Canan Tolon, a resident of Istanbul and San Francisco, is a language graduate with a background in philosophy and literature from the French High School in Istanbul. In 1976, Tolon obtained a design degree from the Edinburgh Napier University. Building upon her educational journey, she pursued her studies in interior design in Germany before completing her interior design degree at the Middlesex University in London. In 1983, she further expanded her knowledge by receiving a graduate degree in architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. Tolon’s impressive body of work has gained recognition through inclusion in various collections and participation in numerous exhibitions both in Turkey and internationally.
Born in Lomazzo, Italy, on August 6, 1926, Francesco Somaini embarked on his artistic journey after completing a law degree at the Università di Pavia in 1949. He sought guidance from Giacomo Manzù by attending his courses at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan. Making his debut in the world of art in 1948 at the Rassegna di Arti figurative sponsored by the Rome Quadriennale, Somaini made his first appearance at the Venice Biennale in 1950. During the mid-1950s, he crafted sculptures made of iron conglomerate, which foreshadowed his involvement with the Italian Art Informel movement.
Somaini’s artistic achievements took center stage during the late 1950s at both the Venice Biennale in 1956 and the São Paolo Bienal in 1959. His outstanding talent garnered him the First International Prize for Sculpture at the latter event. This success in Brazil led to numerous exhibition invitations throughout Italy, including a showcase of his work at the Italian Cultural Institute in New York in 1960. In 1961, he was honored with the esteemed French Art Criticism prize at the Deuxième Paris Biennale. Adhering to the principles of Art Informel, Somaini aimed to expand his sculptural language by incorporating a broader range of materials. He actively participated in a multitude of national and international exhibitions throughout the 1960s.
By the late 1960s, as his Informel phase neared its end, Somaini shifted his focus to creating large-scale works. In the 1970s, he produced a series of drawings and photomontages envisioning the integration of sculptural elements within urban settings. Notable among these were the Bridge–Square design proposal for Gustav Gründgens Platz in Düsseldorf (1980) and the Anthropomorphic Garden and Baignade for the Parc de la Villette in Paris (1982). Concurrent with these explorations, Somaini developed a novel carving technique utilizing high-pressure sand jets.
The dynamic element was introduced in his work during his Tracce series in 1975. This involved rolling a matrix along a clay trench, resulting in an imprint called traccia (trace). Somaini showcased these new works in his solo room at the Venice Biennale in 1978. From the mid-1980s onwards, the artist returned to creating large-scale compositions. Notable solo shows by Somaini included exhibitions organized by the Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg in 1979, Palazzo di Brera in Milan in 1997, Castel Pergine in Trento in 2000, and the Somaini, Sculture, dipinti e disegni 1950-2001, exhibition held in Como in 2002. On November 19, 2005, Francesco Somaini passed away in Como. In 2007, the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome hosted Somaini’s first retrospective exhibition after his death.
Jan van Herwijnen, a self-taught individual, grew up in a working-class family. At the young age of fourteen, he left for England, where he took on various jobs to earn a living. He even worked as a kitchen assistant aboard seafaring vessels.
His talent developed through copying paintings at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. In 1912, he received a scholarship from jhr. Van Riemsdijk, the director of the Rijksmuseum, which allowed him to fully dedicate himself to painting and drawing. Van Herwijnen traveled extensively and spent some time in Paris and Southern France. In January 1920, he already had an exhibition at Heystee building on Herengracht in Amsterdam, showcasing his drawings among other works. In 1923, he exhibited in Collioure.
In 1919, he created a series of thirty large portrait drawings of psychiatric patients at Willem Arntsz Hoeve in Utrecht. He is also known for his portraits of the deceased in the mortuary of Wilhelminagasthuis in Amsterdam.
After working in Amsterdam, Arnhem until 1926, and Heemstede, he settled in Bergen in 1939, where his artistic style continued to evolve. Here, he painted landscapes, flowers, and still lifes, which belong to the Bergen School.
Jan van Herwijnen was a member of Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam and the KunstenaarsCentrumBergen (KCB) in Bergen.
