, mais uma vez, mudar tudo. Com maestria, Rookmaaker mostra neste livro que arte não é "apenas arte" ou "A Arte" e porq é tão importante que os cristãos não só se envolvam nela, mas procurem entender a sociedade e momento em que vivem.

[zarina · Rating 4 out of 5]

How was Becky allowed to read this 😭

[Jackson Hager · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have an interesting relationship with book, so it's probably best I just lay out my pros and cons.

Cons:
As a student of history rather than a student of art, I have some issues with the way he handles the early history. Particularly, Rookmaaker seems to fall into the same trap as others by giving off the impression that pre-reformation Catholicism was somehow spiritually dead. This, of course, is not the case if we really looks at the sources. Furthermore, I object to his lumping of "mysticism" under "Gnosticism". This bias against mysticism leads him to go as far as to refer to St. John of the Cross as a "heretic mystic". Portraying all mysticism as simply an attempt to escape from the material world is to ignore scores of mystical experiences that centered around our corporate reality in Christianity.

Pros:
This book, despite the flaws mentioned earlier, has many high points. His breakdowns of the philosophies behind the modern movements (while negative) are eye-opening to someone who need help understanding how to interpret modern art. Further, his last chapter on what it means to be christian Artist was positive, encouraging, and important.
Overall, despite this book having a gloomy title, Rookmaaker is never demeaning to those who created modern art, but always recognizing their talent and at times even agreeing with their hopes and fears, but always remained firm on the idea than the alternative to hopelessness is not simply acceptance, but rather the living giving power of Jesus.

[Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um grito profético pela verdadeira arte

Rookmaaker não escreve. Ele grita. Brada aos quatro cantos da terra, por onde se pode ouvir - ou pra quem tem ouvidos. Com uma riqueza cultural ímpar, que o leigo e o estudioso podem maravilhar-se, Rookmaaker traz à tona o que muito tem se perdido. Narrando, passo a passo, a vitória da arte moderna e da cultura sem Deus, e evocando aos cristãos que desembainhem suas espadas (ou pincéis) e tragam de volta à arte a humanidade, a liberdade, os valores, a beleza, a justiça, a verdade.

Nenhum fio fica sem nó. Escreve sobre obras como quem estivesse pintando uma. É uma verdadeira e bela obra, na qual podemos ver aspectos existenciais, históricos, filosóficos e até espirituais da morte cultural em que estamos vivendo - ou mesmo colaborando. Ele traz a problemática, muito bem desenvolvida e explicada, desde o seu início. Além disso, mostra a necessidade de uma resposta cristã e como torná-la possível. Nenhum artista cristão deveria deixar de ler este livro de importância até mesmo profética. Não porque contém apenas palavras de um homem sábio, mas porque fundamentam-se na Palavra do Divino e Soberano Deus, Senhor da Criação e da arte.

Por fim, ler este livro ajuda muito a introduzir o leitor na reflexão sobre fé e arte e como agir de maneira cristã neste meio. É uma leitura tão importante quanto necessária, que além de tudo isso, é altamente prazerosa.

[Audrey Webber · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know I am in the minority on this one among my fellow Good Reads reviewers, but my goodness this book just missed the mark for me. Who is to say that a whole at least half century of art is mostly (bar Rookmaaker's favorite artists) demonic and at the very least mediocre? One should simply not say: "So this is an art which is definitely not naturalistic. It seeks the general, the universal. It tends toward the abstraction, even towards the demonic. It loses a humanist humanity, and is at the same time both extremely intellectual and irrational" (117). How on earth could you say that about a whole movement? Despite all of his reasoning, I am very suspect that he simply did not enjoy the art. It is just not right to say that someone is not revealing the sacred when in fact they feel that they are. I am very much looking forward to reading "Modern Art and the Life of a Culture" which I think will redeem some of this.

[Mark Gring · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am about half way through this text. It is a wonderful overview about the development and directions in the arts that have led us to where we are now. My daughter is an art major and has gone through several art history classes. This book is giving me some points of connection, as a non-art historian, for talking with my daughter. Even if I did not have a daughter studying art, though, this book would be an important one to read.
As many others have said, if you want to find out where your culture is headed...study the arts. The artists lead years before the philosophers take a stand and even more years ahead of where the general culture will eventually go. If we want to transform our culture, we need to transform the arts. Another easy-to-read text from Rookmaaker. It is engaging, challenging, eye-opeining, and worth every minute of my reading time.

[Ben Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is 50 years old now, so naturally some of it is dated, and a lot has happened since it was published. I don't pretent to be an art historian, or even to be particularly knowledgable about art today, but even I can see that things have changed.

That said, not everything has changed, and the insights and wisdom of this book remain relevant. I've read it a couple of times now, and it drives me to engage with culture, to examine and interpret art, and to respond to it in my own creativity.

It's not overbearingly academic throughout, though Rookmaaker assumed his readers would either know the artists he was referencing or go and research them, so certainly chapters are a little tough for art amateurs like me.

However, the passion and thrust of the book are wonderful and evangelicals could do far far worse than to read this and learn from its applications.

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good.

