If you ask me…what is the rarest of all Stedelijk Museum catalogues?…the answer probably will be the 1971 THE PAINTINGS catalogue by Gilbert & George, which is published with no. 511. It is only an 8 page catalogue, measuring 8.3 x 5.9 inches, but this one is really a rare collectable artist book. I finally found one for my inventory and it is now for sale at www.ftn-books.com
It was 1962 when Ben Vautier joint the Fluxus mouvement and stayed true to its principles until he moved forward and started the Figuration Libre mouvement in 1981.
When you read what Wikipedia says about him , you will notice that they mention that he is a ZERO artist, but for me he is everything but …. No he foremost is a great and one of the first Fluxus artists, who has developed an art language which is typical Vautier. You will recognize his works among thousands, because on an even background his writing language and saying are unique and o so typical Vautier
Pictures tell a better story than words in this case. Take a look at a screenshot i made from Google.
and do not forget to check the Vautier items i have for sale at www.ftn-books.com
Arguably the most important french arts magazine was Cimaise. First published in November 1952 . this “Revue”, published by the galerie Arnaud/ Jean Robert Arnaud stayed a major force in and was of great influence on the french art scene in the 50’s and 60’s. The magazine was published from 1952-2000 and from 2002-2009. Specially in the early years the magazine was published in a way, that now these volumes are considered the best and are searched after because of the special ( printed) covers . www.ftn-books.com is lucky to have some of the very first volumes from this impressive magazine . There are volumes from 1952,1953 and 1954 available.
Today is another milestone for me as a bookdealer in art books, because today i started on these pages ………FTN art
There will be irregular additions to this page, but all works depicted on these pages are for sale and guaranteed originals. The first original is a drawing/collage by Siep van den Berg who made this in 1979.
tekening/collage uit een serie constructivistische tekening/ Collage in blauw die Siep van den Berg heeft gemaakt op 16 augustus 1979 in Andelaroche ( Fr.) De tekening is eerst opgezet in balpen waarna er blauwe vlakken zijn bijgeplaatst ( of omgekeerd).
De tekening is gedateerd 16 9 79. Met notitie “Heleen Jarig Geweest” en signatuur in zwarte inkt …SvdB.
Kunstenaar : Siep van den Berg
titel: Heleen Jarig Geweest
techniek ; balpen en collage in blauw
afmetingen ; 27,7 x 20 cm.
gesigneerd : SvdB in zwarte inkt
gedateerd : 16 9 79
conditie : MINT-
price : euro 150,–
shipping Netherlands : euro 8,60
worldwide shipping costs: 11,95
Every five years, over the course of five months, British artist Marc Quinn siphons off five litres of his own blood and spills them into a translucent, refrigerated mould of his face. The result is an ever-emerging series of self-portraits into which the artist can legitimately claim to have poured more of himself than any artist that came before him. For some observers, Quinn’s ongoing series Self is nothing more than a gruesome and vampiric stunt. For others, the work embodies a poignant and daring contribution to the tradition of self-representation to which such great artists as Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Cindy Sherman have contributed – one that profoundly highlights the fragility of being.
This is from an interesting article on works of art that shocked the world, but Marc Quinn is much more than an artist that shocks….see for yourself with these books at www.ftn-books.com
I really do not know why it took me so long to appreciate the art of Dieter Roth, but the only reason i can come up with is that his books published by Hansjorg Mayer were such a long time considered “remainders” at the bookshop of the Haags Gemeentemuseum and it was impossible to find buyers for them. Since…. times have changed because the same books that could not be sold ( even at ridiculously low prices) are now the ones that are sought after by collectors and institutions all over the world and when you look at these closely they all have some qualities in common. The printing is executed by the best printers possible. The lay out and design are done in many cases by the artist which makes them more artist books than reference books and because of the series character the books itself are almost a work of art of their own.
My tip for the future is whenever you find such a book, buy it…even you think it is a little expensive these books will be important not only as a book but also as a work of art in the decades to come. www.ftn-books.com has some excellent and rare Dieter Roth items available.
There are not many Australian artist ( born in Brisbane) who have become known for their works outside Australia, but Tracey Moffatt is certainly one of them and build a reputation in the nineties as one of the most prommissing photographers. If you ask me to describe her works i would say it is a cross between Cindy Sherman and Erwin Olaf , possibly influenced by both but also original and a very gifted photographer/ video artist. I will show you some examples so you see what i mean.( left is Moffatt)
Still…. i like her works and therefore i have collected some books at www.ftn-books.com which are for sale.
Here is an impression of the presentation she gave at the Venice Biennale 2017
It must have been over 10 years ago that me and Linda visited Brussel and went to the Koninklijk Paleis voor Schone Kunsten. In the bookstore i found 2 prints by Panamarenko which i bought both. These prints featured 35 inventions by Panamarenko and were signed and stamped in print by Panamarenko which made them beautiful works of art to frame and cherish. One was sold shortly after i put it up for sale on eBay /USA, but the other which was sold immediately after i had sold the first one and raised the price substantially, was lost in the process of archiving it. What happened with it….i do not know, but i could not deliver it , because it was lost and i could not find it anymore.
Last week, when i was looking for some Christmas decorations, i noticed a white tube and i immediately knew…. I found the lost PANAMARENKO/ Copyright print.
It is now for sale on eBay and in my shop www.ftn-books.com
It wasn’t to difficult to find a good portrait of Cindy Sherman on Google, because every picture by Cindy Sherman features …Cindy Sherman. So before the craze of the selfie photography , Sherman already made “perfect” selfies, every time staged in a different setting.
She has become world famous with these photographs and had in the Netherlands on several occasions exhibitions, including the retrospective in the Boymans van Beuningen, which catalogue is available at www.ftn-books.com
One exception is that at one time in her career she wasn’t present in het photographs. In 1992 Sherman embarked on a series of photographs now referred to as “Sex Pictures.” For the first time, Sherman is entirely absent from these photographs. Instead, she again uses dolls and prosthetic body parts, this time posed in highly sexual poses. Prosthetic genitalia – both male and female – are used often and photographed in extreme close-up. Photographed exclusively in color, these photographs are meant to shock. Sherman continued to work on these photographs for some time and continued to experiment with the use of dolls and other replacements for what had previously been herself.
When i looked closely at these photographs i found a great resemblance with the POUPEE photographs by Hans Bellmer. I might be wrong, but because of this resemblance i find this series much less interesting than the photographs with Sherman in them.