In 2008, there was a major retrospective exhibition of his work titled “Jan van Herwijnen, self-preservation as a painter” at Museum Kranenburgh in Bergen. Art historian Caroline Roodenburg-Schadd, curator at the Museum for Modern Art Arnhem (now Museum Arnhem), wrote a monograph with the same title about Van Herwijnen. The exhibition was curated by Paul van Herwijnen, Jan van Herwijnen’s youngest son, and Ype Koopmans.
From September 19, 2021, to January 9, 2022, the exhibition “Drawing from Compassion” featuring portraits of the patients from Willem Arntsz Hoeve was on display at Museum More.
www.ftn-books.com has now the early 1973 publication on his KRANKZINNIGEN-TEKENINGEN available.
Born in Oisterwijk in 1963, Diederik Klomberg completed his graphic art education in 1989 at the Koninklijke Academie voor Beeldende Kunst en Vormgeving in Den Bosch. He then pursued a master’s degree at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht the following year.
Over the course of the past twenty-five years, Diederik Klomberg has established a formidable reputation for his site-specific artworks, which explore the illusory qualities of both two and three-dimensions. Klomberg pushes the boundaries of this illusional nature to its limits. Within Klomberg’s installations, visitors assume the roles of both spectators and actors, being challenged to reconstruct a deconstructed reality.
Noteworthy exhibitions of Klomberg’s works include showcases at Museum Boymans van Beuningen in 2016 and de Ketelfactory in 2018.
Raoul La Roche started in the 1930s loaning generously and even giving away some works from his collection. From 1932 onwards, the Kunsthaus Zurich was able to showcase a larger group of paintings. During the war years, which La Roche spent “under the most difficult circumstances in Lyon and later in Paris,” his house and collection were spared from losses. In 1950, the Kunstmuseum Basel received fourteen works as a long-term deposit, which resulted in the first donation of 24 works in 1952: four paintings by Picasso, nine by Bracque, five by Gris, four by Léger, and one each by Le Corbusier and Ozenfant. Two more donations followed in 1955 and 1963, so that eventually more than half of the collection, including paintings, works on paper, and four sculptures by Jacques Lipchitz, made its way to Basel.At the same time, nine significant works went to the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris, partly as compensation for the permission to export the rest of the collection from France.
In 1962, Raoul La Roche, who suffered from a severe rheumatic disease, abandoned his Paris residence and returned to his hometown, where he donated the “Maison La Roche” to the Fondation Le Corbusier. In the same year, the University of Basel honored him with an honorary doctorate.
He found his final resting place in the Wolfgottesacker cemetery in Basel.
www.ftn-books.com has the 1963 catalog on his gift to the Kunstsammlung Basel collection now available.
Jeanne Bieruma Oosting, driven and passionate in her artistry, powerful and vulnerable as a human being – she encompassed all of that and much more. She was one of those progressive women who fought for a free and independent life at the beginning of the 20th century.
Throughout her nearly hundred-year life, Jeanne Oosting experienced virtually all 20th-century modern art styles and movements. Her work was labeled as ‘impressionistic’ or ‘expressionistic’. It was considered ‘too masculine’ or ‘typical feminine’. She succinctly described it as ‘figurative’.
For Jeanne Oosting, her work was an essential life necessity. It was everything: “My entire life and thoughts revolve around paintings. It is my breath.” She was always busy, living according to her own rules, and wasting no precious time. The phrase ‘No time to lose’ epitomized her.
During her time in Paris, she spread her wings and her career soared. Particularly with her graphic work, Jeanne Oosting gained international recognition. She set the tone for a new vision of graphic art. And she did so with flair, thanks to her experimental approach, excellent craftsmanship, and daring themes.
Jeanne Bieruma Oosting – affectionately called Biertje by her friends – deserves to be (re)discovered by many. This comprehensive exhibition takes you through her long professional and personal life, featuring artworks, photos, and personal documents. This is made possible for the first time in this form thanks to the research conducted by Jolande Withuis, biographer of Jeanne Bieruma Oosting. The exhibition was initiated by Withuis and is based on her biography ‘No Time to Lose. Jeanne Bieruma Oosting 1898-1994’ (published by De Bezige Bij).
