Category: antiquarian books

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Luc Hoekx (1964)

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An artist who i did not know, but because of the excellent catalogue published by the Hein Elferink gallery in 2006 i learned to know and discover ( http://www.luchoekx.be). Luc Hoekx. A long career and some great places he exhibited at passing by without being noticed by me. Entirely my fault of course, but his exhibitions in the Netherlands were scarce . In retrospect i could only discover two. One in Helmond and the other in Staphorst. Not the worldly places one visits to find some great art. But now , because of the Elferink catalogue, i discovered an artist who’s art i like and that made me sent him a message to inquire after 2 works that were on his site.

So let ‘s wait and hope that these are reasonable priced, if not……no problem it takes some years but eventually something will come to the market and who knows it will be mine after the final bid.

luc hoekx

 

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Edward Quinn (1920-1997)

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Edward Quinn, or “Ted” as his family called him, was born 1920 in Ireland. Starting in the 1950s, he lived and worked as a photographer on the Côte d’Azur, which was a playground for celebrities from the world of show biz, art and business during the “Golden Fifties”. The rich and famous came to the Riviera to relax. But the movie stars recognized the importance of their off-screen image, and Quinn was in the right place at the right time, managing to capture spontaneous and enchanting images that documented the charm, sophistication and chic of a legendary era.

In 1951, Edward Quinn met and photographed Pablo Picasso for the first time. Their friendship lasted until Picasso’s death in 1973. This encounter with Picasso had a lasting influence on Quinn, both personally and in regard to his subsequent work. Quinn is the author of several books and films about Picasso.

Starting in the 1960s, Quinn concentrated his professional activities on artists, photographing such figures as Max Ernst, Alexander Calder, Francis Bacon, Salvador Dalí, Graham Sutherland and David Hockney. In the late 1980s, a close relationship – similar to his friendship with Picasso – developed between Quinn and Georg Baselitz.

From 1992 until his death in 1997, Edward Quinn lived in Altendorf near Zurich with his Swiss wife Gret. She passed away in 2011.

There was a special exhibion of the Quinn photographs he made of Pablo PIcasso at the Quadrat Museum in Bottrop. The exhibition poster is available at www.ftn-books.com

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Jacek Malczewski (1854-1929)

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There are not many Polish artists who have made a name for themselves in the western art world. But since a few decades some Polish artists emerge in the established museums in western Europe and Malczewski is one of them. He was presented in a retropective exhibition at the Drents Museum in 2003 and for me it was the first time i heard of this Polish artis and saw some of his better works. He is considered to be a symbolist painter and he certainly is, but in my opnion he more is a realistic artist who paints and draws every day life and people from his surroundings but frames them in a symbolistic way.

There is hardly any symbolism in the foreground of his art and the people he depicts, but look at his paintings and you will discover that there is symbolism and symbolistic elements, everywhere and even at some moments complete symbolic scenes in the background. This is how good art has to be and this is certainly true for Malczewski’s art. To discover this Polish artist the Drents Museum catalogue is a perfect starting point.

The Drents Museum catalogue is now available at www.ftn-books.com

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Theo van Hoytema (1863-1917)

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Born in DEN HAAG too, van Hoytema was one of the first artists I encountered in the collection of the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. A bird artis “pur sang” who is considered to be one of the founding members of the Art Nouveau movement in the Netherlands.

I have lost my interest in the artist and the Art Nouveau period, because I shifted my interest towards modern art, but the fact remains that the artists and his illustrated books and calendars are still very popular among collectors worldwide. In the time i worked at the Gemeentemuseum I had a yearly contact with Mrs. Schoonderbeek who published through the years all Hoytema material including a famous yearly calendar. Edition run ….over 100.000 each year and this made it possible for her to publish van Hoytema until some 20 years when she had to stop. Now i have found a delightful book on van Hoytema and his calendar and it shows exactly why his calendars stayed popular through the years.

The book is now available at www.ftn-books.com

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Anton Pieck in fashion again.

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People from my generation remember the many Post and Christmas cards by Anton Pieck each family received . I even remember my parents chosing a stork with baby in his beak as a birth announcement. Pieck was huge….Piewck was popular and …Pieck stood for the most famous fairy tale park in the Netherlands…..de Efteling….

