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Arnulf Rainer (continued)

Arnulf Rainer, an Austrian artist, is renowned for pioneering the Art Informel movement, which introduced a lyrical and intuitive form of expression to abstract art. His early work was heavily influenced by Surrealism, and his fascination with dreams and the subconscious adds a mystical quality to his pieces. Rainer first experimented with Overpaintings in 1952, layering brushstrokes over existing artworks or photographs. Continued exploration of this process has been a recurring theme throughout his career. By working in dialogue with the underlying source material, which remains partially visible, the overpaintings play with the concept of creation and destruction, serving as a paradoxical homage to the original.

Rainer’s method involves drawing and painting over his own canvases and, starting in 1953, those of other artists. This results in densely textured abstract works, achieved through a slow and deliberate build-up of brushstrokes. The process itself holds great significance for the artist, resembling a visual embodiment of spiritual consciousness. In his own words: “The act of creation is perhaps more vital than the finished painting; for the gradual participation in the obscuration or immersion of the painting, its gradual return to peace and invisibility […]” can be compared to the contemplative experience of religious life.” This contemplative experience is also imparted onto the viewer, who is left to ponder the enigmatic mystery of what lies beneath.

www.ftn-books.com has many Rainer titles available. here are a few

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Jacques Lipchitz (continued)

Renowned for his mastery of Cubist elements in depicting figures, portraits, and still lifes made of bronze or stone, Jacques Lipchitz rose to fame as a Lithuanian-born French sculptor. Mingling with the likes of Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, and Juan Gris in the esteemed Montmarte neighborhood of Paris, Lipchitz’s artistic genius flourished. Born Chaim Jacob Lipchitz on August 22, 1891 in Druskinikai, Lithuania to a Litvak (Lithuanian Jewish) family, the burgeoning artist honed his craft at the esteemed École des Beaux-Arts and Académie Julian in Paris. With the advent of Nazi occupation, Lipchitz sought refuge in the United States during World War II. In 1954, he achieved milestone success with a retrospective exhibition, beginning at The Museum of Modern Art in New York and subsequently travelling to the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and finally to the Cleveland Museum of Art. To this day, Lipchitz’s works can be found in prestigious collections such as the Art Institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The artistic legend passed away on May 16, 1973 in Capri, Italy.

www.ftn-books.com has some nice Lipchitz titles available

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Stanley Brouwn (continued)

Stanley Brouwn is renowned as the most prominent representative of conceptual art in the Netherlands. The underlying concept always takes precedence over the formally austere aesthetics of his works. Brouwn began as a self-taught artist and, akin to the artists of the Zero movement, worked in a monochromatic and geometrically abstract style. However, he quickly outgrew the specific aesthetic of Zero. From 1960 onwards, he built a remarkable and consistent body of work. Through it, he explored the interplay between movement and distance. He used his own body as the measure of all things and developed his own system of measurement (the sb-foot, sb-el and sb-step). Using this standard, the artist delved into the tension between subjective experience of distance and its objective register.

Because of his growing importance to Conceptual Art www.ftn-books.com has focussed on Brouwn for some years now and fortunately has still some important publications available.

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Joel Peter Witkin (continued)

Joel-Peter Witkin, an American artist, possesses a penchant for crafting photographs that encompass a grotesque and macabre aesthetic. In the vein of renowned photographers Henry Peach Robinson and Oscar Gustave Rejlander, Witkin meticulously constructs scenes that feature cadavers, hermaphrodites, and dwarfs, imbuing them with literary, religious, and art historical allusions. Reflecting on his artistic pursuits, the artist shared, “I have dedicated my life to transforming matter into spirit, with the hope of one day witnessing it all. Gazing upon its form in its entirety, while donning the mask, from the distant realm of death.” He added, “And there, in the everlasting destiny, I shall seek the countenance I possessed before the world was formed.” Born in Brooklyn, NY on September 13, 1939, Witkin obtained his BA from the Cooper Union School of Art and later achieved an MFA from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. In 2011, a comprehensive publication was released, providing a succinct glimpse into the artist’s methodology and philosophies. Today, his works can be found in prestigious collections such as The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Currently, the artist resides and creates in Albuquerque, NM.

wwww.ftn-books.com has some nice Witkin titles available.

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Robert Smithson (continued)

Despite his untimely death at the young age of 35, Robert Smithson’s short career has served as a major source of inspiration for countless young artists, particularly among the emerging talents of the 1960s. Not only was he a prodigious artist, but also a formidable writer and critic, his interests spanning from Catholicism to mineralogy to science fiction.

While his early pieces consisted of paintings and collages, Smithson’s focus soon shifted towards sculpture as he responded to the Minimalism and Conceptualism movements of the early 1960s. This led him to extend his work beyond the confines of galleries and into the vast landscape. In 1970, he created his famous Earthwork, also known as Land art, in the form of a spiral jetty made of rocks and situated in the colorful waters of the shore of the Great Salt Lake in Utah.

However, tragedy struck in 1973 when Smithson died in an aircraft accident while surveying the site for another Earthwork project in Texas. Despite his short life, he has left an indelible mark on the art world, particularly with his groundbreaking Earthwork creations.

Between 1959 and 1962, Arman developed his signature style through two new concepts: accumulation and poubelle. The accumulation involved collecting ordinary, identical objects and encasing them in large quantities in polyester or plexiglass. The poubelle, or trash can, consisted of scattered consumer materials that Arman used to fill galleries alongside fellow artists such as Yves Klein.

