{"product_id":"art-artists-and-gauguin-paperback","title":"Art, Artists and Gauguin - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eMarleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker\u003c\/b\u003e (Editor)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhy is the publication of these writings so important? What does\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRookmaaker's legacy have to offer us in the new millennium?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFirst, his books and essays stand as a monument to the importance of\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003erigorous Christian art-historical scholarship. For many years Professor of\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eArt History at the Free University of Amsterdam, Rookmaaker was a\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003efastidious scholar. Today, when a postmodern fascination with all things\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'aesthetic' and 'spiritual' can easily engender scholarly carelessness and\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ean ignorance of specific artworks, Roomaaker reminds us that Christian\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ecommitment must never be used to avoid the kind of precise, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eintellectual engagement which is so evident in his written words, a\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003epainstaking attentiveness to the details of particular pieces of art, and to\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe particularities of society and culture in which they are embedded.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSecond, we are reminded of the importance of breadth as well as depth.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRookmaaker's interests ranged far beyond the visual arts. He had a\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003efascinated interest, for instance, in music (especially the spirituals\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eand jazz), and in broader cultural concerns (youth culture, scientific\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ediscovery, and much more). In an age of increasing specialization and\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eblinkered vision, Rookmaaker shows us that it is quite possible to be a\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003especialist and to be alert to the links between these specialisms and\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003emuch wider issues. Third, Rookmaaker sets the arts in the midst of a rich\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eand full-blooded Christian world view. For him it was not good enough\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eto claim that the arts are important for the Christian, and then justify\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethis with a few verses carelessly plucked from Scripture. We need to\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003edemonstrate carefully what place the arts have in the grand and sweeping\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003epurposes of God for history, and it was to Rookmaaker's immense\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ecredit that for thousands he made this breathtakingly clear. In a climate\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewhen the contribution of a distinctively Christian perspective on the arts\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eis so often ruthlessly marginalized, often to the point of extinction, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRookmaaker's voice is one we sorely need to hear. Fourth, nourished by\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe Dutch Neo-Calvinist philosophy of Dooyeweerd and his followers, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRookmaaker provides a vision of the arts that does justice both to their\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eirreducible integrity and to their interrelatedness with other aspects of\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGod's world. Western post modernity relishes in the 'aestheticization' of\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eculture, sometimes to the point that the aesthetic threatens to swallow\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eup everything else in a wash of images. In his own day Rookmaaker\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esaw that a proper refusal to isolate or downplay the arts must not be\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ecountered by a Neo-Romantic exaltation of the aesthetic. He knew there\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewas another much more fruitful option, implicit in the Christian faith.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe need to find it and celebrate it more than ever today.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is a wonderful thought that this man's rare wisdom, which so\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eradically changed the lives of those who knew him, can now find its way\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eto a wider audience in the pages that follow. Rookmaaker's is a timely\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewisdom, and it will inspire thousands for decades to come.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 476\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.06 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e February 19, 2021\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47411944620210,"sku":"9781909281806","price":51.84,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0770\/3891\/1666\/files\/dbef8eec7c07a9e86b2712770a33c74f.webp?v=1778311022","url":"https:\/\/box.dadyminds.org\/products\/art-artists-and-gauguin-paperback","provider":"DADYMINDS BOX","version":"1.0","type":"link"}