Modern Art and the Death of a Culture

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.

H. R. ROOKMAAKER (1922–1977) grew up in the Dutch East Indies. As a young man in wartime Holland, he was interned for distributing anti-Nazi leaflets and became a Christian during that time. In 1948 a lifelong friendship with Francis Schaeffer began. In 1959 Rookmaaker published his doctoral thesis on the artist Gauguin, and in 1965 he was invited to the Chair of Art History at the Free University of Amsterdam. Rookmaaker was also highly respected as a jazz critic.

Former Chair of Art History, Free University of Amsterdam; author, Modern Art and the Death of a Culture