In October 1960, Arman played a significant role in the formation of the Nouveau Réalisme art movement, along with Yves Klein, Daniel Spoerri, Jean Tinguely, and later César, Niki de Saint Phalle, Christo and others.

A year later, Arman made his debut in the United States, his second home. He split his time between living in New York and Nice, eventually settling in Vence in 1967.

www.ftn-books.com has some important Smithson publications available.

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Arman (continued)

Arman was a French-American artist and sculptor, known for his assemblages. He had a preference for using prefabricated materials. In 1957, he made the decision – following in the footsteps of ‘Vincent’ (van Gogh) – to no longer go by the name of Armand Pierre Fernandez, but simply as Arman.

After studying philosophy and mathematics, he attended the École nationale d’arts décoratifs in Nice in 1946. It was during this time that he met Yves Klein and Claude Pascal. Upon completing his studies, he enrolled as a student at the École du Louvre in Paris. From 1953, he worked as a painter and was interested in abstraction, influenced by the painters Poliakoff and De Staël.

Between 1959 and 1962, Arman developed his recognizable style with two new concepts: accumulation and the poubelle. Accumulation consisted of a collection of ordinary, identical objects encased in polyester or plexiglas. The garbage can was a collection of scattered consumables, which he used to fill galleries such as Yves Klein’s. In October 1960, he was closely involved in the establishment of the artists’ group Nouveau Réalisme, with the likes of Yves Klein, Daniel Spoerri, Jean Tinguely, and later, César, Niki de Saint Phalle, Christo, and others.

A year later, Arman made his debut in the United States, his second home. He alternated living between New York and Nice, and eventually settled in Vence in 1967.

www.ftn-books.com has a few SArman titles available

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Kho Liang Ie (continued)

Born in 1927 in Magelang and passing away on January 1st, 1975 in Amsterdam, Kho Liang le was the child of Chinese parents and a Dutch industrial designer. He is renowned for his design of the interior of Schiphol Airport. After arriving in the Netherlands in approximately 1949, he was educated at the Rietveld Academy, where he studied interior design and design. In 1958, he was appointed as Artifort’s aesthetic advisor and designer, shifting the company’s focus towards the top of the international market due to his contributions. Kho Liang le attracted foreign designers such as Pierre Paulin and Geoffrey Harcourt. His influence is still evident to this day. As an interior designer, Kho Liang le gained recognition for his work on the Schiphol Airport design in the 1960s. His creations exude purity, warmth, and a sense of liberty.

www.ftn-books.com has some Kho Liang Ie items available.

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Sonia Delaunay (continued)

Working in tandem with her husband, artist Robert Delaunay, Delaunay frequently strived to create a distinct style of painting. Collaboratively, they endeavored to embellish the pavilions at the 1937 International Exposition of Arts and Techniques in Modern Life. In addition to her canvases, Delaunay also designed a series of fabrics, wallpaper, furniture, and clothing. Comparable to her paintings, Sonia’s textiles and modern design pieces are characterized by abstract geometry. In a groundbreaking event, Sonia Delaunay became the first woman to be honored with a retrospective exhibition at the Louvre in 1964, while she still lived. Her esteemed contributions to the arts also granted her the privilege of being appointed as an officer of the French Legion of Honor in 1975.

www.ftn-books.com has some nice Delaunay titles available.

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Robert Ryman (continued)

Robert Ryman, hailing from Nashville, Tennessee (1930), emerged as a preeminent American painter in the latter half of the previous century. His journey, however, did not entail a formal education in the arts. Rather, in the 1950s, he worked as a security guard at the MoMA in New York. It was there that he first crossed paths with Dan Flavin and Soll Lewitt, his colleagues at the time, who would later become pivotal figures in the rise of minimal art.

Ryman’s work bears a close resemblance to that of minimal art. His square monochromatic paintings, for instance, can be likened to Carl Andre’s steel plates. Yet, unlike his peers, Ryman was more intrigued by the technical aspect of painting. He delved into the realm of possibilities presented by white paint on various mediums such as canvas, aluminum, paper, plexiglass, and more. In fact, Ryman referred to himself as a “realist,” not in the conventional sense of creating illusions, but in his pursuit of working solely with the fundamental elements of painting. As Rudi Fuchs eloquently stated, “Every facet of a painting (medium, size, paint, brushstroke, hanging) contributes to its overall appearance. This is the tangible foundation of Rymans’s art.”

www.ftn-books.com has some Ryman titles available.

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Walter de Maria (continued)

Walter de Maria, an American artist, was a pivotal figure in both Minimalism and Land Art. Fascinated by conveying phenomenological experiences including time, geology, and weather, De Maria often utilized elemental materials like dirt or steel, exemplified in The Lightning Field (1977). “Natural disasters are a particular area of interest for me and I believe they represent the highest form of art one can experience,” he once commented. Born on October 1, 1935 in Albany, CA, he attended the University of California, Berkeley, earning his MFA in 1959. Relocating to New York in 1960, he began creating sculptures rooted in Dadaist ideals, immersing himself in the circle of Minimalist artists such as Sol LeWitt and Carl Andre. Through the decades that followed, the artist continuously challenged the boundaries of art, operating out of his expansive studio in the East Village neighborhood of New York. He passed away on July 25, 2013 while visiting his mother in Los Angeles, CA. To this day, De Maria’s creations are held in the esteemed collections of the Dia Center for the Arts in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Kunstmuseum Basel, among other institutions.

www.ftn-books.com has some de Maria titles available.