THE PSALMS: an artist's impression
By Anneke Kaai
Piquant. 55 pages including 25 full-page colour plates. £12.99 (hardback)
ISBN 0 9535757 0 5
Just before Christmas, Piquant, a new Christian publisher, produced this beautiful piece of art publishing, placing extracts from the Psalms next to the richly colourful paintings of Dutch artist Anneke Kaai.
Each of the 25 paintings is full-page and full-colour, and the large format allows us to appreciate their bold forms, rich colour and variety of textures. Each is placed opposite an extract from the psalm to which it relates. A wide range of Psalms, such as 1, 42, 139 and 150 are involved, quoting from the interesting paraphrase of The Message.
Kaai's work is fairly abstract, but uses a considerable amount of Christian imagery. The pictures are not illustrations, but they use colour and form and some overt symbolism to evoke the sentiments of the Psalms.
Inevitably in our day, when traditional symbols seem hackneyed, the artist has to attempt to create new symbols, and the reader needs some help in understanding these. The book, therefore, includes a brief commentary by the artist on each work, which helps to open up the painting without exhaustively explaining it.
A book to enjoy. A book to meditate over. A book to show your friends what Christians can do in the arts. No dead sheep or unmade beds here, but a transmission of serious thought through the careful, skilful, enjoyable application of paint.
The book is available from all Christian bookshops, or direct from the publishers (PO Box 83, Carlisle CA3 9GR (01228 525075)), where private customers get an introductory offer of 'buy one, get a second half-price'.
