Category: antiquarian books

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Ettore Burzi (1872-1937)

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Just take a mixing bowl and put in it a dash of the early Mondrian, a pinch of Hodler and some part of the Scandinavian 20th century artists and presto….there he is ETTORE BURZI. Rooted within the art deco movement he produced some great paintings in the first part of the 20th century.

I like his landscapes in which he approaches the quality of some of the greatest paintings by Klimt ,Hodler and Mondrian ( de Rode Wolk by Mondrian on the right), he also stayed true to his origins since he also made some great paintings of Venice in which he catches this dreamlike s city on canvas.

For those who are not familiar with Burzi, www.ftn-books.com has the 2010 Ticino catalogue now available.burzi

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Harm Kamerlingh Onnes (1893-1985)

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Harm Kamerlingh Onnes, born in the city of Leiden was an artist whose works were hardly known and appreciated during his life. He made drawings, gouaches, Oil paintings and ceramics, but if you ask me …can you mention one monumental work by him…. I can not produce any, but bis smaller works that I encountered at auction I appreciate. Postal stamp design and small humoristic sketches on daily life I have seen and admired.

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His work was influenced by modernism in the period between 1915 and 1925 and in 1918 he designed some stained windows for JJP Oud’s vacation home ” DE VONK “. From 1925 until his death daily life is his only subject for his art. From this year on his work is only figurative.

www.ftn-books has some Kamerlingh Onnes publications available.

 

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Rik van Iersel (1961)

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If i look at the long list of most influential and important artists in the the Netherlands, Rik van Iersel is among the first 100 for the last 15 years or so, but the last few years it looks like he is loosing more and more his higher positions on the list.

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Still for me personally , i think his importance is still growing. His art ” language” is inspired by his surroundings and his paintings read like comic books. The style is a form of abstract figuration which can be compared with the spontanuous figures that populate the works by Jean Michel Basquiat. He does not belong to the FIGURATION LIBRE….no he is Rik van Iersel and on my personal list to acquire for our collection when there is a chance to buy at auction. van Ierel is “self taught” and where others persued a career in illustration and comic boooks. His career focusses on painting and graphic art.

After so many years he is established. His works being sold at gallery Willy Schoots and “one man” shows at some of the main stream museums like the Bommel van Dam museum. ( catalogue available at www.ftn-books.com)

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Richard Paul Lohse….2 silkscreened posters

 

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It must have been around 1989 that i first appreciated the works by Richard Paul Lohse. The Haags Gemeentemuseum showed a magnificent painting by Lohse , which has since been on permanent display in the Museum. Responsible was Rudi Fuchs ,who had an admiration for Lohse too. When he was a director at the van Abbemuseum he showed the works by Lohse frequently. Among these times a retropective  in 1971 for which a silkscreened poster was printed ( available at www.ftn-books.com). Now i have added the “sister” poster which was made for the Moderna Museet in Stockholm in 1971. Two equal collectable posters and a rare commbination to be offered at one place for sale.

 

 

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Jan Vercruysse (1948-2018)

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Inspired by yesterdays blog on Niek Kemps, this one is about Jan Vercruysse, who , together with Kemps, were presenting their art on the Venice Biennale in 1993. The Belgian conceptual art scene lost one of his most important members in 2018 when Vercruysse died unexpectedly. He refused to participate in the DOCUMENTA IX, because he had completely different ideas how art should be presented. Art was made into a spectacle by Jan Hoet and vercruysse thought different about presenting his art.

kemps ven a

He was the complete the opposite of Jan Hoet, who thought art was a spectacle, where Vercruysse stood for a much more contemplative form of art.  This is reflected in his art which dooes not impress by its colors or forms , but intrigues and makes you study the setting and objects. Both the catalogues www.FTN-books.com has available show this in an excellent way.

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Betsabee Romero (1963)

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Cars and Tyres. These are the two elements that appear in Romero’s art practically all the time. Covered tyres, ripped tyres, flat tyres……..