Artist and friend Otto de Kat about Jeanne: “I know few artists who possess as much entrepreneurship, enthusiasm, and courage as Jeanne Bieruma Oosting. Some qualities, which seem contradictory, she possesses in equal measure. She is both serious and nonchalant, bold yet sensitive, fantastic and commonplace. She loves reality but does not forget dreams.”
Dimitris Tzamouranis is a painter in the classic sense of the word. His representational paintings are testament to his outstanding artisanal abilities. He paints on large-format canvases, which he primes traditionally in multiple layers, or on copper plates in small formats. His world of motifs also follows the traces of art history back through many past centuries. Nevertheless, his art is exceptionally contemporary, blending the present with traditional content, techniques, and themes. Tzamouranis is as interested in current social and political topics as he is in interpersonal encounters and individual dispositions.
Born in 1967 in Kalamata on the Peloponnese peninsula, he moved to Berlin in 1990 at the age of 23, having graduated from the Fine Arts University in Thessaloniki where he majored in painting and graphic arts. For the next three years, he studied at the Berlin University of the Arts. Video soon became the central medium for him. He lived for a year in Istanbul thanks to a scholarship awarded by the Senate of Berlin. Drawing on his experience in the bustling metropolis, oscillating between modernity and tradition, the East and the West, he shot Die Flut (52 min.) in 1999. In Berlin in 2001, he shot Selbstschnitt, ein Portrait von Wolfgang Harth (Self-cut: A Portrait of Wolfgang Harth, 9 min.) in which a doctor operates on himself.
Tzamouranis’ grandfather was a church painter, and the artist was brought up in a very religious family. These two facts from his life, combined with the artist’s education, ultimately pushed him towards figurative painting. Since around 2001, he has painted very personal works using a realistic visual language. He soon ventured beyond pure imagery and introduced mysterious elements and characters into his painted scenes. Reality and dreams subtly intertwine, visualisations of the paintings seem magical, and illumination, light, and shadow add a film-like dramatic effect. A principle he continued to pursue until today in repeatedly new variations and narratives. His numerous studies of characters, portraits, and self-portraits contain an exceptional closeness and intimacy. In this slightly surreal or paradoxical depiction, the artist captures deep human fears and central themes of our lives: love, longing, hope, pain, and the search for meaning. Tzamouranis is particularly interested in the non-verbal communication between the main characters, with their encounter sometimes performed in silent motionlessness, and at other times with solemn energy.
Tzamouranis always works with models, both young and old, and often people that he is close with. With their help, he tests the constellations of several figures and specific positions to then transfer them into his works. Apart from his own imagination and the scenes he discovers through theatrical directing, he is inspired by themes from the history of art. He introduces historical, mythological, and biblical concepts, often only partially, into the present, creating an irritating yet fascinating blend of modernity and imagery that has been passed on throughout the centuries. The clothes and hairstyles of his models suggest they are people from the twenty-first century. Their poses, which we have recorded in our collective memory thanks to history’s most famous works of art, often seem strangely remote and incomprehensible in the context of a contemporary environment. Again and again, the artist creates coherent works. He has recently worked with young people taking vocational training. In the realm of non-verbal communication, Tzamouranis displays a particular interest in the interplay between the main characters. Their encounters range from moments of silent stillness to intense vitality.
When it comes to his creative process, Tzamouranis consistently collaborates with models, both young and old, often choosing individuals he has a close relationship with. With their assistance, he experiments with various compositions and specific poses, which he later incorporates into his artworks. In addition to drawing inspiration from his own imaginative mind and scenes derived from theatrical direction, Tzamouranis finds motivation in themes found within the history of art. He skillfully incorporates historical, mythological, and biblical concepts, albeit only partially, into the contemporary landscape. This creates a captivating mixture of modernity and imagery that has endured through the ages.
