Review | Art And The Bible By Francis Schaeffer

Pastor Steve Waldron, New Life of Albany - Albany, Ga

[victorschaeffer]

Another Schaeffer here! Bewildered by your soul your spirit set me free your love is like a drug that only I can see deceiving those who know the flesh of wickedness one day I was alone today I am known forsaken alone longing for a home then you came giving me a loan what am I like a stone that I should sit next to your throne. Victor Paul Schaeffer

[hargisP]

Pastor, as far as Bibles go, have you heard of Levant Photo Service? It was owned by Dr. Hiekson, he was also a Archeologist. He did digs in Tekoa. I had him as a Professor on OT and Poetic writings, and of course Biblical Archeology.

[geraldparker]

I knew a poet years ago, Eric Schnickwald, who was tremendously gifted. His work was realistic, too, essentially. However, what it made all too realistic was the hellishness of the damned. He was a lost soul, gay, incapable of coping with the world, hopelessly sunk in a perpetual doom. His art subjects were utterly horrifying: scenes of fire, blood, and demonic depths. I could barely stand to behold them, they were so disturbing. My landlord of the time bought dozens of Schnickwald's canvases and they were hung all over the place, including up and down the grand staircase. I would avoid looking to right or to left when climbing the stairs. Schnickwald's art was the portal to a sick and troubled mind and soul. Now I don't even know if any of his extraordinary, high-quality work even survives.

[printface]

I have to say this. I teach art at a prep school and I use Art and the Bible by Francis Schaeffer to demonstrate what I think is the worst book on art theory that I've ever read. What Schaefer has to say about Cubism, for instance, comes straight from someone who knows very little about the subject, and that's just the start of it. Honestly, I will say that Schaeffer didn't know the First Thing about art; that is because he wasn't an artist. Yes, that is the First Thing; if you don't do it, then you might as well be sitting in Plato's cave. I'm certain Schaeffer could define Cubism (which he does not do well in the book) and probably understand what's going on to some extent; however, he's lost from there. In other words, he's just a stupid critic. Furthermore, the Bible has extremely little to say on the subject of Art in general. Furthermore again, many things he said about art line up terribly close to the views of the Fuhrer, which he shared in his speech at the opening of his Fuhrermuseum (I can provide a link if you like, just to make it perfectly clear). If you want to understand art and the bible, then you need to understand both. Schaeffer did not. He wasn't a painter, he wasn't a draftsman, he wasn't a printmaker, he wasn't a sculptor, he wasn't a dancer, he wasn't a playwright, he wasn't a novelist. he wasn't a musician... He was not an artist and he never formally studied it. So...

Have you read any art theory by actual artists and art theorists? There are lots of them. For instance, have you read Robert Hughes' "The Shock Of The New"? How about Kandinsky "Concerning the Spiritual in Art"? Do you know "The Interaction of Color" by Joseph Albers? "The Cubist Manifesto" by Metzinger and Gliezes? "The Surrealist Manifesto" by Andre Breton? Have you read any essays by Marcel Duchamp? Have you read Vincent Van Gogh's letters to Theo in which he talks endlessly about his ideas? Have you read essays by John Ruskin? Do you know Alberti's "Della Pictura" (it lays out the math for perspective)? How about Quintus Horatius Flaccus' (Horace 15 BCE) "Ars Poetica" and the statement "Ut Pictura Poesis" (that's "As is Painting, So is Poetry")? Aristotle's "Poetics", in which he describes the "Mimetic" theory? Simonides? Plato? Does it matter to Really know the subject; or should you just make things fit your uninformed opinions based on really flimsy "research", and no experience at all? Put another way; why on Earth would I pay any attention to a critic ("Theorist" hah) who can't do it, doesn't know the history, doesn't get the theories, doesn't know the media-means-methods, and doesn't seem to really care about learning them? Can you imagine a professional plumber like that? Would you hire that guy? Hell no. Schaefer's views aren't even puddle deep.

[carlosr.rodriguez]

I should líke yo hey the Francis books ok spsnish pleas