Reviewed by Andrew Rolfe

For many years Hans Rookmaaker was Professor of Art History at the Free University of Amsterdam. A thorough scholar, his interests extended beyond the visual arts embracing music (jazz and the spirituals being of special interest), youth culture and science, amongst others: a veritable Da Vinci, that genius painting-sketching-engineering all-rounder. The book for which he is best known, Modern Art And The Death Of Culture, described as direct, courageous and extraordinary, is not only characteristic of the man's writing style and personality but also only the tip of the iceberg: being a dedicated Christian he must have often called his church elders for anointing of oil against writer's cramp. Now for the first time, his complete works have been collected and translated into English and are made available in six volumes. From the foreword in volume one by Dr Jeremy Begbie (Director of Theology Through the Arts, Cambridge and St Andrews) we might conclude why we should care at all what Rookmaaker has to say, "It is a wonderful thought that this man's rare wisdom, which so radically changed the lives of those who knew him, can now find its way to a larger audience in the pages of this book." The fact that his daughter collected, edited and oversaw the creation of the complete works also goes a long way to painting Rookmaaker in the light of, if not a good man (none is good but God, and Jesus said that) then a man who through intimacy with the arts and with his creator wrote in a considered and lively manner reflecting a personality that captured and held the love of his daughter. In addition to the "Professor" title, this arguably elevates him to the position of a teacher worth listening to. This review looks at volume one which has two parts. Part one is the book Gauguin And Nineteenth-Century Art Theory in its second edition. (Note, unless otherwise stated, all quotes are now pure Rookmaaker). In a nutshell, we might sum up the book by quoting two extracts from the preface: "The most important innovation of Gauguin and the group around him, in trying to overcome the prevailing naturalism, was their understanding of the visual arts as using a pictorial language, which I call iconic ... And I feel that the iconic type of visual communication is one of the most important and lasting characteristics of the arts in our century." For years "that large group (of artists) who proudly called themselves 'academicians'.prided themselves on continuing the great tradition of French pictorial art and on faithfully preserving the ancient principles, that is to say those artistic principles that had been formulated by Raphael in the 16th century and renewed as well as adapted to the French mind in the 17th century by Poussin, Vouet and Lebrun . This grand manner meant a particular way of painting.particular kinds of themes." Art had become something that could be formulated, studied and learnt, and for this 19th century classicist "art had degenerated into genre painting": a repression of emotion; a following of old forms and themes that didn't necessarily fit to the modern mindset and could even be closer described as vulgar and not aesthetically pleasant. At this time impressionism arose as a movement in French painting: the objective recording of experience by a system of fleeting impressions especially of natural light. It was a reaction against art as a "positivistic focussing on the visible." Rookmaaker guides us in the footsteps of the rebel young artists of the period around 1890, with the older Gauguin as a pioneer, for whom Impressionism remained yet unable to realise their ideals. "They wanted to dig deeper than was compatible with a faithful representation of light and atmosphere, however brilliant it might be." They would soon formulate their objections to Impressionism whilst maintaining a vocal appreciation and admiration: it was, after all, better than academicism. Gauguin sums up the reason for the rebellion: "At the beginning of the 19th century art is no longer a language as it used to be formerly.it is.formed with the aid of recipes.giving the assurance of perfection and of an immense mediocrity." Aurier, in 1891, adds of the art displayed at the great annual exhibitions in Paris, "floods of articles of a purely commercial nature.there would be no question at all of art, of artists, but simply of a luxury industry." It's what we might call 'selling out'. "It is impossible for us to give an account of the artistic situation around 1890 without considering the art of the Salons. For this art dominated the situation and the newcomers in the artistic field had to stand up against it." Rookmaaker expands the theoretical framework for why art turned out like it did in the latter part of the 1800s, a complex web of cause and effect which he unravels in his layman-readable prose, with chapter titles such as The Precursors Of The Synthetists and its discussion on artists such as Constable with his "strictly subjective manner of representing what has been observed," The Genesis And Character Of Symbolism, the symbolist artists and how they were related to and differed from the Synthetists, The Origin And Development Of Synthetist Theory. Gauguin obviously features heavily. Rookmaaker culminates the book with a chapter dedicated to his final years: "Gauguin left us with the legacy of three things: the artist's freedom to find new forms apart from any tradition, an undoubtedly very fertile apprehension of the iconic character of the pictorial arts; and a new appreciation of the decorative. But it was freedom he prized above all." As Gauguin himself puts it, ".Don't be afraid to exaggerate.Learn afresh, and then, once you know, learn over again.In front of the easel, a painter is not a slave.He is himself, I repeat himself, always himself." You don't learn that in the academic's lecture theatre. When God asked Job, "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?" He was in one sense vocalising his freedom of expression, unencumbered by the opinions of men. In