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Guillaume le Roy (1938-2008)

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The end of 2017 is near and it is time to share one of my personal favorite dutch graphic artists with you. It is Guillaume le Roy.

He is not a great name in art, but to me his works belong to the best the second half of the dutch art scene has brought. In most cases his ( woodcut) prints are of an extremely large size and when 2 sheets are put together in one composition it is truly impressive.

Being almost 200 x 120 cm. These compositions look more like paintings than woodcut prints, but study them closely and you will notice lots of (wood) details in these prints. Executed on heavy paper these are sturdy compositions, a bit like the Soulages paintings. Executed on Japanese paper they resemble the best in Japanese printing but instead of figures within the composition , the use of constructivist elements. I am fortunate to have collected these beautiful works over the past 15 years and now i have decided to part with my duplicatie copies by this magnificent artist. please inquire at www.ftn-books.com

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Piet Dirkx daily …479

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Piet Dirkx cigarbox 479

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Alan Charlton (1948)… monochromes in grey

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For me Alan Charlton stands for British Minimalism. Characterized by the color Grey, he makes constructivist shaped monochrome paintings. This is in short how you can describe the works  by Alan Charlton. There were not many occasions that i have seen his works in Museums, but i remember at least to have seen three times his works. First at the van Abbemuseum, secondly at the Stedelijk Museum and thirdly at the Tate Modern. On all three occasions i thought these works were magnificent. I saw these works quite some time apart from each other, over a period of over 15 years they were viewed, but I always was impressed with the monochrome grey’s, each slightly different from each other making these a true color scale of grey’s.

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They blend into their space and because of their monotony and regular shapes they become a part of the room they are exhibited in. It takes some time to appreciate them , but once you do , there are few more exciting paintings and therefore better artists than Alan Charlton, who makes these wonders in grey.

Alan Charlton titles are available at www.ftn-books.com

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Piet Dirkx daily …478

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Piet Dirkx cigarbox 478

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David Hamilton (1933-2016)….Tendres Cousines and Bilitis (really bad movies)

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Since a decade there is a renewed interest in the photography of David Hamilton. In the 70’s David Hamilton was a celebrity in France and became even so famous, that he was asked to direct two movies. The first was Bilitis (1977) and the second wasTendres Cousines (1980) . Of course these were made with his trademark soft focus, but when i viewed some fragments of both movies, it struck me that these were badly produced, badly acted and badly directed movies.

https://youtu.be/fFakgW8o6-Q

Conclusion….. for me David Hamilton is foremost a photographer ( and not a very good one) , who became popular because of shooting young adolescent girls. At that age ( late seventies), these photographs were accepted as being art, where as in present time there is criticism because of the age of the young girls. Different times and different mores. David Hamilton publications were popular all over the world and are now highly collectable items in Japan, Australia and China. Specially the Japanese collectors are keen on the french publications, because in quality terms, these are the very best among all David Hamilton publications. some are available at www.ftn-books.com

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Richard Tuttle (1941)

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On several occasions i visited Richard Tuttle exhibitions during the last 30 years and the last one was at the ICA  in Amsterdam, which had a spectacular catalogue published with it. I became interested in Tuttle when i discovered the appeal of Mininimal Art by LeWitt and Judd for me and noticed that Tuttle could be considered a minimal artist too , although Wikipedia says he is more a Post minimal artist.

A postminimalist artist known for his small, subtle, intimate works. His art makes use of scale and line. His works span a range of media, from sculpture, painting, drawing, printmaking, and artist’s books to installation and furniture.

The Louisiana Channel has a great small documentary portrait on Tuttle

This doe not mean that he is a lesser artist than the ones from the first wave of Minimalism.  His works are as complex  as his minimalistic predecessor ones and perhaps a little more joyful because of the use of brighter colors in his later works. It is up to you if you like Richard Tuttle as much as i do, but what is a certainty is that he is important for Modern Art and the quality of his works is recognized all over the world. www.ftn-books.com has the ICA an Stedelijk catalogues available among others.

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Jean Dewasne (1921-1999) a very special print

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Before i visited for the first time the Quadrat Museum in Bottrop i never had seen many Jean Dewasne paintings. Yes there were a few in Brussels and Antwerp, but as many as there were in Bottrop was new to me. It made me realize that Dewasne was arguably one of the most influential and important Belgian painters from the last century and the Josef Albers/ Quadrat museum recognized his importance by holding a large retrospective on him in 1991.