[Jeremy]

Modern/religious response here.

[Josh Marks · Rating 2 out of 5]

We get it - you hate modernity.

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong first half consisting of a wonderfully dreadful march through the halls of time, from 'old art' in the 14th to 17th century, to its heir, what we know today as 'modern' art, when it emerged from its cocoon, the Age of Reason (17th to 18th centuries), unfurling leg-and-wing from movement to movement, from Naturalism and Positivism, to Expressionism, to Abstraction and Cubism, to Surrealism, to Pop and Op, to finally in the 20th Century, the Apocalypse: to anti-Art. "And when it is full grown, gives birth to death."

Like Charles Taylor, Rookmaaker here is unafraid to square a great deal of blame upon the Church, and particularly the Protestant Reformation, which of course unleashed both good and bad forces through time: the influence of mysticism upon Calvinism led to a Gnostic-withdrawal from the arts, which were regarded as earthly, material, connected with the passions, and to be escaped.

The historical soil was mixed: Aqinas' scholasticism (dualism of nature and grace), the Reformation, mysticism, Humanism, the Counter-Reformation. From such fertility came the Enlightenment, the century of no known terminus.

From here, art changes. The first step to modern art: It becomes more photographic, fixated on naturalistic reality. There is a death of dogma, and the second death: of theme. The world becomes closed, the frame becomes immanent. The second step is the response: the world becomes ghostly and immaterial, a sign of tension between Positivism and the reaction against it, the conflict between the sense-perception of the Enlightenment (which taught all understanding begins with our senses) and the innate hunger for human freedom, a sort of humanist humanity.

Things get a bit complicated. But the reaction, the response to the 'boxing' of man within the immanent frame, cannot itself be held in check. Expressionism gives way to Abstraction and Cubism, giving way then to Surrealism. The third and final step to modern art culminates the journey from naturalistic reality to surreality: the loss of humanist humanity and our plunge into abstraction and its bitter conclusion, which is nihilism, the loss of absolutes and the universal. These movements are at once irrational and extremely intellectual.

There are strange indicators along the way, often more subtle than the obvious trend toward abstraction. Artists begin to prefer animals over human subjects, and in their work degrade women and femininity in particular. Delicious breadcrumbs dot the path: Marc, the German Expressionist, is quoted: "I found man to be ugly, animals are much more beautiful... Each year trees, flowers, the earth, everything showed me aspects that were more hateful, more repulsive, until I came at last to a full realization of the ugliness, the uncleanness of nature."

And the mystic ecstasy of Miller's Tropic of Cancer: "I am inhuman...A man who belongs to this race must stand up on the high place with gibberish in his mouth and rip out his entrails. It is right and just, because he must! And anything that falls short of this frightening spectacle, anything less shuddering, less terrifying, less made, less intoxicated, less contaminated, is not art."

Rookmaaker, again unafraid, suggests the roles that legends we in the West typically admire, such as Monet or Picasso, played in connecting one frightful movement to the next. It is sickening. It like watching human genius from a cosmic point of view, its current traveling downstream in hideous ways. It is not a natural perspective.

The book is a haunting tour aided by cited paintings and works visually referenced for your viewing pleasure every several pages, revealing perfectly both the 'degeneration' of art in time and the generation of new cultural movements and revolutionary forces in play. Today, "we live in a society," as they say, where there is a cultural revolution looking for something more, for escape from a new cocoon: a mystic nihilism of our own making. Art reflects the spirit of the age. The Age of Reason has been exorcised, but a new spirit, that of Nihilism, has found the culture "swept clean and put in order", and being more wicked than the last, has come to live there. But ultimately we come to see an art, from a culture, possessed by a spirit, that is, in all of its agony, crying for truth—of which the Church is the pillar and buttress.

As guide, Rookmaaker shrinks neither from past nor future. He was less pessimistic than his title suggests. Perhaps we should be too.

[William Collen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A severely uneven book, but its virtues make up for its weaknesses. Rookmaaker starts from the premise that modern civilization in the West, based as it is on humanistic principles formulated in the Enlightenment, is rapidly declining; with this I agree. But he views the entire history of Western art, and especially the art of the twentieth century, as always, and only, expressing that decline. He ignores artists whose work doesn't fit into his narrative, and he twists the interpretations of much art which is only slightly related to his theme. His denunciations of the Photorealists, of Art Nouveau, and of Grunewald were strikingly off the mark in my opinion.
His writing style is a little pompous and that can be annoying at times. He constantly refers to "modern man" as if the population of the West is monolithic. He says things like "modern man cries out in despair at his being merely an atom, a rabbit;" I don't think that's actually the case—most people seem quite contented to go about their little lives in conformity with the expectations of society. He rails against "bourgeois" values quite often, without really going into what is wrong with bourgeois life and thought. And it is quite amusing how often his examples, either of artists and poets, or of quotes from journalists and thinkers, turn out to be Dutch, like himself, and also people I've never even heard of. This gives his book a strange provincial flavor.
Mostly, this first three-quarters of the book reads as if Rookmaaker had thought a lot about contemporary philosophy and decided to find art and artists who would support his thesis. This feels like poor reasoning; his facts ought to drive his theory, not the other way around.
But the last few chapters of the book, about how Christians, and especially Christian artists, should live in the world today, were exceptionally good and more than make up for the faults of the rest of the book. Rookmaaker is very clear-headed, loving, and humble in this section. I would recommend skipping to the end and reading his last chapters rather than slogging through his art analysis.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid history of art from a Christian perspective. Rookmaaker's argument being that as art shifted from the ideal to the real (an impossibility as the subjectivity of the artist will always present an interpretation) it rejected God and embraced materialism. Or the other way around (cause <=> effect). When materialism proved to be spiritually empty along came nihilism. This was written in 1970, so I guess you could say when nihilism proved intellectually lacking along came post-modernism with all its layers and whimsy, essentially re-framing the same package.

Rookmaaker is notable for his acceptance of modern art, acknowledging that we cannot look back to better times but try to shift the current culture in a new, positive direction. Easier said than done. When one looks at modern culture it is easy to see the problem. For art, literature, music, to be perceived to be "real" it needs to be destructive. Characters must be flawed, art must be reductive or satirical, music must embrace simplicity and repetitiveness. Boundaries must be pushed. We seem only able to descend further into the mire. Where to from here?

Loved this book. Gave me a real appreciation for fine art and methods of interpretation. Rookmaaker's Christianity is rational, practical and kind.

[Ashley Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Someone gave me this 15ish years ago and I finally decided to read it. Curiosity was quickly overcome by a cool dislike. One of the dumbest books I've ever read.

Looking back (since this was written in the 70's) it's interesting reading insofar as it gives a peek into maybe why evangelicals disavowed the arts in the decades since. This effect is in direct contradiction of one of HRM's purposes in writing the book, which was meant to provide a way back into the arts after Christians' prolonged abstinence from Modern Art.

He paints with way too broad strokes when trying to attach his arguments to movements and specific artists. At points he seems to lean on his audience's ignorance of art as some evil, otherworldly thing. Maybe if the book were a little more deeply researched and grounded in plenty of cogent examples it might be worth reading for the reasons he puts forth. As it stands it is essentially the art critical equivalent of "Old man yells at cloud".

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Striking narrative of the development of art and the philosophical moments that drove it. Rookmaker was a close friend of Francis Schaffer and many of his themes in this book reflect Schaffer’s more popular works. I found particularly helpful the discussion of realism and how it reflected an idea that only what can be seen or experienced is real - vs the older symbolic art that conveyed higher ideals. Rookmaker takes too strong a position of the importance of Christian involvement in the arts, as if this is a vital area of evangelism, but he provides helpful pointers to any Christian with an interest in the arts. Recommended with some reservations.

[Matthew Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rookmaker does a fine job of surveying the major developments in art history with attention to details in specific paintings and broad shifts over time. As someone who is out of place when it comes to visual art, it was great to be ushered into this tradition slowly and steadily. The strength of the book, in my estimation, is the encouragement for Christians not to be sheltered from the world, but to go out into the world and be creative in whatever way they have been gifted. And when you’re there, work hard at what you do and do it into the Lord (Col. 3:23).

[Carla Parreira]

A profundidade das ideias de Rookmaaker a respeito da arte moderna e da sua relação com a espiritualidade me dejaron em uma reflexão rica e complexa. Ele argumenta que a supervalorização da razão, que remonta ao Iluminismo, resulta em uma cultura empobrecida, quase como uma "morte dos temas." O autor analisa diversos movimentos artísticos e a busca por significado em um contexto de crise cultural. Sua crítica ao escapismo na arte e a insistência na complexidade da experiência humana me levaram a reavaliar a forma como vejo a produção artística contemporânea.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, he is quite insightful and says many important things for young Christian artists to hear. On the other hand, he is very judgmental about modern art and what it means in some instances. So this book is important for what it was, but other than showing past attitudes and some important general thoughts, it does not have staying power for contemporary readers.

[David Jamison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit of a slog - really fascinating though. I was hoping for more concrete suggestions for artists in the last chapter. If you’re an artist or interested in how Christianity and art intersect this will be a very helpful book for you.

Also, pretty fun to see the flavor of some of the guys who have influenced the author (obviously Schaeffer, but also Henry Van Til and Dooyeweerd)

[Kenny Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating walk through the development of philosophical ideas from the Renaissance to the 1970s as seen through art. Raises challenging questions about the purpose and significance of art and how Christian artists and the church should respond.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read through this little gem twice and used it in lectures. This is a critique from a Christian perspective of the roots of Modernism. "If God is dead, art is dying, man is dying." p.132 Good detail on Romanticism, Positivism, Nihilism and the art associated.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read. This. Book.

[Victoria Vilas Boas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ler Rookmaaker é necessário para entender, não só a arte moderna, mas o espírito moderno por detrás dela.

[Winnie Thornton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid. Clear. Still waiting for a book on art/worldview to mention history's Apollonian/Dionysian seesaw, which is the best way to start analyzing whatever art you happen to be looking at.

[Joel Gresham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am now very interested in art

[Marcus W. C.]

i gave up :/ it happens