Category: stedelijk museum amsterdam

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Gerhard von Graevenitz (1934-1983). on show at Haus Konstruktiv

Schermafbeelding 2018-04-30 om 15.30.46

The artist that walked the line between ZERO art and Kinetic art. Born in Belgium and died in Switzerland van Graevenitz lived for a long period of his life in Amsterdam /The Netherlands ( from 1970) and because of a plane accident his life ended far too early. I write this blog because on our way back from Italy , i decided to make a small detour to Zurich, because i always wanted to visit HAUS KONSTRUCTIV. Not for their special exhibitions, but because i had discovered they had a wonderful collection. The visit was a slight disappointment because no works from their collection were on show instead they had 2 solo exhibitions of which one was on Gerhard von Graevenitz. Only about 50 works were on show, but because of their mouvement it took a while before i had seen all of them. It was well worth the visit and if you are near Zurich make the detour yourself to discover von Graevenitz. He deserves to be known by all admirers of Modern art. Unfortunately it was not allowed to photograph the works but i found a nice Haus Konstruktiv contribution on You Tube in which the show on Von Graevenitz is discussed and shown.

the von Graevenitz exhibition is on show until the 6th of May and www.ftn-books.com has some nice pubications available on him.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Posted on by — Leave a comment

Julian Schnabel (1951) …the photographer

Schermafbeelding 2018-02-20 om 11.39.27

I knew the works by Julian Schnabel from the exhibition he had at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in 1982 ( catalogue available at www.ftn-books.com). An impressive exhibition of large Schnabel painting, but what i did not not know until some 15 years ago is that Schnabel is also a very gifted photographer. His portraits have a rare quality and make you feel really close to the subject. For instance the Rourke portrait is filled with action and the Lou Reed one makes you feel happy … Reed as a liberated spirit is a rarity.

Books on his photography are rare, i know there exists one title on his Polaroid photo’s, but that is the only title i know of. If you know of more titles let me know, since i am very interested on a personal level to add a book on his photography to my personal collection.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Posted on by — Leave a comment

Wim Crouwel..design of the Atelier series for the Stedelijk Museum.

Schermafbeelding 2018-02-17 om 11.33.47

The focus of this blog is on the covers of a very impressive series Wim Crouwel designed for the Stedelijk Museum during a period of roughly 14 years in the Sixties and Seventies ( between 1965 and 1979). This series has the typical Crouwel layout and typography and beside these elements these designs are ” clean” without any frills ….just function. These were done when the Total Design agency had their “GOLDEN YEARS” and Wim Crouwel was one of the most important members of Total Design ( founded in 1963). This is a great series of 16 publications . Some with loose pages in portfolio, others in the shape of posters or just ordinary booklets, but all have the quality design Wim Crouwel stands for. Most of these publications are available at www.ftn-books.com and if your are looking for other Crouwel publications search for them at the same site.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Robin Winters (1950)

Schermafbeelding 2018-02-15 om 10.18.36

Robin Winters has had his exhibitions in the Netherlands. Both in museums and galleries he was presented in solo exhibitions during the 90’s. These days, Winters is represented by the Deweer gallery in Belgium, but in the Nineties there were several who thought this artist was interesting enough to develop special publications with Winters. One of these “specials” was produced by Bebert. It is a large cotton sheet printed with heads which are so typical for Winters his art.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Here is the description as it appears at www.ftn-books.com where this large work is for sale.

Artist/ Author: Robin Winters Title : composition with figures on cotton tissue Published: 1986 Measurements: 150 x 130 cm for the cotton tissue. 16 x 12 cm for the paper print Condition: nm++/ Mint for the large cotton print extra information on this item: Highly collectable multiples by Winters . edition of only 169. Signed and dated with initials on the accompanying paper print.

Later today i will include this beautiful and impressive Robin Winters at www.ftn art too.

Beside this impressive multiple there are some very nice publications published in Europe which are also for sale at www.ftn-books.com

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Harunobu ( 1724-1770) and Utamaro (1753-1806)

Both are Japanese print masters and there is only a time difference 30 years between these two great Japanese artists, but the difference between them is as large as  a classical painting by Sir Alma Tadema and a Modern painting by Soulages.