But after i few decades people got tired of the romantic scenes, populated by Dickens figures. Yes, the “DE EFTELING” attraction park was still there, but only because it had grown into a full blown entertainment park and the fairy tale forrest was almost forgotten.

But some 15 years ago , because some originals fetched excellent prices at auction, people started to notice Anton Pieck again. All because they recognized the quality of his great illustrations and drawings of town scenes and landscapes. There was of course a small  Anton Pieck Museum, but the Frans Hals Museum / de Hallen in Harlem was the first to dedicate a retrospective to Anton Pieck, the artists, in 2008.  A popular well attended exhibition which published a great catalogue together with the exhibition. ( now available at www.ftn-books. com) and these days i am selling Anton Pieck books all over the world and people collect and appreciate them. Anton Pieck is in fashion again.

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Piet Dirkx…the new acquisition “l’Idee”

This is what if ound on this 1991 Piet Dirkx. Signed by Piet and titled “l’idee”.

This work belonged for a long time to the collection of Otto Schaap, who purchaseed it at Galerie Loerakker around 1991. It was part of this collection for nearly 3 decades and now it has found a new home in our collection. This is what we had when unpacked.

 

and this is the complete work presented on two nails as indicated by Piet. 51 cm apart, with the yellow “sandwich” on the right.

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and here it is between some other works by Piet Dirkx.

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for those interested in Piet Dirkx , please note that publications, cigar boxes and paintings are for sale. Please inquire at ftnbooksandart@gmail.com

 

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Piet van Wijngaerdt (1873-1964)

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A dutch painter who is hardly known, but not without reason he was presented and is present in the collection of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Wijngaerdt was a painter who was strongly rooted in realistic art bvut during his career he tried to free himself from this constraint by introducing brighter colors and sketching and filling in the surface of the canvas with abstract element.

These paintings are therefore all a search for abstraction and make these worthwhile to study and collect. Wijngaerdt is considered to be the founding member of the Bergense School.

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the above publications are available at www.ftn-books.com

 

 

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the 3 most famous dollhouses in the Netherlands

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I have experienced that there is a rising international interest in the 3 famous doll houses in the publica collections in the Netherlands. each has its own qualities but they all have in common the exceptional detail which makes these doll houses stand out from all doll houses which were made after these. Furthermore they show in great detail the daily life in the 17th century.

There is of course the most famous of all Sara Rothé doll house which is in the collection of the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag.

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Then there is the doll house owned by Petronella de la Court which is in the collection of the Centraal Museum Utrecht

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and finally the Rijksmuseum owned doll house which was originally owned and palyed by Petronella Oortman.

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there are of course more examples to be found in dutch publica collections , but these are the most famous one of which www.ftn-books.com has of the two first ones classic and important publications.

BTW. these doll houses were not played by children but were in the collections and cherished by adult women.

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Geni Peter ( continued)

A few years ago I dedicated a blog on Geni Peter. An artist not very known, but one who had a great catalogue published together with his exhibition. The catalogue was designed by Wim Crouwel and the reason for this short blog is that I have found “the missing link” for the Geni Peter admirers. I now have acquired the official Geni Peter invitation card which was designed by Wim Crouwel for the 1970 exhibition. Of course I also have the catalogue available but this, I am confident to state this, is currently nowhere to be found.

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Happy New Year…and a healthy 2021

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Dear Reader,

Thanks for your interest in this continuing daily blog. It has been been a year filled with changes and I truly hope next year will be a more normal year and of course a healthy one for you and all your loved ones.

What way to have a better start of the blogs remembering the New Years wishes Willem Sandberg made during his directorship at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.

Each year until the early Sixties he made a yearly New Years wish for the Stedelijk Museum. Recognizable, highly original and in a way only Sandberg could design and make them. I encountered these New Years wishes in a biography which was published in 2004 and written by Ank Leeuw Marcar. In the centre of the book all Sandberg New Years Wishes are assembled. ( available at www.ftn-books.com).

To finish ….My best wishes for you and your loved ones and have a wonderful 2021.

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