Category: stedelijk museum amsterdam

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Hildo Krop (1884-1970)

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Hildo Krop is truly the one and only city sculptor of the city of AMsterdam. When you see an ornament at a building or a statue on a square there is a fair chance that it was done by Hildo Krop. Krop was active in the period that Amsteram had its biggest growth .

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It was in preparation of the Olympic games of 1928 and many new buildings and parks were built in those days and if one wanted to make them more beautiful with a sclpture or statue, Hildo Krop was the artist of choice for many new projects in those days.

This was recognized by the Stedelijk Museum who devoted an exhibition to Krop in 1964 and had Wim Crouwel design the catalogue with the exhibition. Since that year there has been a growth of interest in Hildo Krop as an artist which resulted in a Museum devoted to Hildo Krop….location Amsterdam and on the internet at : http://hildokrop.nl

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The Wim Crouwel publication is available at www.ftn-books.com

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Attersee (1940)

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Christian Ludwig Attersee is a contemporary Austrian artist. Working in an interdisciplinary practice that combines music, speech, photography, and video, the primary tenet of Attersee’s art is painting. His Neo-Expressionist canvases are rendered with vibrant color, blending abstract form and space with representational images related to the human figure, music, literature, and sexuality. Describing his efforts as an attempt to create a new artistic medium, his work often contains fantastical object inventions. Born on August 28, 1940 in Bratislava, Austria, he is considered one of the foremost contemporary artists of his home country, and represented Austria at the Venice Biennial in 1984. He has been the subject of over 500 solo exhibitions throughout Europe and the United states, and is the recipient of the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art.

This is how Artnet describes Attersee however there is more to the art of Christian Ludwig Attersee, because both the Groninger Museum and Stedelijk Museum have art by Attersee in their collections and the Stedelijk Museum devoted a special exhibition to the artist. An exhibition initiated by Rudi Fuchs who is a longtime admirer of the artist. Together with Brus and Nitsch , Attersee i becoming increasingly more important by the year.

www.ftn-books.com has some Attersee publications available.

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Marrie Bot (1946)

 

Two reasons why i want to write a short article on Marrie Bot. The first is that Marrie Bot makes photographs that have one quality in common. Each photograph shows the essence of things. This is shown probably the best way in the series GELIEFDEN/TIMELESS LOVE. These are elderly couples photographed while they are making love. This is not arousing at all, but shows tenderness and one realizes, whatever age you have, that making love and enjoying, it is really timeless . But this is not the only series in which she excels. Her series of LOURDES is breathtaking too. www.ftn-books.com has some titles by Bot available.

The works by Marrie Bot have been included in many Public an private collections. among them :

Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
The National Institute for the Arts,Amsterdam
Museum for Jewish History, Amsterdam
Museum for Art and Religion, Uden
Erasmus University, Rotterdam
The Print collection of the University of Leiden
Art Foundation of Rotterdam
The Municipal Archive of Rotterdam
The Municipal Archive of Amsterdam
Bibliothèque National, Paris
Municipal Collection Château d’Eau,Toulouse
Museum Nicéphore Niepce, Châlon sur Saône
Graham Nash Collection, Pasadena
Heineken Art Collection, Amsterdam
Helmut Gernsheim Collection in the Reiss-Engelhorn- Museum, Germany
Private Collections in the Netherlands and abroad

 

BTW. Just look at the resemblance i noticed between Marrie Bot and the painting Bertha by Pyke Kock ( over 60 years in between both portraits)

 

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Erich Heckel (1883-1970)

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Germany has a great history of Woodblock printing. Dürer was one of the arliest of great artists who used the technique but the 20th century had his own group of great aretists who used the technique. Tere were of course the rtaist of the BLAUE REITER, but there was also the group of the BRÜCker to which Heckel belonged. Heckel is arguably one of the most abstract Brücke artists, but his technique is as good as all the other together, Personally i like Heckel very much and this has resulted in a nice selection of publications available at www.ftn-books.com

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Heckel and other members of Die Brücke greatly admired the work of Edvard Munch, and aimed to make a “bridge” between traditional neo-romantic German painting and modern expressionist painting. The four founding members made much use of the print as a cheap and quick medium with which to produce affordable art.

Primitive art was also an inspiration to the members of the Die Brücke. It was Heckel’s brother who introduced the group to African sculpture, and it is noted that their acceptance of primitive art, which was to fortify decisively the expressive yearnings of European artists- Was unequivocal. It is through this style that they found a source of strength in the barbaric figures.

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My personal bookcase

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I have had questions in the past….what is your personal interest in books?…. and…..you must have a very nice collection after so many years of being a bookseller. These questions and remarks can be answered simply. I have a large inventory of about 10.000 books that are for sale including some very nice and hard to find titles, but every book in my personal bookcase has a small story attached to it. There are books of exhibitions being held at the Gemeentemuseum while i was a publisher/bookseller at that museum and some were given to me by artists i collect.

About half of the books in my personal bookcase are very small publications related to the artists in our art collection and the remainder is about the artists i like very much and admire. I can say that none of them is very valuable, but for me these books are valuable and important, because they belong to the publication history of the artists i admire. Curious?….just “zoom in” on the picture and discover that of many of these titles i have multiple copies available at www.ftn-books.com. So make this your personal interactive blog and find/discover the titles at www.ftn-books.com

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Antonio Saura (1930-1998)

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Followers of this blog know that i have an admiration for Saura to whom i devoted a blog on the 17th of August 2017. Now i want you to know that i have added an important early pub;lication to my inventory. It is is the 1964 Pierre Matisse gallery publication which is according to my information the first publication that has some colored ( tipped in) illustrations in it. An excellent designed catalogue and certainly one that must be interesting for the Saura admirer.

saura matisse 1964

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Gianni Colombo (1933-1993)

 

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His art is financially far out of reach for me personally, but i really love his art. It has a mystical quality and it is the kind of kinetic art i really admire. Together Jesus Rafael Soto and Walter Leblanc he is one of the 3 artists i admire most from the era. His kinetic art has become a classic . Not the easiest kind of art to exhibit, but when it is done properly you will see the strength of his art.

I had the pleasure to visit the Colombo exhibition in castello di Rivoli ( near Torino) in 2009.  in which his work was brought together and it showed itself in the best possible setting.

Here is a short biography:

He is one of the most important artist in Italy in experiencing kinetic and a member of the Arte Programmata moviment.

Between ’59 and ’60 he founds the “T Group”, linked to the international movement of “Nouvelle Tendence”. He  held his firt solo show at the Galleria Pater (Milan, 1960).

He experiences in different fields of physics which include electrical and magnet devices, industrial neon lights and laser, all to exalt the aesthetic potential of technological rationalism.  In the 1960s he made experimental films, kinetic object and enviroments. He has exhibited on numerous occasions in Italy and abroad.

In 1985 he becomes director of the Brera Academy where he teaches the “structuration of space”. He also takes part in avant-garde scenography (Operstheater of Frankfurt, 1986) and in designing virtual architectures (the “Architetture cacogoniometriche” in 1988, the “Spazi curvi”, 1992).

With his art-work was the winner of the Venice Biennial in 1968.

www.ftn-books.com has the following books on Gianni Colombo available

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Joel Fisher (1947)

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Try to find a good biography on Joel Fisher and you will have a hard time finding one. The best i can come up with a a list of exhibitions:

Exhibitions

1997
Stefan Stux Gallery New York, NY
1996
Stefan Stux Gallery New York, NY
1990
Farideh Cadot New York, NY & Paris, FRANCE
1989
4 Americans–Aspects of Current Sculpture, The Brooklyn Museum Brooklyn, NY
1988
Gallery Shimada Yamaguchi, JAPAN
1987
Structure to Resemblance: Eight Sculptors, Albright-Knox Gallery Buffalo, NY
1984
An International Survey of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Modern Art New York, NY
1984
Kuntsmuseum Luzern Luzern, SWITZERLAND
1978
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
1975
Stadtisches Museum Monchengladbach
1973
Seven, Penthouse Gallery, Museum of Modern Art New York, NY
1972
Documenta V, Kassel, Germany
1971
Victoria and Albert Museum London, ENGLAND

 

Study these and you will notice 2 important things. First these are all class A venues and this shows the importance that Joel Fisher was and still is. His art is not accessible at all, which makes his art not well kmnown among art lovers. The ” trigger” for me , was that it was one of the first classic Stedelijk Musuem publications that i bought for my collection. (Available at www.ftn-books.com), another aspect is that Joel Fisher designs his own catalogues . Small books that look like true artist books and have their style , design and size in common, Beautiful little books that are worth collecting.

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“Fugare” (1960)

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First there was VERVE, later Fugare and finally de Nieuwe Haagse School.

Nowadays dutch art lovers know exactly what is meant by DE NIEUWE HAAGSE SCHOOL. it is a group of artist who lived and worked in Den Haag and met regularly in Pulchris Studio, de Posthoorn and de Haagse Kunstkring. But before this there was FUGARE. this FUGARE society was founded by George Lampe on the 26th of January 1960

The result? an artist mouvement with particpating artist that met regularly and inspired each other and held their exhibitions at the best venues in those days. Exhibitions were held at the Haags Gemeentemuseum, Stedelijk Museum, van Abbemuseum and Pulchri Studio. There was  a place for all in Fugare. Jan van Heel painted figures and Willem Hussem abstract paintings and everything in between was appreciated as long as you were an active member who visited the meetings. Fugare is impiortant for dutch abstract painting and some nice Fugare publications are availabel at www.ftn-books.com

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Michel Seuphor (1901-1999)

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Michel Seuphor…wrote a monumental biography on Piet Mondriaan and is one of the great names in constructivist art by himself. In the twenties he became friends with Joaquin Torres Garcia. For me their works are worlds apart from each other but somehow they became friends and started the artist mouvement CERCLE ET CARRE.

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the Netherland was not too far away for Seuphor …the result he had his exhibitions at galleries and museum in the Netherlands. Specially DEN HAAG was a well now city for him. He spent much time at the Gemeentemuseum to study Mondrian for his biography on this famous dutch abstract painter and ….he had an exhibition of his own at the Gemeentemuseum, soon followed with a gallery exhibition at the Nouvelles Images gallery ( closed now) . Both catalogues and a print by Seuphor are available at www.ftn-books.com

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