the beginning, he was, in a sense, the eternal painter, standing before the easel of an empty infinity, pouring out light and colour, forming shape and structure where, when and how he desired, the ultimate free artist. Part two is a collection of articles written over the period 1949 - 1956 for Trouw, a Dutch Christian newspaper, which constitute a substantial part of Rookmaaker's total output largely eclipsed by his better-known works. However as Graham Birtwistle (former student and colleague of Rookmaaker) says in his scholarly introduction, "These reviews can provide a rich hunting ground for the reader who wants to gain a better understanding of the development of Rookmaaker's ideas. Most importantly, the reviews can help correct a misapprehension that he was an implacable opponent of all modern art." In some 91 articles we are treated to Rookmaaker's down-to-earth commentary on the journey of art from the Middle Ages through to his present day 20th century: not bad for only 130 pages. The Middle Ages and Renaissance - in only one and a half pages Rookmaaker has convinced me: The Dark Ages weren't so grey and bestial after all. Focussing on simply a statue and a couple of crosses he paints a lucidly bright opinion of the age: it was a culture in which the arts flourished as richly as during the Renaissance. His story continues over many articles taking in icons; middle age paintings; Gothic, Alsatian and Rhineland art; Religious art; Burgundian splendour; Portrait Of The Old Netherlands; Jan von Scurel; Renaissance masters, Leonardo Da Vinci (minus any codes whatsoever). He includes intrigue and a certain mystery with candelabra resembling treasure stolen from the last Jewish temple and graves in AD 750 of Christians sacrificed to heathen gods. Rookmaaker gets your attention and holds it. He says it like he sees it, as it is to him. He pulls no punches and isn't afraid to label junk 'junk', just more eloquently. A polished wordsmith, his ability to summarise the salient morsels leaves you full enough to be satisfied yet wanting desert: he isn't a dull know-it-all. Next up, the 17th and 18th centuries - Utrecht, a centre of Rome-centred religious art: the artists were heavily into all things Italian; painters of architecture; Dutch still life (no Romans in sight); Rembrandt (another famous Amsterdammer); The Gospel According To Rembrandt; Rembrandt (again) as a graphic artist; the Rijksmuseum which has the tendency to spoil the Dutch due to its "large and rather unique exhibitions"; Venetian art; French landscape; Goya, with Rookmaaker portraying such a captivating overview of his troubled life I was inclined to put the book down and hunt out his drawings. Before you know it the 200 years are up and the bicentennial boat number is being called to get back to shore of the 1800s. The 19th century. Early on, art is described as romantic and friendly (Goya's mirror-image). Rookmaaker is also friendly, ever the object historian: "It is not so long ago that the Romantic school was viewed with nothing but scornful disdain, characterised as 'those artists with their flat, lifeless pictures'.(this) judgement was too harsh and not entirely fair. Our critique should be based on a thorough consideration, after honest confrontation with the actual works, so that these works may be allowed to take their own, perhaps modest yet honourable place amongst the art of all the ages." Our scholar then takes in Romanticism as a whole and Nuyen, a gifted Romantic, "one of the few, perhaps even the only, true Romantic in Holland," (not that he's saying the Netherlander husbands don't know how to wine and dine their wives, especially not in Utrecht and its Italian influence). Rookmaaker also takes in Norwegian painting; the British hunting scene; Van Gogh, who he suggests would have died in obscurity had his short life ended some five years earlier: "It is extremely interesting and amazing to think that the man who produced these (immature) works between 1880 - 85 created during the subsequent five-year period a series of masterpieces which are.unique."; finishing up with Monet, "a mirror of impressionism" before our guide embarks us upon the 20th century. It is in this final section of volume one of the Rookmaaker sextuple that we hear of E Munch: "We are used to hearing that modern art is built on the work of three great forerunners: van Gogh, Cézanne, Gauguin. Although there is much truth in such a statement, it is also an oversimplification. The artists who, during the first 10 years of this (20th) century, started the new artistic movement, were much better aware of their predecessors. That was clear from the large exhibition held in 1912 in Cologne, where a place of great honour was reserved for the Neo-impressionists and Munch." From Munch Rookmaaker takes us on a journey through Beckmann, violent expressionism, Paula Modersohn-Becker (another artist who astounded him with her rapid development to a mature style), Picasso and the evolution of modern art, German art after 1945, Belgian art, modern church art, humour in drawing, modern American graphic art, Escher ("Puzzling Cleverness"), finishing up with Poster art ("A living art"). I am constantly impressed. Rookmaaker keeps grabbing my attention. His way with words makes art vital. I'm there, at the artist's side as the masterpiece takes form and, eventually, its first breath. Rookmaaker is a gentle and thorough guide. But he is not afraid of throwing you in at the deep end. He dives in too and keeps the beginner's head above water with his ever-willingness to explain simply and clearly what others might take months to say. This first volume is for the more advanced student and layman alike, laymen like myself, who previously thought Impressionism was the philosophy of stand-up comedians. That he knew his subject I have no doubts. That he was a popular lecturer I can easily imagine. I heartily recommend the complete works of Hans Rookmaaker.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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