Author: ftnbooks

Bookseller, with an expertise in art books for over 35 years.
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Gunter Tuzina

Why Tuzina in this blog. Tuzina is one of those artists who remained true to a certain principle in art and researched it over 40 years now. Het started with a line in one corner and developed his art from there on. Tilted rectangles, which are crossed from corner to corner in different kinds of colors is the main figure used by Tuzina and is very recognizable and one can find an excellent walldrawing with this “window” in the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag.

The Gemeentemuseun  was one of the first who presented his works and in the eighties Pablo van Dijk commissioned Tuzina to make 55 separate drawings in different colors for his Bebert publishing house. The one depicted here is one of these 55. Signed and dated by Tuzina and in excellent mint condition. This one is available at www.ftn-books.com and soon there will be a second “green” one listed from the same series. Impressive art from an artist who can be considered as a post minimal artist.

I found an excellent biography on Art index:

Günter Tuzina studied at the Hamburg Art Academy between 1971 and 1977. He has been exploring the fundamental principles underlying painting since 1975. Günter Tuzina combines lines, squares, rectangles and Colour Fields within a frame in a fascinating and inexhaustibly rich quest for equilibrium and tension. In its stringent simplicity Tuzina’s work is based on Minimal art and the principles laid down by Theo van Doesburg and De Stijl.
Tuzina was awarded a Villa Romana Prize in Florence in 1981. A retrospective was mounted in 1985 at the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, for which Tuzina executed a mural two years later that was, unfortunately, lost when the museum was restored.
From 1982 until 1999 Tuzina lived and worked in Cologne but now lives in Berlin. He has had numerous exhibitions: at the David Nolan Gallery in New York (1991), the Cologne Kunstverein (1992), the “Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus” in Munich (1993) and again at the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague in 2002.

 

wilfried

www.ftn-books.com

https://ftn-books.com/products/gunter-tuzina-drawing-with-lines-on-yellow-1987-signed

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Joost Barbiers and Land Art Delft

A logical combination!

Honestly… i must say that i had not heard from both, but because we were traveling a few weeks ago Wageningen  ( Hotel de Wereld) and visited the local museum HET DEPOT, in which sculptures related to the human body are exhibited, we came across Joost Barbiers’s his work. Immediately , me and Linda liked it very much. The use of material which is left unworked and partly rough and in most cases  in the same sculpture is polished in other parts ,is beautiful.

The museum HET DEPOT itself can be highly recommended too, but i will discuss this in another blog.

After a few days we came home and i contacted through the site of Joost Barbiers (http://www.joostbarbiers.nl) the artist and was replied by his wife who told me that Joost had passed away in November 2015 and that all of his remaining works were exhibited in LAD/ Land Art Delft ( http://www.landartdelft.nl ). This announcement came as a shock, because we did not expect that, but we also learned that the remaining works from his studio were transported to LAD .

Another great project of which i had never heard before. Included in the mail was an invitation to attend the opening of the exhibition of Joost Barbiers, but because of a tight time schedule on that Sunday i could not attend, so i decided to go early and visit LAD. What a nice surprise!….. a landscape with wild flowers, birds and Land Art makes this a beautiful place to visit, experience great art and….walk the dog. The statues of Barbiers are presented in the best possible way in these surroundings and show why this artist is one to have a bigger audience. Rough and cultivated go hand in hand and these sculptures blend into the landscape as if these sculptures have always been there.

Besides the sculptures by Barbiers ( ca. 20 sculptures ) many other can be found there because LAD has a program with artists in residence who work there and leave there sculptures behind.

Conclusion….do not visit Delft solely to see the original scenery of Vermeer, but visit Land Art Delft too and be amazed by the Barbiers sculptures.

Wilfried

www.ftn-books.com

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Ko Verzuu (1901-1971) , the force behind ADO (wooden) toys

Ko Verzuu ( 1901-1971) had a technical background and with this background he designed and developed wooden toys from 1925-1962 for ADO. These toys were produced in the workshops from the Berg and Bosch hospital and were influenced by  ” de Stijl” which Gerrit Rietveld promoted in those days. Primary colors in relation to clear and straight lines and these characteristics found their way into the ADO toys. The wooden bank is such an example. …..Blue and Yellow in a small designed wooden bank,which could be an element of the Rietveld Schroder Huis in Utrecht.

