128 Michel Remery for the First Time, 'The Four Architects of the Van

128 Book Reviews Michel Remery, Katholieke architectuur in de twintigste eeuw. De vier architecten van de Leidse familie Van der Laan. Verloren, Hilversum 2018, 411 pp. ISBN 9789087047078. €39. For the first time, ‘The four architects of the Van der Laan family in Leiden’ are described in mutual relationship.This Dutch well-written book has its merits as a richly illustrated overview with an extensive oeuvre list. Architect and priest Michel Remery as expert author could draw from his PhD research, previously published as Mystery and Matter.On the RelationshipbetweenLiturgy and Archi- tectureintheThoughtof DomHansvanderLaanOSB(1904–1991) (Leiden-Boston 2010). Unlike the first scholarly publication, this second book addresses non- specialized readers interested in a broader family context from which the work of Dom van der Laan grew and evolved. Specific terminology as ‘modernism’ or ‘functionalism’ is defined in separate frames interlacing the text, so no general knowledge on these architectonic concepts is required. The book is structured in two main parts, divided by a central section with 76 colour images. The first part deals with ‘progenitor’ Leo van der Laan (1864– 1942) and the eldest son Jan van der Laan (1896–1966), describing Leo’s estab- lishment of a furniture workshop and an architectural office that had the neo- gothic St. Elisabeth Hospital in Leiden as its first larger realization in 1906.What follows is a varied and numerous oeuvre of churches, schools, factories, houses, department stores, and offices. The office expands through the collaboration with Jan van der Laan, who gradually introduces a more abstract and functional style in line with the industrialization, as exemplified by the C&A department store from 1966 in Amsterdam. The second part focuses on Dom Hans van der Laan (1904–1991) and his collaboration with his younger brother Nico van der Laan (1908–1986). The focus is on Dom Hans and the evolution of his theory and his work that also includes clothes and objects. The descriptions of the limited oeuvre of a chapel in Baarle-Nassau (1928), four convents built between 1960 and 1991 and a house in Best (1981) all start from the authorship of Dom Hans, and barely address the collaboration with Nico. Attention is given to the development of the ‘Cursus Kerkelijke Architectuur’ (CKA, Course on Church Architecture) between 1945 and 1973, also referred to ‘De Bossche School,’ where the two Van der Laan brothers were the driving forces. Insights are given in the motivations and the Benedictine background of Dom Hans. The downside is that the work of Nico van der Laan outside of the collaboration with his brother only serves as illustration, and is as such unfortunately underexposed. Harry van Royen in his review in De Kovel (September 2018) wondered that the subtitle for this book should have been ‘The father and the three sons Van der Laan’ since Church History and Religious Culture © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/18712428-09901019 Book Reviews 129 the family context appears to be as essential as the impact of the Benedic- tine liturgy to understand the architecture of Dom Hans van der Laan. At the cost of the underestimation of Nico van der Laan, this book does exactly that. But even so, the subtitle of this book should have mentioned six Van der Laan architects, and not four. The two sons of Nico van der Laan, Rik (*1939) and Hans (*1941), define a third generation, that equally left its mark. Hans took over his father’s office until 2010, while Rik was Dom Hans’s right hand in the construction of the convent in Sweden and the last convent in Waas- munster. Obviously, they would have deserved a place in this book. Also, the main title ‘Catholic Architecture in the Twentieth Century,’ might be mislead- ing, as this book does not point at general insights in Catholic architecture as such. The focus is on the Van der Laan oeuvres specifically, and not on a posi- tioning of the work in the field of Catholic architecture, nor in its time, nor in its current position. Moreover, the book not only addresses religious buildings, but also the numerous secular edifices of the Van der Laan family, although mostly built for Catholic clients. ‘What actually is Catholic architecture?,’ is not fully addressed as such, although the Van der Laans, as a Catholic family of architects that built more than 500 buildings in a period that spanned almost a century, would serve well as a specific case study to address this deeper issue. On ‘What does it mean to be a Catholic architect in the twentieth century?’, this book does reveal several aspects and insights. Michel Remery’s writ- ings fluctuate between objective descriptions of situations and buildings, and quotes with reflections of the protagonists, often emotional and full of aspira- tions and personal life goals. It makes often difficult and fundamentally philo- sophical concepts as ‘ima summis,’ or categories as ‘neo-platonism’ and ‘neo- thomism’, more tangible. Unfortunately, however, the sometimes difficult position of Dom Hans van der Laan amidst his own congregation on the one hand, and the dismissive labelling of his work and the CKA as traditionalist and regressive on the other, is described but not critically addressed. It is time to re-evaluate the work of the Van der Laans outside of Dom van der Laans own congregation or the architectural landscape in the Netherlands that at a certain period was ruled by the perspective of the functionalists. This position offers a limited framework for an architecture that is still labelled Catholic. Although prevailing in the Netherlands even today, it needs to be re-evaluated and broadened. In his endeavour to orderly classify architecture, almost as a neo-Thomist construction, the author does not defy this limited framework, and as such gives too much weight to the labels of ‘modern’ and ‘traditional.’ As such, more nuanced Church History and Religious Culture 99 (2019) 65–133.

Load more