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Een Nieuwe Synthese, 1988

 

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThis publication is one of the starting points for my collection.

I had been working for 8 years at the Haags Gemeentemuseum when this exhibition was held at the Rijksmuseum Twenthe. First there was the catalogue which we sold in the museum shop and then there was the exhibition itself which opened my eyes for the quality of Abstract Geometric art in the Netherlands.

It has been 32 years now since that exhibition was held , but it has proven to be a very important one. Of all the names presented at that time, artists which were hardly known and could be picked up at auction at extreme low prices, many have had their reevaluation, resulting in a steep rise of prices fetched at auction.

Among them names  as Constant, Domela, Hussem, Huszar, van der Leck, Peeters and Vordemberge Gildewart. But among them were so many other great artists. These are now the artist who are on the verge of their breaktrough. I predict that these names will be the future stars in private and public collections. The names?…….. Siep van den Berg, Piet de Haard, Frieda Hunziker, Wim Sinemus, Andre Volten and Nicolaas Warb.

I have the exhibition publication now available at www.ftn-books.com and you can check these names and all others within the exhibition out in the “DE NIEUWE SYNTHESE”

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Milco Onrust (1961-2015)

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It took me some years to realize that the dutch gallery owner Milco Onrust was one of the driving forces in the gallery and art world. NOt only in the Netherlands his gallery became famous, but abroad his gallery became famous because of the independent choices his owner made during its existence.

Starting at a young age, during his art studies he already collected Modern art, he soon would become one of the most important young gallery owners in the Netherlands, presenting artists like LeWitt, Partenheimer, Gunn , Knobel and Swarte.

 

I did not visit his small gallery many times, but i remember it to be nearby Wim van Krimpen his gallery in Amsterdam.. What strikes me most now, after so many years follwing his gallery and buying his publications, is that the Onrust pubications are all from a small edition and in most cases look and feel like true artists books.  They are little gems among the other gallery publications. This i realized when i dove into my own art book collection and found some precious ones on Partenheimer which have some original drawings inside.

www.ftn-books.com has some of these ONRUST publications available

 

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Wim Crouwel designed series for Museum Fodor

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Around 1972 , Wim Crouwel started to use a computer design inspired layout for the Museum Fodor publications.  A bright orange/red color with in the background a pattern of fine white dot. Just below the middle a tin white line. Fodor in Pink. On the left half the exhibition in info and in Most cases above the white line the artist name. Over 40 publications have appreared within these series and nearly all belong to the very best of Crouwel designs from the Seventies. www.ftn-books.com has many of these publications available. This is a typical connoiseurs choice, not expensive and with all the qualities of a Seventies Crouwel designed publication.

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The road to minimalism according to Carl Andre

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It has been a few month now that i have the book CARL ANDRE/ HOLLIS FRAMPTON, 12 Dialogues 1962-1963 in my inventory. Of course i have seen the works by Andre on many occasions, but rarely seen his early works and this book is focussed on his earliest works. It shows the logs of wood, sculptures with metal , but not the ordered ones for which he would become famous in the early Seventies. These sculptures feel like a thorough research into material and presentation. By the end of 1961 a little work shows how logs are arranged and combined into the earliest and purest form of his sculptures.

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Now i have read this excellent title id decide to put it oup for sale, but i will remember it for showing me what the earliest works by Carl Andre look like, The Book is now available at www.ftn-books.com

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Gilbert & George (continued)

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I have a large collection of Gilbert & George publications . Small and large ones, artist books and retropective catalogues. I asked myself why i am fascinated by these artists. My fascination started when Rudi Fuchs presented Gilbert & George at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag and has grown since. The result is….. numerous publications in my inventory all on this illustrous artist couple.

The ones of Art & Project and the Stedelijk Museum are maybe the most scarce and wanted ones, But now i have acquired , what is perhaps the most accessable book and best introduction to the art of Gilbert & george. It is the Robin Dutt book , published by PWP who shows the works of G&G over several decades and perhaps more important, the development of their art. The book is now available at www.ftn-books.com but more important is, that it feels like their partnership is now complete and any new work is a repetition of earlier ones. Gilbert & George have established themselves as one of the truly great modern art artist and it i snow time for every art lover to recognize their importance and learn to appreciate their works.

gilbert george dutt

 

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Uwe Loesch (1943)

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I did not realize that many of the posters for the Ruhrlandmuseum in Essen were designed by Uwe Loesch. For me Loesch has the same graphic qualities as i find with the designs by Wim Crouwel. His  posters are of a rare quality, inventive and timeless.

 

www.ftn-books.com has two three Loesch publications and send to Ben Bos former founding member of Total design

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Joost Swarte …. a collectable cover (continued)

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Two years ago i received a Xmas present from wife. It was the book on the covers Joost Swarte made for the ” THE NEW YORKER ” , beautiful and highly original, typical Joost Swarte covers. SOme 100 pages filled with his covers. NOwe i have found on the bookmarket an original THE NEW YORKER with a Swarte cover. It is the June 9 &16 , 2014 issue. One of my personal favorites. It is now for sale at www.ftn-books.com

Swarte New yorker

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Balthus ( 1908-2001 )

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Balthus was the older brother of Pierre Klossowski, but beside the style which is almost identical, their subject and approach to painting are too. Where Balthus uses voyeurism in many of his paintings, Pierre Klossowski is more outspoken in his approach to sexuality.

I have always thought they were the same artist until i discoverd an exhibition where the were presented next to eachother and explained that these were brothers,

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Balthus (1908-2001) was a Polish-French artist who rejected the usual conventions of the art world and did not want to be associated with any of the art movements. His paintings often portray young girls in erotic and voyeuristic poses, but beside this his painting have a dreamlike composition. Figures are frozen in their action and the use of colors is warm and comforting. 

He is viewed as one of the great masters of twentieth-century art, and is certainly one of the truly singular painters of his time. In his complex and multifaceted oeuvre, admired by some and spurned by others, he pursued an artistic approach that embodied an alternative, and a challenge, to modern avant-gardes. In his opposition to prevailing views, he refers to a whole range of art-historical traditions and precursors. Yet in his eccentric detachment from modernism, he developed his own specific avant-garde attitude, which now appears almost postmodern and contemporary.

These are paintings to savour, but are rarely encountered outside France. His paintings are spread all over the world, but if you ask me which public collection has them, thre is only one that comes to mind. It is the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Beyler collection in Riehen, so when you find a Balthus painting, to your tme with it and savour the moment.

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

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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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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.