Hans Rookmaaker

Who was Hans Rookmaaker?

Henderik Roelof "Hans" Rookmaaker was a Dutch Christian scholar, professor, and author who wrote and lectured on art theory, art history, music, philosophy, and religion.

In 1948 he met Christian theologian Francis Schaeffer and became a member of L'Abri in Switzerland. Hans and his wife Anky opened a Dutch branch of L'Abri in 1971.

Following a doctorate in art history with a dissertation on Gauguin at the University of Amsterdam, he became the founder of the art history department at the Free University in Amsterdam.

Rookmaaker combined his academic career with a prolific role of addressing ambiguity about art among Christians and ambiguity about faith among artists. His main thesis was laid out in his 1970 publication entitled Modern Art and The Death of a Culture.

Throughout his career, he lectured in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada, as well as in his native Netherlands.

Two books by Rookmaaker were published posthumously: Art Needs No Justification in 1978 and The Creative Gift : Essays on Art and the Christian Life in 1981. In 2003 The Complete Works of Hans Rookmaaker, edited by his daughter Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker, were published.