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I depicted the poster of this exhibition in this blog , because it is very special. The poster is a specially designed silkscreen and available at www.ftn-books.com

Not only the silkscreen exhibition print is special but also the catalogue with the 1991 exhibition contains 3 small silkscreens within , making this a true artist book. Since my visit of the Dewasne exhibition i always have been admiring him and i am still wondering why he has not become the great name in art he deserves to be.

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The collection by Salco Tromp Meesters and the JCJ Vanderheyden (1928-2012)

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Like  last weeks auction of the Klein Breteler collection, Salco Tromp Meesters decided that he had to sell his collection because he could not find a proper location for the 770 works to be preserved and shown. At one time there was the Congresgebouw in Den Haag who exhibited the collection, but this location ended when a valuable Schoonhoven painting was stolen from the building. The 770 works were practically all sold during auction in 1990 and one of them was a beautiful J.Cj. Vanderheyden. An early “pop art” like painting which i tried to acquire for my own collection, but was far from successful because the end price went way to high. What i remember about the painting is there were several mirrors fixed to the canvas and one of the painted object was a Citroen 2VC. I looked for the painting on Google but still can not find it. I every much would like to know its whereabouts, because for me this is one of the most iconic JCJ. van der Heyden paintings ever. Of course www.ftn-books.com has the most important JCJ. van der Heyden catalogues from the last 40 years available.

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Hendrik Kerstens ( 1956 )

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Today i added a book on Hendrik Kerstens to my inventory. At first glance you see a classic portrait , but when you follow his works through several decades, you note 3 elements in the photograph. The model is in most cases Paula, his daughter , who progresses in age, and looks when getting older ….more and more like a “dutch Golden Age” figure by Johannes Vermeer. Secondly the props within the photograph ( mainly hats ) are common household items. Blankets, plastic bags, empty tin cans ….all have a function within the portrait. Modern elements making a classic portrait of a beautiful woman. Hendrik Kerstens is now also represented in the US and his name as an important dutch photographer is now established among the great dutch photographers from his generation.

‘HENDRIK KERSTENS DID NOT TRAIN FORMALLY AS AN ARTIST. HOWEVER, HE WISHED TO DEVOTE HIMSELF TO A MORE CREATIVE PROFESSION AND IN 1995, AT THE AGE OF FORTY, HE LEFT THE BUSINESS WORLD AND TOOK UP PHOTOGRAPHY. HIS WIFE ANNA WORKED FULL TIME TO SUPPORT THIS CHANGE OF DIRECTION. IN A REVERSAL OF MORE TRADITIONAL ROLES, KERSTENS CARED FOR THEIR YOUNG DAUGHTER PAULA, WHILE ALSO STUDYING PHOTOGRAPHY DURING THE DAY. HAVING A CHILD LEFT A DEEP IMPRESSION ON KERSTENS. THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHY, HE EXPLORED THE ACCOMPANYING FEELINGS OF RESPONSIBILITY, VULNERABILITY AND LOVE HE FELT TOWARDS HIS DAUGHTER, STARTING WITH DOCUMENTARY FAMILY SNAPSHOTS.
AS PAULA PHYSICALLY AND PSYCHOLOGICALLY GREW, KERSTENS SEARCHED FOR AN ARTISTIC MANIFESTATION OF THESE CHANGES, LEADING TO HIS INTERPRETATIONS OF THE GREAT DUTCH MASTER PAINTERS OF THE 17TH CENTURY WITH PAULA AS HIS MUSE.’

EXCERPT FROM AN ESSAY BY MARTIN BARNES, VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON

this book is now availabel at www.ftn-books.com

 

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Gerhard Richter (1932)

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A grand old master from the German art scene from last century.

Here is how his own biography is starting on the Gerhard Richter site. This is one of the best biographies on the internet because it covers all Richter’s history starting in his early years and finishing in the present.

Gerhard Richter was born to Horst and Hildegard Richter in Dresden on February 9, 1932. Having married the year before, Gerhard was their first child, with a daughter, Gisela, arriving in 1936. Horst Richter, with whom Gerhard did not have a close relationship, was a teacher at a secondary school in Dresden.1 Hildegard was a bookseller and, like her father, a talented pianist. She was passionate about literature, and passed on her enthusiasm and knowledge to the young Gerhard. They were, in many respects, an average middle-class family. In an interview with Robert Storr Richter described his early family life as “simple, orderly, structured – mother playing the piano and the father earning money”

Find the rest of this very extensive biography at :

https://www.gerhard-richter.com/en/biography

and for Gerhard Richter publications visit www.ftn-books.com

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