ftnbooks

Posted on 29 July 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Bruno Bruni (1935)

Bruno Bruni has become one of the grand old masters in the art of lithography, but beside this discipline he is also a gifted painter and sculptor.

But for this moment i will focus on his lithographs . His lithographs at gallery Steltman Amsterdam were the first i had seen with such detail and yet also an abstraction. The bed in relation with the nude girl figure in front of it made it almost surreal and this is what attracted me in these works.

After this first encounter i have seen many more works by Bruni and he stayed true to his romantic figures, flowers, raincoats and of course his bronze sculptures with undressing woman, but personally i think his best works are the lithographs with these beds , ruffled sheets and a human figure on or in front of it.

Bruno Bruni , now 81 years old, is still working but the best works are from the mid seventies until 2000. This is the “GOLDEN AGE” of Bruni.

www.ftn-books.com can present some of his best lithographs and of course a small selection of books.

bruni letto a

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Posted on 28 July 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — 1 Comment

Marc Mulders – A travel to rome part I

In 1989 Marc Mulders published a Travel to rome part 1. For me it was the starting point to follow Mulders as an artist. We met shortly after i visited the Picaron editions stand and made an appointment with Marc Mulders to see if we could collaborate and present his publications in the Museumshop of the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. I still remember where we met and shortly after this meeting publications by Mulders were sold in the Museumshop of the Gemeentemuseum. This one I bought for myself because i was so impressed with the photographs and original ballpoint drawings in this portfolio. I do not not know anything about the size of this edition, but every portfolio must be different because of the original drawings which are included.

From that date on i followed Mulders and was impressed with his painting which looks “rough” but has such finesse in technique and result that one can only admire Mulders. The DE PONT museum in Tilburg has probably the largest collection of Mulders and they even have another copy of the A TRAVEL TO ROME, so you can get an excellent impression of the works by Mulder and see how he evolved during the last 3 decades.

To give the best impression of this classic Mulders publication i photographed all its pages and you can see for yourself why this Mulders is such an important publication.

Of course there are many more publications by Marc Mulders and for those that are interested take a look at my site: www.ftn-books.com

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for more info see also site : www.marcmulders.com

Posted on 27 July 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Gerard Verdijk (1934-2005)

verdijk dordrecht

First of all a personal note on Gerard Verdijk. I have known Gerard and met him on several occasions because he frequently visited the Haags Gemeentemuseum and its museum shop. One day after one of his visits , in which i expressed my interest in his works, he invited me to come over at his house and look at several ones he had for sale at that moment. Problem was…. i did not have the money to buy a work, but what remained after that visit was the appreciation for his works in which he explored contrasts in shape and color. Many, many years later all fell in place with the acquisition of a very large work by Verdijk, which was part of the Stuyvesant collection and sold at AAG auction. The work titled ….Horizontaal/Verticaal was from 1992 and exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum in the Verdijk exhibition so this together with the Stuyvesant collection it had an excellent provenance and had all the elements in it for which i admired Gerard’s his works. The contrast between the left and right side, the use of color. It looked so simple and yet its complexity is enormous.

That for a personal note. Now it is time Gerard Verdijk is remembered as one of the greatest painters from last century and the Dordrechts Museum recognized that and will open a retrospective on Verdijk on Saturday next, the 30th of July. A well deserved retrospective in which the different periods of his works will clearly show the evolution of Verdijk into the abstract painter he eventually became.

Because i have this personal interest in Verdijk, it is no wonder that the selection of books on Verdijk is quit large. Interested in Verdijk too? look at www-ftn-books.com or mail me for information on the little drawing i have for sale.

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Posted on 26 July 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Maeght – Derriere le Miroir…Great art can be inexpensive.

Maeght editeur is one of the leading art publishers from the last 50 years. Beside the exhibitions they organized, they are also a very influential publisher in the art scene. One publication in particular stands out …and that is the DERRIERE LE MIROIR series….which was published from 1946-1982. Many great names were presented within this series and beside the many Miro publications, there were also volumes devoted to Picasso, Braque, Calder, Bazaine and many others. What makes this series so great is the original lithographs that are included in each volume. Beside the normal illustrations there were original lithographs in almost each volume. depending on the number of pages there were at least 2, but in many cases 8 to 10 originals to be found in each number and sometimes they were printed over 2 pages, which made the size 22 x 14.8 inches. really impressive and because they were not numbered nor signed they were published with a reasonable retail price, but they stayed affordable and when you calculate the price per original lithograph, they are right out “cheap”.