Verzuu designed these toys with their playability in mind and tested them with his own 11 children to be sure that these were the ultimate wooden toys

The BESTELDIENST in this blog comes from a limited edition of only 250 copies. All with certificate. This was a “prestige” project by ADO from some 15 years ago in which they showed their history and expertise in wooden toys. Made and painted by hand , all numbered this was made in two editions/ A yellow one , which was specially made for the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag in an edition of only 50 copies and….. the one in the picture made in an edition of 250 copies. It was about 12 years ago that SWZ stopped production of all ADO school furniture  and other ADO products and this ended all other ADO projects to be made in the future. The remainder of the banks, beetles ( yes, another special product to be discussed in the near future) and the BESTELDIENST were bought by FTN and were sold on special occasions and on eBay. Now the stock comes to an end and the only place that these will be sold is at www.ftn-books.com.

These last copies  ( all mint, numbered with certificate and original ADO box ) can still be picked up at a fair price.

The quality is superb and these pieces are highly collectable.

wilfried

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Lucht en Water / Air and Water . Escher, Pieck , Miller and Cameron

A theme which inspired many artists through the ages. Of course in the 16th century dutch painters were known for their landscapes with water and skies, but water and sky remained important for all the centuries that came afterwards. Even M.C. Escher used in his prints these themes frequently and not long ago this theme was used on a scarf by Cordon Art to show the importance of the work. In the seventies Wim Crouwel made several catalogues for the Stedelijk Museum with this theme and one i admire most is the one to accompany the exhibition by artists Miller and Cameron who used the theme of sky and water in their exhibition . Boymans van Beuningen presented Lucy and Jorge Orta who presented their waterwerken and finally there is the one who is known to practically all Dutch….Anton Pieck who used the theme frequently.

 

wilfried

www.ftn-books.com

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Paul Thek (1933-1988) …an artists artist

Recognized at his time by many friend and fellow artists as one of the most important young artists, Paul Thek remained practically unknown for the rest of the art world. The last few years there is a renewed interest  ( large retrospective in 2011) in this great and interesting artist. Large museums in the Netherlands acquired important works by Thek and more important, the important collectors in the world take an interest in Thek and are buying whatever comes to the market.

thek gm

In 1969 Thek was introduced to the dutch museum audience with an exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam for which Wim Crouwel designed a nowadays sought after small publication, which more can be considered as an art book than a catalogue. Beside this collectable publication a much larger publication was published in collaboration with Edwin Klein. This book is now considered as the most important Thek publication. Title is “A DOCUMENT BY PAUL THEK and EDWIN KLEIN”. This is an extremely rare publication published by the Stedelijk Museum and the Moderna Museet /Stockholm. Only a few art book dealers offered this publication in the last 5 years. This title is now for sale at www.ftn-books.com

Folio sized and an extremely rare Stedelijk Museum catalogue is sought by many. This is an artist book by Thek who is nowadays described as an artistst artist, but who becomes more known and appreciated by art lovers from all over the world as one of the leading Modern art artists from the 20th century. This book is not only extremely rare, but also of excellent quality. The bookblock is MINT-, the cover is of Near Mint- quality with 3 small tears on the right edge ( see picture).

So if you are interest in both Thek publications visit www.ftn-books.com and search for Thek and you will find both excellent titles available ( only 1 of each available).

wilfried

for more info see also wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Thek

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Pettibon discount code

For 2 days only you will receive on all your orders at http://www.ftn-books.com a discount of 10% when you use this code :

GEMpettibon10

 

www.ftn-books.com

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Raymond Pettibon – Over Easy

In 2002 Raymond Pettibon made the opening exhibition for the GEM museum. The exhibition was curated by Roel Arkesteijn. Pettibon worked day and night to include over 600 drawings and designs, but he finished in time to make it a memorable exhibition. After the opening he had time to make and finish 3 comic books, which were printed ( copied ) and stapled in house by Chantal Sieuw. These 3 titles are since highly collectable Pettibon books , because the edition was only 100 copies for each title.

The Over Easy title is the first to be discussed in this blog.

Artist / Author : Raymond Pettibon

Title : Over Easy

publisher : GEM, 2002

Number of pages : 28

Text language : English

Measurements: 8.7 x 5.6 inches

Condition: MINT

Pettibon had strict demands regarding the way these books were published . As designed  and prescribed by Pettibon these were copied and stapled editions and each copy was numbered in pencil ( xxx/100 ).

At the time of the exhibition these special editions were not popular at all. They sold at only euro 20,00 for each copy but only a dozen or so were sold. ………One year later…. everything was sold out and these books were offered and sold on eBay for prices of around USD 350.00 each. It appeared Pettibon had a very loyal following of collectors who were buying these rarities for their collection. Since that date Pettibon has published many more “comics” / art books, but this Over Easy remains one of the very special ones which was specially made for the opening of GEM in 2002 and can be seen as one of the highlights from the first decade in this new millennium

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Hamish Fulton – the man with one of the most beautiful signatures in Modern Art

The year is 1991. The occasion is the opening of the exhibition on Hamish Fulton. Curated by Rudi Fuchs and Franz Kaiser. The Haags Gemeentemuseum organized this excellent exhibition which was accompanied by a publication ONE HUNDRED WALKS ,which still is one of my personal favorites and certainly is one of the most beautiful books in my collection. The book was designed by Hamish Fulton himself and Gracia Lebbink was asked to do the graphic layout and production. The result….. an artist book which is one of the best ever published.

