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Helena van der Kraan (1940-2020, continued)

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A few months ago i wrote a short ” IN MEMORIAM” on the occasion of Helena van der Kraan’s passing away on her birthday at the age of 80 years,Bbut what i did not mention was that there was a very nice retropective on her ” Bears ” series at the Fotomuseum Den Haag, only one problem……Covid 19 made it for us almost possible to visit, but now that the museums can be visited again, we went to the Fotomuseum, Gem and Kunstmuseum to get an artistic “update” including the Bear series retrospective by Helena van der Kraan.

helena beren a

helena beren b

Personally i love her  almost classic  way of photography, Linda was less charmed, but both we agreed that the combination of GEM and Fotomuseum ( also a Wegman exhibition) was time very well spend. Another reason to write this short blog is that i found a signed copy of the 1986 book published by van Beveren/Haags Gemeentemuseum and perhaps this shows best why i think that Helena will be remembered as one of our great photographers. Every photo is “classic” and timeless and where the photographs of her compatriot Saudek are getting more and more dated, the photographs of Helena grow on you and ripen and gain in quality by the year.

The exhibition shoudl have been closed on the 21tgh of UAgust , but because programs are continued at many of the museums the Helena van der Kraan Bear series is still to be viewed at the Fotomuseum. I do not know how long it still will be there, but i urge you to go when you have a chance.

Helena van der Kraan publications are available at www.ftn-books.com

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Jagoda Buic (1930)

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Joagoda Buic is now listed as a Croatian artist but in 1970 Seventies she participated for the former Republica of Iugoslavia at the Venezia Biennale. Her works can be compared to other artists like Pat Steir , but studying her works more closely is that their size in many cases differ.

 

Her works are oversized and abstract and the use of layers of Tissues makes them more like 3 Dimensional sculptural works. Flat against the wall or hanging from a ceiling their sculptural quality is always present. Recently i added the Venezia 1970 catalogue from the Jugoslavia contribution to my inventory. A nice and spectacular publications with 4 separate books in a cardboard sleeve. One on Buic and the other on Bernik and Dzamonja.

jugoslavia b

The Buic portrait is one of the most intriguing women protraits i have seen lately , A beautiful adult face with an artistic life ahead of her.

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Magnum and LES GRAND TRAVEAUX 1989

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The French Republic commissioned the “creme de la creme ” of french photographers from the Magnum agency to contribute to a very prestigious photography project.

The publication was designed by Roman Cieslewicz and in it were contributions of the very best French photographers (Burri, Berry, Franck, Riboud and Kalvar) of the Magnum agency.

grands travaux a

Photographs of all the prestigious architectural projects which were commissioned by Georges Pompidou and François Mitterrand. The renovation and rebuilding of the Musee d’Orsay, Le Grande ARCHE, L’Opera and many others made this decade of the Eighties stand out and because there were so many projects realized it is important that the greates of French photographers documented these. This publication is now available at www.ftn-books.com

 

 

 

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Nico Dijkshoorn (1960)

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Why this writer… “instant” poet in a blog on art. This is because this famous dutch writer who had a weekly platform in the DE WERELD DRAAIT DOOR program also has a very personal view on art. He published together with the Kröller Muller Museum a book in which he wrote personal texts for items which are in the permanent collection of the Museum. The book is titled “DIJKSHOORN KIJKT KUNST” and is now available at www.ftn-books.com.

dijkshoorn kunst

I the coming months i will place some examples from the book. Short personal texts put together by Dijkshoorn with great art. Here is a first . It is a text combined with the “Potatoes” painting by van Gogh.

dijkshoorn aardappelen

 

 a recipe for “Spanish ” potatoes

Buy a potato

bake it

tink of

spain

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Jock Sturges (1947)

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For some Sturges work is controversial and is considered erotic photography for me Sturges is the American counterpart of Lucien Clergue who places his nudes in a landscape and blends them with nature . the result spectacular photography. His series of sea and sand photographs reminds me of the series Sturges has made of youth along the shore of the sea. But as an example a less controversial photo below. This is a classic beauty.