The series eventually stopped in the early eighties , but during the time of its publication the artist within the series got an opportunity to make a publication for “everyman” .

www.ftn-books.com still has a nice selection of this great and historic series. Among the titles available there are volumes containing works by Calder, Braque and Miro and i can only give the highest recommendation to these very nice books with great art within them.

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Posted on 25 July 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Mark Brusse… “the blue shed”

About 4 weeks ago there was an auction at Venduehuis in which the complete company collection of Imtech was sold. Among the lots were several works by Mark Brusse. There was this one painting called the BLUE SHED which was very impressive . Excellent and because of its simplicity spectacular. The outlines of a blue shed and in the background just one sombre color made it very powerful. Yesterday, i remembered the painting and decided to list the small collection of Mark Brusse titles i bought last year from a collector. Some rather obscure titles among them and because of these special titles, they should be of interest to other collectors.

Take a peek at them and go to www.ftn-books.com for more information.

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wilfried

Posted on 24 July 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Jurgen Partenheimer part II

As promised ….here are some of the publications which are for sale. Jurgen Partenheimer is one of those artists that like to control everything in a publication. This shows in all his books. choice of paper, lay out, printing, binding….everything is done with the ultimate result in mind and of the highest quality. Go to www.ftn-books.com and search for Partenheimer.

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Posted on 24 July 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Al Held … Genesis, 1966 catalogue Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Genesis was the quintessential part of the exhibition Al Held held at the Stedelijk Museum in 1966. The catalogue was published with no.394 and the exhibition was from the 25th of March to the 1st of May.

A very short time, but the exhibition came with everything which makes the publications of the Stedelijk Museum special. Organized and curated by Willem Sandberg, catalogue design by Wim Crouwel and last but not least the contributions by Held himself who designed the cover with flaps and the fold out pages. The result is one of the most striking catalogues the Stedelijk Museum published during the sixties .

www.ftn-books.com

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Posted on 23 July 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Peter Pontiac ( 1951-2015)

Peter Pontiac ( Peter J.G. Pollmann ) was one of the leading underground dutch comic artists, but in the past 10 years i have learned that he has a very loyal following outside the Netherlands. His style is unique and can be recognized immediately and through the years he more and more moved away from the comic style he used in his early years. Like Joost Swarte, he became involved in other aspects of graphic arts and designed and published together with Oog & Blik and Griffioen grafiek. His subjects scenes ranged from his personal life and sex to the darker side of society. In almost all cases it had a sombre, dark tone which was emphasized with very detailled drawings

many legendary publications of which the Pontiac REVIEW series may be the most remarkable one.

A few days ago i sold one of these books to Spain, but still there remain some extremely nice Pontiac publications to be picked up.

wilfried

www.ftn-books.com

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Posted on 22 July 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Josef Zotti ( 1882-1953) ..Wiener Architect

A few years ago i found a very nice remainder stock of books on Josef Zotti, who i dit not know at that time. Triggered by the quality of the book i found that i really loved his works. Buildings and design go hand in hand and last year when we visited Vienna i encountered many buildings which were designed by Zotti and saw the buildings “live” and was even more impressed. There are not many titles on this architect designer but this is the one i have in my stock which i can truly recommend and shows best why he is such a multitalented artist.

wilfried

www.ftn-books.com

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Posted on 20 July 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Jurgen Partenheimer

Since the beautiful WELTACHSE V blue sculpture in the inner garden of the Gemeentemuseum i have been a loyal fan of Jurgen Partenheimer and build a nice collection of books on this fascinating artist. I am not the only one, because a few years ago a managed to acquire a selection of books from another admirer and upon studying them i found some original art work on their title page. One of these books i want to share with you. It is not for sale but shows the quality of Partenheimer’s work. Of course i must make the picture complete and show you the books that are for sale and will do so tomorrow, but for now there is only this very nice small publication. Originally published in an edition of 500, but only 10 were numbered and had a beautiful little drawing on their title pages.

wilfried

www.ftn-books.com

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