This art reminded me of a story my wife told me. The first time she visited New York she was at the Museum of Modern Art and visited a room filled with tyres, she turned around …..she could not understand how this could be art. Since a lot has she changed and we both visited many museum and galleries and even the most extreme art is appreciated. I wonder if she returned to MOMA if she would think the same about the art presented to her. This not an easy form of art which can be consumed like fast food. You have to study the artist a little and when you finally see her art for real it impresses.

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Her work can be seen as her response to the issues and problems that she witnesses in the world around her> She succeeds impressively in interweaving reality at the local level with reflections on global developments. The CARS AND TRACES catalogue is now available at www.ftn-books.com

betsabee romero

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Gary Hume (1962)

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The first Gary Hume original i ever saw was the Momart Xmas special he made in 2000. Momart published FUZZY SNOWMAN in an unknown sized edition. But I immediately recognized the quality of the multiple and the artist. Since i have been following his career.

“The snowman is an image to which Gary Hume often returns. His screen print Snowman of 1996 presents a bold orange and brown snowman ‘aglow against a soft sunset pink’. The painting Snowman of 1996 was a brown and red snowman against a rich blue background. Fuzzy Snowman [the present work] is icier with two white circles on a cool blue ground. It is a do-it-yourself artwork with a fuzzy ground an detachable felt pieces. For Hume the snowman is a self-portrait. It is seen from behind, looking toward the horizon and wholly dependent on the season. … With thanks to Honey Luard at White Cube … [and] Mandy Chubb at Fuzzy-felt.”

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Publications on Hume are scarce and now i finally have the most important one added to my inventory. It is the Matthew Mark gallery publication which was made for his Kestner show in 2004.

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It took me over 15 years to finally add this one , but this is well worth collecting and still at a reasonable price available.

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Gustave Loiseau (1865-1935)

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For me Gustave Loiseau represents the generation just after the great impressionists and Neo impressionists. Influenced by these great artists ,but eventually developing this into a style of his own. Just a similar path that Maximilien Luce also walked.

They were contemporaries of each other and both had a liking of landscapes but they also opened their artistic eyes for the rise of industry and painted these new elements in the landscapes. It was as early as the beginning of the Seventies that I took an interest in art and visited for the first times auction by Christie’s and Sotheby’s and these artist were showing up, because of the artistic and commercial value they represented. Peresonally i like Luce better because of his wider approach to painting nearly all kinds of subjects, but Loiseau is the more poetic one.

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There are not many publiucations on Loiseau , but the above is one that is available at www.ftn-books.com

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A Paradise Lost (1935-1955)

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Here is the tile of a book a recently acquired. Title ….A PARADISE LOST and the subject is the Neo-Romantic Imagination In Britain from 1935-1955. To be honest… I never hear of this current in the Art scene, but when I opened the book I was struck with some famous names that i have known for all of my working life in art. Graham Sutherland was the first I recognized and then there was Lucian Freud and later again, Francis Bacon and Edward Burra. Leafing through the book it appeared that these now-famous names were presented together with lesser-known names but their art is not less appealing. It is typical for this Era and balances between realism and surrealism. This is a period which should be more in focus with the larger Museums in the world since it is a bridge between the realism of the early  20th century and the modern, abstract art as we know it. I can only highly recommend this book for those interested in this period. The book is now available at www.ftn-books.com

paradise lost

 

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Jacobien de Rooij (1947)

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Jacobien de Rooij stands for large-sized paintings and drawings with a common theme. “Nature” is what she paints and draws. She is especially known for her extremely large drawings. Her large-sized drawings are famous and can be found in many Dutch public collections. Bright colours, makes these works when seen from up close like almost abstract works. what she draws or paints is not reality, but her interpretation of landscapes and scenes she has witnessed or seen.

Above just 2 recent examples of her works that illustrate the way she “builds ” her works.

jacobien de rooij

The above publication is available at www.ftn-books.com