antiquarian books – Page 125

Posted on 31 December 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Pierre Alechinsky…. a perfect publication.

The end of this year is near and almost 300 blogs have been published since I started blogging on WordPress. www.ftn-blog.com grew in an excellent way and i am looking forward to keep you informed on my inventory and exploits in art.

And what better way to end this year with a PERFECT publication by Pierre Alechinsky. In the sixties Alechinsky used original lithographs as cover for his exhibition publications and one of these is the no. 391 he made for the Stedelijk Museum in 1966 for his graphic exhibition. Photographs by Suzy Embo ( see earlier blog this month) and designed by Wim Crouwel. (available at www.ftn-books.com)

Arguably this is one of the top 5 publications the Stedelijk Museum made in the sixties, but for me this is perfection. Simple clean Crouwel design. the photographs are all excellent and the lithograph printed by Bramsen & Georges makes this one really stand out.

A perfect catalogue to end this year and start the New Year.

My best wishes to all my readers and followers for the New Year 2017.

wilfried

Posted on 30 December 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Luc Tuymans (1958)

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Luc Tuymans is probably one of the most interesting living artist of our times. Not only his art, but also his views on society are at least as fascinating.

Luc Tuymans (born 1958) is a Belgian contemporary artist, considered one of today’s most influential painters.
Tuymans was born in Mortsel, Belgium. He began to study fine art at the Sint-Lukas instituut in Brussels in 1976, and subsequently also studied art history at Vrije Universiteit in Brussels. He first exhibited in 1985. His first U.S. exhibition was at The Renaissance Society in Chicago in 1995.
Tuymans’ work is figurative and makes extensive use of techniques from photography, television and film, such as cropping, framing, sequencing and (sometimes extreme) close-ups. His palette usually tends toward monochrome. Subjects of his paintings range from the historic, for example covering the Holocaust or colonial politics in Belgian Congo, to the very banal, depicting everyday objects. Some of his paintings represent abstract emotions. For a while he abandoned painting completely to make films. Tuymans lives and works in Antwerp. Recently some of his work has been exhibited in “The Triumph of Painting” exhibition in the Saatchi Gallery in London.
Tuymans is married to a Venezuelan artist, Carla Arocha, recent exhibitions at the Chicago Institute of Art, Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago and Andre Schlechtriem Gallery, New York.

But these are only the facts about Tuymans, Tuymans is much much more… His work was recently being discussed as being copied from another artist, but was this true or is it the interpretation from this artist of a very familiar photograph?.. He is very strongly opposed against the right wing Vlaams Belang and his leader Bart de Wever and makes this his personal crusade, but he also is a great thinker and influencer, because every discussion he starts makes you think about it. The same with his art. His drawings /paintings and graphic art are accessible and realistic, but in many cases they are not complete and one has to fill in the blanks yourself. For me that is what great art is all about.

Some nice Tuymans publications are available at www.ftn-books.com

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Posted on 21 December 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Jan Hoet (1936-2014) and Chambres d’Amis.

(drawing by Marlene Dumas )

It has been already almost 3 years that Jan Hoet died, but since his death no one has taken his place. He was truly innovative with his exhibitions and next to Rudi Fuchs , they probably were the best from their generation of curators of Contemporary Art.

His international reputation was first established by “Chambres d’Amis,” an innovative exhibition he organized in Ghent in 1986. In that show, about 50 American and European artists were invited to create works for 50 private homes in Ghent, which were then opened to the public for several weeks. Followed a few years later by Open Mind and his Documenta IX in which he performed as a boxer established his name as one of the very best in his field. His last great project was over the edges. 4 giant exhibitions spread over 2 decades made him one of the absolute best.

The Museum in Gent , his long lasting love SMAK, which he served as a curator and director from 1975 until 2003 was his laboratory for the greater projects he organized outside this Museum rooms. http://www.ftn-books.com is fortunate to have some very nice titles of his exhibitions. including the Chambres d’Amis which is getting scarce these days.

