Publishing Christian art books today is a hazardous business; most of it is in the hands of small enthusiastic publishers committed to publishing art rather than building a business empire.
So it's been quite a surprise in the last year or two to see one of the most exciting developments in this field coming, originally, from Britain's largest publishing-and-bookshop giant, STL. The first mention in this column came with an enthusiastic review of Hilary Brand and Adrienne Chaplin, Art and Soul (1999), published under STL's Solway imprint and one of the most substantial books on Christian art to have been published in the evangelical market since Hans Rookmaaker's decades ago.
Solway was the brainchild of Pieter Kwant, who brought a Dutch and South African perspective, plus an immense enthusiasm for art, to bear on what seemed an unpromising market. Solway also published such books as City of God (various writings about heaven stunningly illustrated by Steve Rigley), Learning to Fly by Adrian Plass and painter Ben Ecclestone, and a book of paintings on the Apocalypse by Dutch artist Anneke Kaai. (To declare an interest, Solway also published a book by myself and my wife on the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, Over the Bent World.)