Despite the fact that the attire and hairstyles of his models reflect the twenty-first century, their poses possess a certain enigmatic quality, reminiscent of iconic works of art from history. Within a contemporary setting, these poses often appear distant and difficult to grasp. Nonetheless, the artist consistently produces coherent and thought-provoking pieces of art. Notably, Tzamouranis has recently worked with young individuals pursuing vocational training, further expanding his artistic horizons.
www.ftn-books.com has the galerie Michael Haas publication from 2010 now available.
Alex van Warmerdam (born in 1952) pursued his education at the Graphic School and the Gerrit Rietveld Academie. He is currently engaged in the fields of scriptwriting, acting, design, and directing for both theater and film. His notable achievements include winning the Golden Calf for Best Director twice, for Abel (1986) and The Northerners (1992), and the Golden Calf for Best Screenplay thrice, for Ober (2006), The Last Days of Emma Blank (2009), and Borgman (2013). Additionally, he has received numerous awards at international film festivals. In 2016, Alex, along with his brother Marc, was honored with the Golden Calf for Film Culture.
Regarding his directorial work in film and theater, van Warmerdam has established a strong international reputation. However, it is less well-known that he is also a fantastic all-round artist. www.ftn-books.com is now offering the monograph from 2010 that was published in conjunction with the exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam.
Upon close examination, the experiences depicted in Hannes Postma’s drawings are not particularly pleasant. At the very least, the subjects are stretched out like sandwiches or compressed into bundles of limbs. They are constantly in intense motion, rising up, floating, or being shot across the plane, colliding, getting caught in explosions, and being torn apart by sharp-edged surfaces. Their hands and feet detach, multiply, and fly off into space. Their heads transform into balloons, which then expand back into bodies further on. They collide with all sorts of cosmic furniture (shelves, boxes, clothes hangers, hats, undulating earth crusts) that render space unsafe…It is, of course, not without significance that Hannes Postma composes with shapes that evoke our own world, rather than circles and squares. His space is a genuine space, even though near and far have become interchangeable, an immense space in which the earth appears fragmentary…The events, the sharp edges reach us through the drawn flesh. Wordless balloons float out of our field of vision, resembling smoke clouds or drops of blood. The boxes contain surprises (not only pleasant ones, Postma calls them Pandora’s boxes), embryos, pieces of landscape and water; perhaps they are also hiding places. Helpless little people confront the cosmic authority of enormous coats and hats, in a world where everything, including themselves, is simultaneously itself and something else or at least in the process of becoming something else.
“Hannes Postma is an image-maker, someone who, like a magician, conjures up people and spaces. But he is also a viewer of those images, who, with some irony, observes all that struggle and is capable of playing pranks with the mysterious. Without imposing his personality on us, he speaks a highly personal language.” This is evident in the title, Hocus Focus. The title and the lithographs make a clear statement, creating new insights through a small intervention. Postma associates a new word-meaning, demonstrating that language is a living entity. The title is a pun. The traditional magic spell is “hocus pocus pilatus pas,” wherein something briefly disappears or reappears. It is the sensation of the curtain opening, the story commencing, and the tension of the moment of wonderment being felt with a transformative power.
The exhibition entitled “Anthony Nellé: Art Deco Stage Designs to Anti-Nazi Posters” was showcased at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center in 1997. This highly popular exhibition showcased Nellé’s original stage designs and World War II poster designs, along with a range of costumes, furniture, and other objects sourced from collections in Western New York. These collections exemplify the elegant and sophisticated Art Deco style. A concise biography of Nellé can be found in his book titled “Nellé,” which was compiled and edited by Sanford Shire, featuring text from Sanford Shire, Marjorie Luesebrink, and Rachel Chodorov. This illustrated book, published by Rizzoli in 1981, spans 128 pages.