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Posted on 17 December 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Walasse Ting ( 1929-2010)

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The first time i saw the work by Walasse Ting, was at gallery Nouvelles Images in the mid eighties and i was blown away with the large standing ladies with parrots. Extreme sized acrylic paintings on paper. with and impressive signature stamp by Ting. This was totally new for me and since, i have been following Walasse Ting. About 5 years later a publishing firm in Amsterdam ( Art Unlimited) began to publish on a very large scale the works by Ting. They were published as postcards, calendars, posters and limited editions. This meant there was no longer any exclusivity any more and the images began to loose their appeal to me. Still the craftsmanship of Ting stayed intact, but because of the sheer number of publications there was no attraction any more. Now it is 25 years later and i wished i had been following Ting a little closer , because what i have learned during this years is that there is another Walasse Ting too. An expressionist painter who has been highly important for modern art and made many collectable and beautiful paintings before his time as a “commercial” artist. Still his chineese ladies are very pleasing on the eye and a little more bold….. the ladies from the “red mouth” series are attractive pin ups treated the Walasse Ting way.

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But as a whole Ting is a true modern artist who deserves to be recognized for his entire oeuvre and not only for his Ladies/parrots paintings.

www.ftn-books.com has some nice publications by Ting

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Posted on 14 December 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Wilhelm von Gloeden (1856-1931) and Taormina.

Arcadia on Sicily. That is what Taormina in Sicily meant for Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden. One of the pioneers of modern photography and one that had a preference for photographing young men. This preference made von Gloeden for a very long time a controversial photographer. He grouped these youngsters and photographed them in classic poses and settings….. or chose a single young men for his photographs. One of them, Pancrazio Bucini, became his long time friend and partner for the rest of his life.

Not so long ago his publications were sold from under the counter, but fortunately with the acceptance of homosexuality these beautiful photo’s can be presented in the open and many publications have been published since. Wilhelm von Gloeden is one of those artists who contributed in his own way to the acceptance of homosexuality and the gay emancipation. some of his publications are available at www.ftn-books.com

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Posted on 13 December 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Marlene Dumas…The Lava-Edge(1983)

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This time a blog on one single item. The Lava-Edge, according to me this is the very first monographic publication by Marlene Dumas ever published. There are only 2 publications that i know of which are 1 year older, but these are publications with group exhibitions in which Marlene Dumas featured. So this is really special and what is more…. it was published in an extremely small edition of only 250 copies by Museum Fodor / Amsterdam in 1983. The publication was part of a cardboard box containing publications by : Ansuya Blom, Marlene Dumas, Erik Andriesse, Frank van den Broeck, Rene Daniels, Jean Paul Franssens, Peer Veneman, Henk Visch and Martin van Vreden. This box was published together with another box with Icelandic artists on the occasion of an exchange exhibition “Reykjavik- Amsterdam, ter weerszijden van de Meridiaan” (1983).

The Lava- Edge is the contribution by Marlene Dumas. A true artist book and as said probably the first ever monographic publication.

Oblong sized and containing 28 pages filled with text, illustrations and photographs. The text is partly in South African and partly in English. This book is extremely rare and as far as i know ,i am the only book seller who is offering this publication at the moment and by some coincedence i have 2 copies available. One as a single copy of the Lava-Edge and one in the complete box with all the other artists. To give a good impression of the item i took some extra photo’s to show the importance of this publication and since i have an extra copy there is a 10% discount for the first who orders it. use: lavaedge10 for the discount.

use it at www.ftn-books.com

Posted on 7 December 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Sol LeWitt….A Tribute …and the Joost Swarte bag

Yesterday, i received an invitation for the opening on the 17th of december 2016 of a Tribute exhibition on Sol LeWitt. There is a long lasting relation between the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag and Sol LeWitt, which collaboration first resulted in the very first European Minimal art exhibition in Europe and later the wall sculptures on the Schamhart wing some 20 years ago. In between exhibitions were held , including his drawings exhibition and of course he made several wall drawings on location.

