People following this blog know of my admiration for Willem Sandberg. The iconic director of the STEDELIJK MUSEUM AMSTERDAM who brought the greatest of contemporary art to Amsterdam in the Fifties and early sixties.
9 years after WWII and after the initial opening years from 1945, the Stedelijk presented an overview of the most important art they had acquired during these years. With the exhibition a catalog was published with Sandberg graphic design on te cover. Few people know that beside the red version another version was published with a yellow cover. The yellow version was published in only a few hundred copies and both are now available at www.ftn-books.com
Located west of Rio de Janeiro, the site exemplifies a successful project developed over 40 years by landscape architect and artist Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994) to create a “living artwork” and a “landscape laboratory,” utilizing native plants and drawing inspiration from modernist ideas. Initiated in 1949, the garden possesses the key characteristics that came to define Burle Marx’s landscape gardens and greatly influenced the development of modern gardens worldwide. Its features include sinuous shapes, exuberant mass plantings, carefully arranged architectural plants, dramatic color contrasts, the use of tropical flora, and the incorporation of elements from traditional folk culture. By the late 1960s, the site housed the most comprehensive collection of Brazilian plants, alongside other rare tropical species. The site now cultivates 3,500 species of tropical and subtropical flora in harmony with the native vegetation of the region, including mangrove swamps, restinga (a distinct type of tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest), and the Atlantic Forest. Sítio Roberto Burle Marx embodies an ecological concept of form as a process, emphasizing social collaboration as the basis for the preservation of environment and culture. It is the first modern tropical garden to be included in the World Heritage List.
www.ftn-books.com has the SM 161 / Stedelijk Museum on Burle Marx now available. Published in 1956 and designed by Sandberg makes this small and scarce publication one of the first on Landscape architecture and Burle Marx.
Kees Marinus was born in 1952 and was predominantly inspired creatively by the 1970s growing up. Conceptualism is often perceived as a reaction to Minimalism, and the dominant art movement of the 1970s, challenging the boundaries of art with its revolutionary features. The movements that succeeded were all characteristic of a strong desire to evolve and consolidate the art world, in response to the tensions of the previous decade. Process art branched out from Conceptualism, including some of its most crucial aspects, but going further in creating mysterious and experimental artistic journeys, while Land Art brought creation to the outdoors, initiating early ideas of environmentalism. In Germany, Expressive figure painting was given a second chance for the first time since the decline of Abstract Expressionism almost two decades, the genre regained its distinction through the brushstrokes of Gerhard Richter, Anselm Kiefer and Georg Baselitz. The majority of the critically acclaimed artists from the 1960s, who had gained success and fame, kept their status in the 1970s. Andy Warhol was a prominent figure of those two decades, and in the 1970s started to experiment with film and magazine publishing, thus engaging in a cross-platform activity that no other visual artist of such standard had previously undertaken. By doing so, he secured his status as a celebrity. Street art started to emerge as a true and recognized form of art towards the end of the 1970s. Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring were pioneers in demonstrating that their artworks could subsist at the same time in art galleries and on city walls. Fuelled by graffiti art, street art from its earliest days showed that it could endure in a unceasing flux of self-transformation, endlessly shifting the boundaries of modern art, becoming a truly ground-breaking artistic genre.
www.ftn-books.com has now the 1990 Stedelijk Museum publication available.
The foundation of Sciarone’s work centers on autonomous art, intricately intertwined with the surrounding space. According to Sciarone, “In a room filled with various objects and items, when one object is moved, it changes the entire coherence, including the position of the person moving the object.” Sciarone crafts sculptures and draws, in addition to realizing public artworks such as the Matrozenhof in Amsterdam, 1,2,3 and Quicksand in Almelo, and the Envelope Sculpture nr. 2 in Groningen. These sculptures are meticulously placed with the intent of redefining the space, creating a new balance.
For 20 years, Sciarone served as the coordinator for the Monumental Art program at the AKI, Academy of Fine Arts in Enschede. They were also a teacher at the Academy of Architecture, a master’s program for architects, in Groningen from 2005 to 2015.
www.ftn-books.com has the Stedelijk Museum publication from 1988 now available.
Lewis Baltz, a native of Newport Beach, California, pursued higher education at the San Francisco Art Institute and obtained an MFA from the esteemed Claremont Graduate School in 1971. A successful stint as a freelance photographer in California followed, during which he also imparted his expertise as a photography instructor at esteemed institutions such as the California Institute of the Arts, University of California (Riverside and Santa Cruz), Yale, École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and the Art Academy of Helsinki.