Zdislaw Antoni Nellé, born on July 21, 1894, in Warsaw, Poland, hailed from a family immersed in the world of theater and ballet. His father, Stanislau Nellé, served as a conductor for the Russian Imperial Opera Orchestra, while his mother, Florentyna Kuklinska Nellé, was a dancer. Antoni’s exposure to these art forms fostered a deep appreciation and passion within him. Consequently, in 1905, he enrolled at the Russian Imperial School of the Theatre in Warsaw, where he honed his skills. Graduating in 1913, Nellé went on to perform in notable productions such as Swan Lake and Lizkinka, a Georgian folk dance commemorating the royal Romanoff family’s 300th Year Jubilee, as part of the Bolshoi program. He eventually rose to become a premier dancer at the Warsaw Imperial Opera. Later, Nellé ventured to Odessa, assuming the role of director and performer in the city’s opera company. Unfortunately, his marriage to the prima donna in 1915 ended tragically, as she passed away just six weeks after their union. Nellé returned to Warsaw, but due to the German invasion in 1916, he was conscripted into the Russian Imperial Air Corps and assigned to a motorcycle reconnaissance patrol.
Following his military service, Nellé embarked on a tour throughout Russia as a choreographer, director, and dancer with the Zon Theatre Corporation. He garnered acclaim and, in 1921, received an invitation to join the renowned Anna Pavlova’s ballet company in England. This opportunity led to an extensive tour spanning from London to Canada and the United States.
Nellé’s time in the U.S. proved pivotal, as he drew inspiration from jazz and incorporated more modern dance interpretations into his work. Consequently, he decided to remain in the country and joined the Greenwich Village Follies touring company in 1922. Noteworthy designer Erté crafted costumes for Nellé and his duet partner, Russian ballerina Anna Nurova. Following this tour, they participated in a Sol Hurok production called “Night of Love,” which took them to Mexico.
Nellé’s focus gradually shifted and he increasingly devoted his efforts to choreography and stage design. His next dance partners were Ardath De Sales, followed by Margaret Donaldson. Together, they occasionally performed live stage “prologues” in large theaters prior to silent films. On May 20, 1929, Anthony and Margaret tied the knot at her family’s residence in Gowanda, New York, marking the beginning of his connection to Western New York. They resided in New York City initially, but later relocated to Hollywood, where Nellé produced stage presentations and prologues.
As the era of silent films gave way to “talkies,” the couple embarked on a trip to Warsaw in 1931, where they were treated like celebrities. However, due to unfavorable economic conditions, they were compelled to move to Paris in 1933, and subsequently settled in Blackpool, England. Their Folies Bergère style productions were warmly received at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London.
In 1935, after spending the summer in Gowanda, they decided to move to Berlin. Nellé chose to voice modest criticism of the burgeoning Nazi regime, while continuing his work staging dances and designing sets for Scala Girls’ revues until 1937. Secretly, Nellé also created miniature stage sets depicting underground artillery base, hangars, and submarine pens, enabling him to clandestinely communicate anti-Nazi information. In 1939, they were forced to flee Germany due to the worsening economy, ultimately resettling in Gowanda.
Following a period of modest success teaching and choreographing in New York City, Nellé joined the American war effort. In December 1941, he shared his drawings of German war installations with military authorities and received letters of commendation for his patriotic contribution from President Franklin D. Roosevelt and General George Marshall. Despite his inventive blueprints for a “Permanent Invisible Submarine Base,” designed for the Army, Navy, and Air Force, being deemed unfeasible for production, Nellé attempted to work as a camouflage artist but was denied due to his non-American citizenship. He nevertheless designed anti-Nazi posters, which eventually landed him a job as a draftsman and illustrator at Bell Aircraft in Niagara Falls, New York. Eventually, in 1943, Nellé became an American citizen.
After the conclusion of the war in 1944, Nellé made a comeback in the theater scene, performing in St. Louis, Pittsburgh, New York, New Jersey, and Chicago. In 1956, following the passing of Margaret’s mother, the couple retired to Gowanda. However, they still made occasional trips to Buffalo and New York until health issues hindered their travels. On December 31, 1977, Anthony Nellé passed away at the age of 83, followed by Margaret fourteen months later.
Artist/ Author: Oliver Boberg
Title : Memorial
Publisher: Oliver Boberg
Measurements: Frame measures 51 x 42 cm. original C print is 35 x 25 cm.
Condition: mint
signed by Oliver Boberg in pen and numbered 14/20 from an edition of 20