Because of this relation, Sol Lewitt was invited in 1987 to design one of the plastic bags which was used in the shop of the Gemeentemuseum. Sol designed 2 bags, one in color and one in black on transparent polyethyleen. 2 excellent designs and both were executed and used for a couple of years in the shop. Now the black drawing is used for the invitation of the tribute exhibition. What people forget is that the typography is not done by Sol LeWitt , but it was “borrowed” from an earlier bag designed by Joost Swarte, who designed a plastic bag, including the typography, with the different collection parts in mind. This lettering was used for 100% by Sol for his own designs. So the main part is done by LeWitt but the typography was done by Joost Swarte in his very recognizable lettering. A beautiful bag was the result and only a few copies of this bag remain available for sale at www.ftn-books.com

Exhibition Sol LeWitt a Tribute opens on the 17th of december and runs until the 9th of april, 2017

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

Boris Mikhailov

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I can not make a better blog than the information which is given on the Saatchi site at:

http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/boris_mikhailov.htm

but what i know from a personal point of view is that Mikhailove for me is arguably the best photographer from the last 3 decades. Raw and tender at the same time and a very personal point of view.

Here is the short Biography on Mikhailov :

Born in the former Soviet Union, Mikhailov lived and worked for several decades in his hometown of Kharkiv, Ukraine. He received an education as an engineer and started to teach himself photography. Today he is one of the most successful and well-known among the photographers who were already active in the Soviet era. His work combines conceptual art and social documentary photography.

Mikhailov had his first exhibition at the end of the 1960s. After the KGB found nude pictures of his wife he was laid off his job as an engineer and started to work full-time as a photographer. From 1968 to 1975 he shot several series documenting everyday scenes, the best known of them being the Red Series. In these photographs he mainly used the colour red, to picture people, groups and city-life. Red symbolized the October Revolution, political party and the social system of Soviet society. It is often said that within those works critical elements toward the existing political circumstances can be found.In Mikhailov’s Klebrigkeit (1982), he added explanatory notes, or diary-like text. In Case History, considered an important part of contemporary art, he examines the consequences of the breakdown of the Soviet Union for its people. He systematically took pictures of homeless people. It shows the situation of people who after the breakdown of the Soviet Union were not able to find their place in a secure social system. In a very direct way Mikhailov points out his critique against the “mask of beauty” of the emerging post-Soviet capitalistic way of life.

There were some classic Mikhailov books published during the last 20 years and some of them can be found at:

www.ftn-books.com

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

Roger Raveel (1921-2013)

I am not the greatest fan of Roger Raveel, but occasionally i can appreciate his works. Specially the Beervelde project in the cellar corridors together with his friends from the Nieuwe Figuratie is a highlight. From his early days he has held exhibitions in the Netherlands and therefore a nice set of publications was published in the 60’s and 70’s by galerie Espace, who represented Raveel during these decades. Raveel is one of the great artists in Belgium, but beyond the Belgian borders his works are scarce. There are some in the Stedelijk Museum and van Abbemuseum, but those are the only ones i know of. Given the fact that he is not very well known outside Belgium and the Netherlands, i was surprised to find the number of publications i managed to collect over the years and which are now in my inventory. So if you are looking for Raveel publications please visit www.ftn-books.com

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and complete your collection.

Posted on 18 November 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Poster by Richard Paul Lohse

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Just a single item to blog about this day. Not an ordinary one , but a very special poster. The original silkscreen print was used as the exhibition poster for the Richard Paul Lohse exhibition in the van Abbemuseum in 1971.

One of the secrets of the dutch publications which were published in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s is that in some cases a special printing method ( lino/silkscreen/woodblock) was used for the publicity and exhibition publications….result a true piece of art. This Lohse poster is such a special production. A very large screenprint , printed by Hoffman and a special design by Richard Paul Lohse makes this a highly collectable Lohse item. A large screenprint with an impressive composition by Lohse. It is not a cheap poster, but once framed it shows its true quality and will impress all. A special item and a true piece of art of which i think it is probably the only one available on the market at this moment.

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