Where Harunobu’s craftmanship is rooted in the tradition of Japanese print making , i find Utamaro’s prints being far more inventive. His lines are clean and do remind me a little of the  outlines used by Herge and Joost Swarte. Classic scenes, actors and geisha’s and even shunga prints, all is mastered by this great Japanse artist. These prints were “In Vogue” by the impressionist artists and that is one of the reasons why so many of them can be found in Western Europe. Monet had them, van Gogh collected them and even made some paintings after them and the Rijksmuseum has thousands of them in their collection from which a selection is now and then on show. These shows are accompanied by some great bilangual catalogues of which the Harunobu and Utamaro ones are for sale at www.ftn.books.com

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Posted on by — Leave a comment

Mark Prent (1947)

Schermafbeelding 2018-02-13 om 09.36.46

Yesterday, Polish born artist Mark Prent contacted me about the Stedelijk Museum catalogue i have for sale on his exhibition in 1978. A never had studied the catalogue in detail before. But is a “dark’ catalogue which reflects the work of Prent in an excellent way. His works are “dark”

have a look at www.markprent.com and see for yourself what i mean

Mark Prent works consist of life-moulded mixed media, polyester resin and fiberglass casts of human models in sometimes disturbing poses and juxpositions. Mark Prent has consistently maintained throughout the years, that his sculptures and installations do not carry intentional messages. Despite the powerfully grotesque imagery that he has employed, interpretation is left to the viewer. Prent developed his own unique technique of layering to give a heightened realism to his figures; thus giving rise to the label “Extended Realism”. When he later became concerned about the toxicity of polyester resin, he began to experiment with other materials, developing innovative techniques for recreating that trademark quality of virulent realism. This venture into new materials led him in many new directions in his own work and ultimately, to become a technical resource for other artists as well.

Having followed his education in the US and exhibitions in Amsterdam , Berlin and Montreal his works are known all over the world, but because of their “Dark” nature never have become popular.

In 2005 Prent began a new series of video-taped performance pieces in collaboration with videographer/son Jesse Real Prent. In this series, Prent’s own body becomes a living, interacting component of his nightmarish scenarios. He continues to produce new sculptures in his Vermont studio. www.ftn-books.com  has the Stedelijk Museum Mark Prent catalogue available.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Posted on by — Leave a comment

a Reminder…FTN books holds two great ZERO multiples. Castellani & La Pietra

1 year ago i acquired for my inventory two spectacular multiples. These are not cheap, but since last auctions results of both these artists i am even more convinced that these are not overpriced and will be a great addition to any book collection. These two multiples were published in the seventies by Edizioni Flaviana within their series of Zero artist. Here are the links two both blogs i published on these rare multiples.

https://wordpressstrato-pacfwc5kp0.live-website.com/2017/08/06/enrico-castellani-1930-edizioni-flaviana-serie-minimultipli/

https://wordpressstrato-pacfwc5kp0.live-website.com/2017/08/07/ugo-la-pietra-1938-edizioni-flavianaserie-minimultipli/

and do not forget to look them up at www.ftn-books.com

castellani d

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Yayoi Kusama… a zero artist

Kusama stands for me as “ZERO”.

Being one of the first to have participated as a Zero artist Dancing together with Jan Schoonhoven (in the nude)

Schermafbeelding 2018-02-12 om 11.25.09

and after that building an oeuvre on just one pattern…the Polka dot.

i love these artist that stay true to their belief. Kusama is not the only one. Leblanc, Peeters and Schoonhoven ,all from this generation , stayed true to their art ” inventions” developing it into something very perosmnal , recognizable and in many cases a beautiful and impressive work of art.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Kusama participated in the first ZERO/Nul exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum, but beside that she had her Retrospektives held all over the world including the Tate Modern where a large rRetrospektive was held in 2012. Now she has turned into a grand old lady of  Contemporary Art and perhaps together with Louise Bourgeois  and Georgia O’Keefe she has given a feminine touch to Modern Art. www.ftn-books.com holds some excellent Kusama titles in its inventory.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Posted on by — Leave a comment

Tomitaro Nachi (1924-2007)

nachi cata f

Tomitaro Nachi was one of the first japanese artist ever to have an exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum. Wim Crouwel designed the catalogue for his exhibition and what makes it extra special is that the catalogue included a rare and beautiful multiple. There is wonderful short movie about this artist which was made at the time of his exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in 1974.

The catalogue shines. It is like a minimal artist book and reflects the spirit of “Zero” and Kinetic art and was forgotten by most until recently it was sold at a local book auction and fetched a steep price of euro 120,– because it had the original multiple included. www.ftn-books.com has both copies available. The one with and the one without the multiple. Both are worth collecting, but as lng as it is there i would chose the one with the multiple included.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Piet Mondriaan / Mondrian’s studio

Schermafbeelding 2018-02-10 om 12.08.14

The studio of Piet Mondrian were works of art of them selves. They acted like a true work “in situ” where every item had its proper place . Because of this, the studio itself became a work of art. This was recognized by many and one of the greatest photographers from last centur even made a series of photo from the Paris studio. The same with the NY studio which was photographed by Arnold Newman.

Kertesz and Newman , two great photographers who realized that Mondrian was a very special painter and made these photographs with one purpose….. so we could see the extraordinary qualities Mondrian had when he approached a painting or an object.

There is onegreat article on Artsy where the studio’s of Mondrian are described.

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-mondrian-turned-studios-giant-abstract-paintings

There are some excellent publications on Mondrian and his studios available at www.ftn-books.com including a paper model kit

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA