stedelijk museum amsterdam – Page 50

Posted on 28.01.201712.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Arne Jacobsen (1902-1971)

Arne Jacobsen

Ant chair

Danish design…Hot in the sixties and now timeless in 21th century. If you look at Danish design over the last 70 years you conclude one thing and that is these Danisg designers are masters with plywood. This technology of molding wood is also used by Ray and Charles Eames, but for me Arne Jacobsen is the greatest. He made so many beautiful and classic designs, one could wish one had a bigger house to show all this beautiful furniture.

But beside furniture Jacobsen had another discipline in which he excelled….architecture

also simple and beautiful and because these architectural designs are not extravagant they are truly timeless like his furniture is. In the 50’s this true artist met Willem Sandberg and resulted in an excellent exhibition which was organized by the Stedelijk Museum in 1959. Accompanied by a typical and one of the best Sandberg designed catalogues from the Fifties. books available at www.ftn-books.com

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Posted on 27.01.201712.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Shinkichi Tajiri (1923-2009)

Tajiri…. Photographer, Painter, sculptor, graphic artist . He has practically explored every discipline art has. His claim to fame were his large sculptures and specially the KNOTS are more than impressive. As a person he is even more fascinating, because he was in the middle of things, because of his studies and travels he had met many very important artists.

In 1949 he went to Paris to study with Ossip Zadkine and then Fernand Léger. He met Karel Appel and Corneille in Paris and shows at the 1949 COBRA exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. In 1951 he went to Germany and taught at the Werkkunstschule Wuppertal. In 1955 he won a Golden Palm at Cannes, for his first short film, The Vipers, because of his experimental use of the language of film. From 1956 he lived in the Netherlands, since 1962 in Baarlo. He worked as a sculptor and painter. He exhibited at the famous Kassel documenta II, 1959; III, 1964 and IV, 1968. From 1969 Tajiri taught at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste at Berlin. 1969 and 1970 Shinkichi took pictures of every part of the Berlin Wall. In 1970 he went to Denmark and directed the award-winning documentary Bodil Joensen – en sommerdag juli 1970 about Bodil Joensen. In 1975 and 1976 he recreated the Daguerreotype: surreal portraits, nudes and daguerreotypes of the Wall.

On this last subject www.ftn-books.com has a very nice publication available. Daguerreotyoes were Tajiri’s other specialty.

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Posted on 24.01.201712.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Miguel Berrocal ( 1933-2006)

schermafbeelding-2017-01-24-om-13-49-23 — Berrocal and Dali

100% Spanish and an artist who was in the middle of all in the sixties /seventies. The first time i encountered work by Miguel Berrocal must have been somewhere in 1970. One of the furniture design shops ( Studio 40) had a little statue with the interlocking pieces which fitted together perfectly and acted like a multi pieces puzzle. I was impressed, but never associated this with art. It more was a gimmick to me. Later i saw the artistic qualities of Berrocal and now for me Berrocal is one of the sculptors who deserves to be recognized as one of the great sculptors from Spain.

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If it was this statue i do not remember….., but these small statues consisting of several pieces were Berrocal’s trademark. People admired him in those days, but one decade later practically all had forgotten him. I always admired these little, beautiful pieces of art, but never had a chance to acquire one for our collection. However what i did find and added to the inventory of www.ftn-books.com were several rare and highly collectable publications including a Jan van Toorn designed poster. These books are as much collectable as his statues , because the edition size is small and because of the exceptional way these are published they are well worth collecting.

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Posted on 23.01.201712.02.2018 by ftnbooks — 3 Comments

Three Puppies…..Two by Jeff Koons

This week we will be choosing our new family member. A young 8 weeks old puppy. Breed Irish Glen of Imaal terrier and ….we hope…. a new friend for our dog Boris. An important choice , one which would make us all happy for the next 12 years or maybe more. About the same time in years i am living now with two other puppies.

These were made as souvenires by the Bilbao Guggenheim museum. In the first few years they had an agreement with Koons to make these PUPPIES after the very large one in front of the Guggenheim museum. Each season this extremely large sculpture shows itself in a different way. In spring with flowers , in autumn the fall version which is slightly brown, but always it is the first thing you will see at the entrance of the Gehry designed museum. Together with the Matter of Time by Serra these are both the most iconic parts of the collection of the Guggenheim in Bilbao. About 3 years ago we visited the museum for the 5th time and i tried to by my another of the Koons puppies. No puppy was in the store available and i learned that Koons had withdrawn his permission to make the Puppy any longer and sell it in the store as a souvenir. No official puppies are there in the Guggenheim store. None can be bought…except outside in the souvenir shops you can still find snowballs with and ceramic puppies of the famous statue outside. These are non authorized puppies. A nice remembrance to your visit of Bilbao , but not the same quality of the official ones. Now and then ,one is offerend at auction fetching prices of 200-450 euros. When i will find one again, i will let you know at www.ftn-books.com, where of course the books on Koons are available, but unfortunately not a Koons puppy because mine are not for sale.

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Posted on 21.01.201712.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

ZERO….the second exhibition

Mid sixties ZERO became an important part within the exhibition and collection program of the Stedelijk Museum. a.0. Jan Schoonhoven being one of the artists being presented. Zero had become “main stream” and accepted and therefore it was time for a large overview of what was and had become ZERO/ NUL. Wim Crouwel was asked for the design of the 2 catalogues. One with text and one with images. Both are exceptional designs executed in a glossy silver , perfect measurements and simple but beautiful typography.

( set is available at www.ftn-books.com)

Crouwel set

ZERO Stedelijk Museum

Posted on 11.01.201712.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Jannis Kounellis..the stolen rain coat

schermafbeelding-2017-01-11-om-07-11-16 — Kounellis

It must have been 1988 and there was within one of the very first exhibitions Rudi Fuchs curated for the Gemeentemuseum in one of the small cabinets, a work by Jannis Kounellis.

Kounellis has always been a favorite artist of Fuchs, who organized in the van Abbemuseum and the Stedelijk Museum exhibitions with him.

The work…It consisted of a coat rack with a raincoat and looked in nothing like a piece of art. It was also my first encounter with a work by Kounellis who later was asked for a special exhibition with drawings and a specialpublication which was the very first publication to be designed by Gracia Lebbink. LA STANZA VEDE, was a real tribute to the drawings because it was published in a classic drawings portfolio and a very limited edition.

Back to the Coat rack. It was only a few days that the work was shown after the raincoat was stolen from the coat rack. A police investigation was done, but with no result. The fact that the raincoat was stolen makes me remember the work by Kounellis, but for me Kounellis is more the artist with the extreme wall pieces with coal elements, which are very impressive…..and of course the stolen raincoat 😉

Books available at www.ftn-books.com

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Posted on 08.01.201712.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Ossip at gallery Ramakers 8/1/17-5/2/17

The follow up on the blog of yesterday is a logic one , since today a new exhibition on Ossip, yes…. he is the son of Jan Snoeck, will open at Gallery Ramakers. I really admire Ossip now for a period of almost 25 years and have been following his artistic career during these years. Saw his exhibitions in museums, art galleries and visited his studio numerous times and have seen his works developing from 2D into static 3D and now into kinetic 3D works. This latest show at gallery Ramakers will show his most recent ones.

The show will run from the 8th of January until the 5th of February.

When you are in the neighbourhood of Galerie Ramakers, Toussainkade 51 in Den Haag do not hesitate to enter the gallery …..and visit OSSIP. www.galerieramakers.nl

Later this year I will write a blog on the studio of Ossip….. a micro universe of strange and highly original art.

Only one publication on Ossip available at www.ftn-art.com , but ….it is an important one. Designed by Gracia Lebbink and in a very small edition of only 1000 copies.

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Posted on 04.01.201712.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Antonio Calderara (1903-1978)

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Because of a sale today, i was reminded of the very nice Antonio Calderara catalogue published by the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in 1977. The catalogue was designed by Wim Crouwel and what this one makes really special are the 3 original silkscreen prints within this publication. Thin, only 16 pages but with 3 striking silkscreens i consider this as one of the very best seventies Stedelijk Museum publications. Published with Sm catalogue number 616 the catalogue stands out from the others published in the same period. One of the silkscreens is used as cover ( orange /red) and 2 are within ( yellow and sky blue). The very little text and the beautiful impressive photograph of Calderara complete this exquisite publication. This one and others on Antonio Calderara are available at www.ftn-books.com

Posted on 31.12.201612.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Pierre Alechinsky…. a perfect publication.

The end of this year is near and almost 300 blogs have been published since I started blogging on WordPress. www.ftn-blog.com grew in an excellent way and i am looking forward to keep you informed on my inventory and exploits in art.

And what better way to end this year with a PERFECT publication by Pierre Alechinsky. In the sixties Alechinsky used original lithographs as cover for his exhibition publications and one of these is the no. 391 he made for the Stedelijk Museum in 1966 for his graphic exhibition. Photographs by Suzy Embo ( see earlier blog this month) and designed by Wim Crouwel. (available at www.ftn-books.com)

Arguably this is one of the top 5 publications the Stedelijk Museum made in the sixties, but for me this is perfection. Simple clean Crouwel design. the photographs are all excellent and the lithograph printed by Bramsen & Georges makes this one really stand out.

A perfect catalogue to end this year and start the New Year.

My best wishes to all my readers and followers for the New Year 2017.

wilfried

Posted on 29.12.201612.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Rodin at the Groninger Museum

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August Rodin…. a legend among sculptors and a sculptor who is appreciated by young and old. The Musee Rodin in Paris receives over 700.000 visitors each year and now some great works from their collection are on loan at the Groninger Museum. In total 140 sculptures and 20 works on paper are in the Rodin exhibition, which makes it the largest Rodin exhibition in the Netherlands ever. So this is a great opportunity to visit the Mendini designed museum in the north of the Netherlands and visit the Rodin exhibition ( until the 30th of April 2017).

Groninger Museum, Museumeiland 1
9711 ME Groningen

What makes me look really forward to this exhibition, is the special part by Erwin Olaf. I know the sculptures by Rodin quit well, because i have visited the Musee Rodin and saw his exhibition in the Museum Het Paleis ( 1995) in The Hague multiple times. But these Olaf photographs are a first. Olaf photographed dancers of the National Ballet in typical Rodin poses, creating an atmosphere as if these photographs are taken in the Rodin studio. Spectacular photographs of these talented dancers with bodies like they were sculpted by Rodin himself.