Modern Art and the Death of a Culture, PB (vol 5)

Modern Art and the Death of a Culture; Art and the Public Today; Twentieth-century arts and artists - articles and reviews

Rookmaaker's analysis of modern art offers an insightful perspective on the cultural turmoil of the past century and its subsequent impact on today's world. He looks at modern art in a broad historical, social, and philosophical context, laying bare the nihilism and despair that constitutes its core. "We can marvel at the way Rookmaaker combined the diverse resources of Christian witness, Calvinistic philosophy, art-historical expertise, and musical connoisseurship to create a seamless and challenging account of modern cultural history," Graham Birtwistle writes about Modern Art and the Death of a Culture. More than any other work, this book instilled a new cultural awareness in many Christians hitherto cloistered in pietistic ghettos. Rookmaaker's writings on modern art were a clarion call to Christian artists to be critical of the cultural trends of the day without becoming irrelevant, contemporary without becoming modern. His message may serve as inspiration to many, even today.