The book was delivered ( as almost always) just a few hours before the opening of the exhibition and sold during this opening. The next day i encountered Fulton in the corridor of the museum and complimented him on the book and asked if he could sign my personal copy.  No problem….. the book was signed and i had another souvenir for my collection, but then it occurred to me that the idea of signing some of these could be profitable for the museum and i asked him if he could sign and number a series of 20 copies to be sold in our museum bookstore.

The friendly and sympathetic person he is , he did not even think about it and asked for the 20 copies to sign them. Later that afternoon he came to the library , set himself at a desk and signed the 20 copies , which were numbered  1 to 20. The signature he placed in the books is still one of my most admired signatures in Modern Art. The way it is placed on the page and dated, plus the story behind it makes this still very special to me. The books ( signed and unsigned version) are still available at :

www.ftn-books.com

and

https://ftn-books.com/products/hamish-fulton-one-hundred-walks-1991-signed-numbered-mint

both highly collectable items and real artist books.

 

wilfried

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Joost Swarte….RRRRRRR

Joost Swarte is one of those rare multi talented artists which have become now world famous and have a very loyal following. Swarte started in the very early seventies with a magazine named # TANTE LENY ” and was almost immediately recognized as one of the true talents in this comic magazine. During these first few years he was very much influenced by Herge, but within this style ( Klare lijn) he developed his very own signature.

What makes Swarte drawings and projects so special?…… From a mile distance you can see that it is a Swarte drawing,….. subject, style, design,  Swarte signature, use of perspective and detail are very much Swarte’s own and are combined into one original work of art. Because he masters so many disciplines his projects are not only limited to books and posters, but during the last decades he even progressed to design and architecture.

One of the first projects in which he has everything in hand was the RRRRRRR 1 & 2 projects in which he depicted a population of “human” cats in different settings.

Joost Swarte has drawn the specially executed prints, designed the special container, supervised the printing and ….. perfection…..put a little feather within the container of the bird which was eaten by the cats. A superb publication resulted and is nowadays sought and collected by many.

 

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www.ftn-books.com

has still one of these in stock so please visit my site and find this and more items by Joost Swarte.

wilfried

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Geert van Fastenhout… an abstract master

If you are interested in abstract (constructivist) art , this is one of the truly masterful painters i admire. Geert van Fastenhout follows his own path since 1973. From that year on he developed a style of his own in which he uses sombre colors, but because he choses them carefully the colors still look vivid enough to show the composition of the painting. For me these paintings are very complex because of the use of these dark colors and still they are “open” enough because of the simplicity of the composition. The painting i will discuss now is such a painting. It is SCHILDERIJ 6-1984

This painting was bought by me in the AAG auction some 6 years ago. Even in the catalogue it immediately struck me because of the sombre dark red/brown color against the blacks of the painting.  A large dark brown/blood red cross and 4 squares can be distinguished in this painting and because of the cross, your focus is immediately on the exact middle of the painting. My guess is, it will be perfect for meditation although i never have tried it. Title of this magnificent painting is “schilderij 6-1984″and it fits perfectly in the complete oeuvre by van Fastenhout. A true master of sombre colors and a painting that is in my opinion one of his very best because of its simplicity and complexity in the same time. Mark Rothko was an artist who could do the same in a painting. Make use of colors in such a way that they appeared sombre, but studying it in detail the painting “opened” up and you are amazed by its beauty. The paintings by Geert van Fastenhout have this same quality…….

This is what van Fastenhout says about his works:

Essentially, I don’t want to say much about my work. What I want to express is visible. A book without words? I have considered this but rejected the idea. Although words may lead to misunderstandings, I shall try to keep myself straight on this hazardous path.

In my paintings the form is simple and clear, almost constructed like in architecture. In constrast to this simplicity the colour is enigmatic and should possess a certain sombre splendour. At first you see nothing but a very dark painting indeed. If you allow your eyes to accommodate, you will gradually penetrate this darkness to discover that the senses are getting disoriented.

They are not as well known as the works by Rothko, but for me they are among the very best i have encountered in the last decades.

wilfried

www.ftn-books.com

Geert van Fastenhout lives and works in Amersfoort / the Netherlands

and has a very nice site which you can vist at:

http://www.fastenhout.nl