Baltz has been recognized for his contributions to the field of photography with prominent displays in major exhibitions, including the renowned New Topographics at George Eastman House in 1975 and Mirrors and Windows at the Museum of Modern Art in 1978. His accolades include grants from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1973 and 1977, as well as a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in 1977. Additionally, Baltz has undertaken commissioned projects for esteemed institutions such as the Corcoran Gallery of Art, producing The Nation’s Capital in Photographs, and the Nevada State Arts Commission, resulting in Near Reno.
Since the mid-1980s, Baltz has been based in Europe and frequently jet sets across the globe. His photography typically revolves around a central theme or geographical focus and is often published in book form, exemplified by works such as The New Industrial Parks Near Irvine, California (1975), Nevada (1978), and Park City (1981). Baltz’s oeuvre, in sync with other artists associated with the New Topographics movement, challenges the conventional landscape photography style of the nineteenth century, as epitomized by icons like Timothy O’Sullivan, Carleton Watkins, and William Henry Jackson. His perspective on the landscape traverses beyond its natural beauty, lending insight into the impact of contemporary culture and suburban development on the nation’s terrain. His books, Rule Without Exception (1991), Lewis Baltz: Politics of Bacteria, and Docile Bodies, Ronde de Nuit (1998), feature splendid color photography capturing Europe’s urban landscapes.
www.ftn-books.com has the Stedelijk Museum catalog for the Baltz exhibition now available.
I have been filling some Pinterest pages with items i have in my inventory and which i think are nice tos hare with other collectors. It contains some great and important poster and book designs from the last 70 years. Please share these and hopefully you will enjoy these Pinterest boards too.
I have created four boards which are filled regularly with all original photo’s by FTN . Feel free to join the boards and use the photographs for noncommercial usage. I expect to post over 15.000 items on Pinterest in the coming year.
There now are boards on the inventory of FTN books & Art, Stedelijk MUseum Amsterdam, Wim Crouwel, Willem Sandberg
About 10 years ago we/ I (in the Nethrelands )did not know about BLACK FRIDAY and its discounts, but since that time BLACK FRIDAY discounts have become established over here too.
The problem is that discounts are only given in the 4 days of the BF weekend, but i will change this al little bit.
+ a discount of 10% will be applicable until December 1st, 2024.
At www.ftn-books.com you will receive not only a 10% discount when you order from Friday 24th of November 00.01 hrs until Monday the 27th 23.59 hrs. a minimum of USD 100,– ( excluding postage).
Order over USD 100,– and use BF2310 to receive this immediate discount during the Black Friday weekend
After i have packed and sent your order you will receive a personal discount code by email which will be valid for ALL your purchases at www.ftn-books.com until the 1st of December 2024
This makes your order during the BF weekend much more attractive. Enjoy your shopping at www.ftn-books.com
Willem Sandberg was truly one of the best duthc graphic designers from the last century. I always have been focussing on all Stedelijk Museum material that was published in the last century and now I can add to my inventory some great designs by Willem Sandberg of which 2 are signed. All items are now available at www.ftn-books.com
His designs are strongly rooted in the Sixties, but over 60 years of production by the dutch firm Artifort they have proven to be timeless.
With comfort as his starting-point, Pierre Paulin became a freelance designer for Artifort from the 1960s. This relationship produced many iconic modernist chairs, including Ribbon, Butterfly, Mushroom, Tulip and Orange Slice. His influential designs are now also produced under licence by LaCividina – Dos à Dos. Design archive Paulin, Paulin, Paulin is run by Maia Paulin, Pierre’s wife and business partner. It offers a deep dive into his works beyond the most well-known pieces, to showcase a creator who was relentlessly producing fresh concepts even after he retired in 1994. Prolific, challenging and ground-breaking, Paulin passed away in June 2009. In November of that year, the French Government posthumously awarded him the distinction of ‘Royal Designer for Industry’.
wwww.ftn-books.com has some Paulin related publications available.
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
Artist/ Author: Oliver Boberg
Title : Memorial
Publisher: Oliver Boberg
Measurements: Frame measures 51 x 42 cm. original C print is 35 x 25 cm.
Condition: mint
signed by Oliver Boberg in pen and numbered 14/20 from an edition of 20