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Jock Sturges is an American photographer known for his large-format portraits of nude adolescents. His black-and-white prints capture subjects on naturist beaches in the United States and France. The controversial nature of his imagery has raised concerns throughout his career, but Sturges has remained steadfast, photographing his subjects—often alongside their families—over several years. “My hope is that my work is in some way counter-pinup,” the artist said of his work. “A pinup asks you to suspend interest in who the person is and occupy yourself entirely with looking at the body, fantasizing about what you could do with that body, completely ignoring how the person might feel about it.” Born in 1947 in New York, NY, he served in the US Navy before studying perceptual psychology at Marlboro College in Vermont. While studying for his MFA in photography from San Francisco Art Institute Sturges began taking nude photographs of communes in Northern California. In 1990, the artist’s studio was raided by the FBI and attempts were made to charge him with child pornography, all attempts have been unsuccessful. Sturges has published several books of his photographs, including Life~Time (2008), and his works are held in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Denver Museum of Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The artist currently lives and works in Seattle, WA. The below publication is available at www.ftn-books.com

sturges camera

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Jan van Toorn (1932-2020)

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Jan van Toorn dies last Friday at the age of 88 years.

Tragic newss this morning , but one of the greatest of all dutch designers from last century dies at the age of 88 years.

I have followed his career with all kinds of examples of his design through all decades of last half century. Many of these are also available at www.ftn-books.com

. Many of them stand out and some are also known outside our borders, since many of his designs were done for exhibitions outside the Netherlands. His style….highly recognizable and less formal than Crouwel is known for. van Toorn sits in between Sandberg and Crouwel and developed over the years a style of his own. He was one of the main designers for the van Abbemuseum and a director for the Jan van Eyck academy and beside the van Abbemuseum made design for PTT Nederland and the Cultural Foreign office. His archives are now with the Unviversity of Amsterdam.

During his life Van Toorn received two prestigious art prices for his designs. First the H.N. Werkmanprijs in 1972 and second in 1985 the BNO Piet Zwart award.

 

 

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Erwin Olaf and Eduard Manet… an analogy

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A few weeks ago i decided to sell my pristine copy of the Borek Sipek / Erwin Olaf catalogue they made together with Irma Boom for the STIJL VORMT FUNCTIE exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in 1991. This is probably one of the catalogues i cherish the most, but since i have decided to sell part of my private library and only keep these books that are related to our personal collection it is now for sale. What struck me most were of course the photographs by Erwin Olaf. These are timeless and highly original in their approach of the subject…..except…. he must have been inspired by at least one painting of the impressionist period. The Eduard Manet / The bar at the Folies Bergere painting is certainly a source of inspiration for the photo het took in the early Nineties. The book is now for sale at www.ftn-books.com

 

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René Daniëls ( continued )

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Over 3 years ago I published my first blog on René Daniëls, who I consider to be one of the great dutch artist from the last century. It took me some time but  I now have the most important publications on René Daniëls in my inventory. recently I have added Lentebloesem (1990) and The words are not in their proper place (2011). These together with the van Abbemuseum publications makes the best collection of René Daniëls. possible. All books are now available at www.ftn-books.com

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Wyn Geleynse (1947)

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What better way to introduce a video artist with a video i found on the internet. Just a short video of 3 minutes introduces this Rotterdam born artist, but living almost his entire life in Canada.

 

Wyn Geleynse is a multimedia artist living and working in London, Ontario. Born in Rotterdam, Netherlands in 1947, Geleynse moved to Canada as a child and was raised in London, Ontario. Since 1969, he has exhibited extensively both in Canada and Europe. Considered one of Canada’s pioneer film and video projection artists, Geleynse’s career spans a period of nearly 40 years. His work raises questions about self and identity, commenting on the human condition with a subtle blend of irony and humanity. Interested in the notion of film projection as a metaphor for projecting one’s thoughts and desires, Geleynse worked primarily with installation-based projections in the past. In 2009, he produced an outdoor DVD projection work titled “Wyn Geleynse: The Peel Projection” for the site that will become the Art Gallery of Peel in Brampton, Ontario.

www.ftnbooks.com has 2 titles on Geleynse available:

 

 

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TYPEX = Raymond Koot (1962)

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Typex is known for his many illustrations he ahs made for dutch publications like VPRO gids, OOR, Zone 5300, Vrij Nederland, Intermediair, NRC, Volkskrant en De Filmkrant. But lately he received the Stroschapsprijs for his biography on Andy Warhol. Over 500 pages with Warhol history illustrated in the typical Typex style.

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A few months ago he published in the Volkskrant, a double page illustration on the history and problems of the Heard vs Depp marriage. The illustration says all and is now for sale at http://www.ftn-books.com.

heard vd Depp