I found this picture at the Herb Lubalin center who has this in its collection. A very nice and typical Willem Sandberg card to wish you a Merry Christmas in 1958.
an old wish, but a new one from me….. a Merry Christmas 2021
Many Sandberg and Lubalin items are available at www.ftn-books.com
Keith Haring is a regular subject for these blogs i write and a good reason is the small collection of books and other items i bought recently. In all there are 25 different titles added to my inventory. Among these my personal favorit ” Nina’s book of Little Things!”.
A highly personal title he made in 1988 for the birthday of Nina, his friends daughter.
A “thank you” present for staying at the Clement family home. A gift that will delight generations to come and which is now available at www.ftn-books.com
For many years this was the last time a dutch group of artists presented diutch art at the Sao Paulo Bienal exhibition. For several reasons the Bienal was boycotted and only in the late Eighties dutch art was presented once again at the Sao Paulo Bienal.
But the reason for this blog is not the presence of dutch art in SAo Paulo….no….. the reason is that this 1965 catalogue for the dutch pavillion was designed by Jurriaan Schrofer, who made this catalogue a very special one. The idea came from a leporello in which each fold contains a small catalogue. The artists present are for the official contribution: Co Westerik adnPeter Vos and for the special room: Melle, Carel Willink, Charles Roelofsz and Pyke Koch.
Schrofer managed to include all these artist in a very special way in this catalogue in which all the artists received their own small book. Cover design is special too in which the title spirals away….I really am a great fan of this catalogie which is now available at www.ftn-books.com.
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About a year ago i wrote a short story about a work that i had added to the FTN collection ( for sale ). It was by Robine Clignett. Today there is a reason to write once again on her art since i have added to the FTN book collection ( now also for sale ) a fantastic childrens book by Clignett. The publication is from 1985 , published by Moon Press and designed by another artist Klaus Baumgärtner. Printed by one of the very best Swiss printers BDV in Basel and published in an off size format. Possibly the best is that it is signed, dedicated and dated by Clignett. The dedication is for Felicia van Deth , the daughter and successor of Guido van Deth the famous puppet player , who is known by everybody from my generation. His small puppet theater has been visited on many occasions to see one of his or Felicia’s puppet shows. This book is one of those special publications that one encounters in over 40 years of book collecting. You feel immediately the quality of this publication and it has the same feel you experience with Clignett and her art. It is abstract, but soft and this softness is also immediately present in this excellent publication. A true colectors item.
I understand completely that artist draw inspiration from other artists their works, but in the case of this “Fait d’hiver ” it is far too much a copy than an original work by Koons. I know of the spectacular Banality series sculpture from the Stedelijk Museum and i think it was a rightful choice to acquire this for a large sum., but i did not know the sculpture from the Centre Pompidou and its history. Here is the storuy which i found on “art-critique”
A Paris court of appeals has upheld a 2018 ruling regarding a 2015 copyright infringement lawsuit brought on by photographer Franck Davidovici. With the Tuesday decision, the Centre Pompidou and artist Jeff Koons have been found guilty of copyright infringement and now jointly owe Davidovici €190,000 (£163,900).
The lawsuit hinges on a 1988 sculpture by Koons called Fait d’hiver depicts the bust of a woman lying on the ground as a pig, wearing a flowered collar with a barrel, and two penguins look on. The amusing sculpture was part of “Banality,” a series by Koons that debuted in 1988. The series raised eyebrows at the time but many of its works would go on to be featured in a 2014 retrospective of Koons’ works that kicked off at the Whitney in New York before traveling to the Centre Pompidou and then the Guggenheim Bilbao.
Meant to be commentary on the imagery of mass media, Fait d’hiver became the centre of the dispute after Davidovici saw Koons’ sculpture in a catalogue for the Centre Pompidou’s exhibition of the 2014 retrospective. The issue was that Davidovici found the sculpture to be incredibly similar to a photograph taken and published by the photographer in 1985.
Davidovici’s black and white photograph was created for the French brand Naf Naf and included a woman, wearing a jacket with fur accents, lying on the ground. A pig, wearing a collar with a barrel gazes at the woman with the words “FAIT D’HIVER” in the top left corner of the two-page spread.
While Koons made a few alterations, like the addition of two penguins and swapping the fur jacket for a mesh top, the sculpture does seem to mimic the photo taken by Davidovici just a few years earlier.
Davidovici first sued Koons and the Parisian museum in 2015 and in 2018, a judge ruled that the artist and museum violated copyright laws and owed Davidovici €135,000. However, the artist and museum appealed the ruling which has now been upheld and their monetary penalty was increased by €55,000. Additionally, if the museum or Koons continue to exhibit Fait d’hiver online, they will be fined €600 per day. Meanwhile, the publishers of the 2014 catalogue that accompanied the retrospective now owes Davidovici €14,000 as well.
In 2007, an artist’s proof of Koons’ Fait d’hiver sold at Christie’s for just under $4.3 million (£3 million).
Koons is no stranger for being taken to court for plagiarism. In 2019, a Paris court upheld a 2017 ruling that found the artist, and again the Centre Pompidou, guilty of copyright infringement. That case concerned Koons’ sculpture from the same series called Naked and a photograph titled Enfants by French photographer Jean-François Bauret. While the sculpture was not shown in the 2014 retrospective, images of it were used to advertise the show. The artist and museum were ordered to pay €20,000 to Bauret’s family. Koons also paid the family an addition €4,000 for use of the image.
Together with Rie Cramer she became one of the foremost (female) illustrators in the Netherlands. Her style, personal but a typical derivate of the great Art Deco drawings she had seen in her youth. Open, colorful and more detailed when compared with the best work of Rie Cramer and rooted and inspired by her birth province Zeeland where she draws inspiration from.
The Zeeuwse Bibliotheek held an exhibition in 2010 and published together with ~ZOO a great book on Ella Riemersma which is now available at http://www.ftn-books.com.
The year is 1987 and PLaisier in Bruxelles published the niow much sought after series DILEMMA by Joost Swarte. The series was 10 postcards, which showed a “real life” dilemma. I do not have the complete series , but the onse i have i will show you with the text and series number .
1.
card 6, ” You have gotten a girlfriend pregnant. Do you tell your wife?
2.
card 4, ” You find that your wife is having an affair. Would this be a reason for you to send her away?
3.
card 5, “You hear your neighbour beating his wife. Do you call the police?
4.
card10, ” Your Friend is constantly suffering from a bad breath. Do you tell him?
These cards from this series are on request available . please inquire at http://www.ftnbooksandart@gmail.com
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 http://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.
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.
Then there is the doll house owned by Petronella de la Court which is in the collection of the Centraal Museum Utrecht
and finally the Rijksmuseum owned doll house which was originally owned and palyed by Petronella Oortman.
there are of course more examples to be found in dutch publica collections , but these are the most famous one of which http://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.
Ørnulf Ranheimsæter was a Norwegian illustrator, graphical artist and essayist.
He was born in Skien, and educated at the Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry, where he also later worked as instructor and eventually professor. He is known for his many book designs, and received the Bokkunstprisen award in 1967 and 1987. He was awarded the Fritt Ord Honorary Award in 1998.
Why this rather obscure , lesser know Norwegian artist?.
The best reason is he illustrated DEN HELIGE NATTEN by Hjalmar Gullberg. A short story on the Holy Night ( containing 4 original prints). The most appropriate story for today. ( the book is available at www.ftn-books.com)
Merry Christmas!
wilfried
