FTN-blog

Posted on 02.09.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Ulrich Rückriem (1938)… a rectangular work

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It must have been in the mid nineties and because of my contact with Jan Jongepier, who worked for Drukkerij Lecturis, i was proposed to acquire some works for my personal collection. It were the works artists used for a partial payment of the printers services and were now for sale. One of them was a rectangular stone sculpture by Ulrich Ruckriem and ….i did not buy it. ( if i remember it well it looked something like this)

At that time i thought it to be too expensive for only 1.5 meters of stone and secondly and even more important ..where would i put it? Both were reasons not to buy the work and now 20 years later i am sorry that i did not buy it, because now i appreciate in full the simplicity , but also the strength of Ruckriems works. The only thing that is left is that the memory is still there and every time i pick up a book from www.ftn-books.com on Ruckriem i am reminded of the work i once could have bought.

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Posted on 01.09.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Piet Zwart (1885-1977)…dutch design

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There is so much to be told about Piet Zwart, but a short blog on him can only indicate his importance to the world of design and typography. If ever there was a designer who’s influence is of worldwide importance, it is Piet Zwart. I wish my friend David took care of this blog, because he is far more knowledgable on Zwart than any other person i know of. About 40 years ago, shortly after Piet Zwart died, he received some major exhibitions in the Netherlands. Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and the Boijmans van Beuningen museum all had their Piet Zwart retrospectives of which the one curated by Flip Bool for the Gemeentemuseum was probably the most important one. There was a long relationship between the Gemeentemuseum and Piet Zwart, which resulted in an extensive gift from the Zwart family and several exhibitions on Piet Zwart and his designs in the Gemeentemuseum of which some publications are still available at www.ftn-books.com. For all collectors of Zwart… i want to inform you that there are some very nice catalogues of Piet Zwart items still available at Bubb Kuyper in Haarlem. Bubb Kuyper held special Piet Zwart auctions during the last 3 years in which they auctioned many rare Piet Zwart items.

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One more things on Piet Zwart that you possibly did not know of. Because of the relationship with Piet Zwart , the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag placed a bench in its garden. design?….yes, Piet Zwart and to memorate his 80th Birthday , Willem Sandberg designed a special publication which is also available at ftn-books.

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PS.

I almost forgot. The street lightning in some of the older parts of Den Haag…yes , also Piet Zwart’s design.

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Posted on 31.08.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Imi Knoebel (1940)…a minimalist abstract painter

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Imi Knoebel is a minimal abstract painter, but certainly not a minimal painter, because his compositions and sculptures are far more exuberant and less structured than the ones from his minimal colleagues. The result is a “happy” kind of art in which there is place for abstraction and primary colors resulting in something pleasing for the eye. His art must in some way be influenced by the suprematistic ideas of Malevich.

Knoebel’s work explores the relationship between space, picture support and color. The style and formal concerns of his painting and sculpture have drawn comparisons with the ideas of Suprematism and the Bauhaus.

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Knoebel is now known all over the world , but not appreciated by many. It will take some time , but my prediction is that he will be as well known as Mondrian in the decades to come. A great artist , who makes great works of art. www.ftn-books.com has some publication on Knoebel in its inventory.

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Posted on 30.08.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Henri Cartier Bresson (1908-2004)

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If ever there is a photographer who is recognized as one of the greatest ever, it is Henri Cartier Bresson. Being a Magnum photographer you can see and discover many known and unknown photographs by Henri Cartier Bresson on this site:

http://pro.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&ERID=24KL53ZMYN

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What it also shows is the power of black and white photography. It is in many cases far more authentic and beautiful than color photography and Heni Cartier Bresson proves that he is one of the most original and talented . Beautiful compositions and catching the very best important moments to make the perfect photograph.

www.ftn-books.com has some nice books on Henri Cartier Bresson , including the excellent Sandberg designed catalogue for his Stedelijk Museum exhibition in 1963.

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Posted on 29.08.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Betty Woodman (1930)

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If there is one ceramist who has had an international career and exhibited all over the world it must be Betty Woodman. On several occasions she exhibited her works in the Netherlands in Museums and Galleries and i remember her exhibition from 1996 in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. With this exhibition an excellent catalogue was published, which is available at www.ftn-books.com

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The reason why she had such an interesting and world wide career must be found in the accessibility of her art. Bright, primary colors and abundant shapes of her ceramics make her work stand out and are very appealing for many and because of this many museums and collectors around the globe added her works to their collections. Betty Woodman ceramics can be found in ao.:

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Posted on 28.08.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Herb Ritts (1952-2002)…not only a celebrity photographer

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You possibly know the name Herb Ritts from his many celebrity photographs he has made through the years, but if the name does not ring a bell immediately…just have a look at his site. http://www.herbritts.com and you will recognize so many known faces. You will find Gwen Stefani, but also Ronald Reagan ao.

But beside these portrait photographs, Ritts has made so many iconic stylized staged photographs in which he plays a game with shadows and light that makes him stand out from all the others from his generation. I strongly recommend you to visit the Herb Ritts site because you will discover so many great photographs over there and have fun with all the short (commercial) movies of there. Here is one as a preview

http://www.herbritts.com/archive/video/herb-ritts-directs-chris-isaak-wicked-game-music-video/

and please take notice that there are a few Ritts titles available at www.ftn-books.comHerb Ritts was HIV positve and died of complications from pneumonia at the age of 50.

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Posted on 27.08.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Jonieke van Es (1966-2012) and the ultimate Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita book.

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It was in the very first beginning of her museum career that i met Jonieke. Jonieke studied at Groningen University and after an apprenticeship at ao. the Gemeentemuseum, she became curator at this museum. Moving forward after this job to Curator of collections at the Boymans van Beuningen Museum, but sadly died at too young an age in 2012. In those early Gemeentemuseum days she started a project on the works by Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita, Yes the one who taught M.C. Escher, which resulted in the most spectacular book on Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita. A true catalogue Raisonne, which will be the standard book on his works for at least a century. The book was published in 2005 by Waanders and is completely sold out for over a decade now. But now i finally found another copy and for those of my readers that were looking for this one….it is now for sale at www.ftn-books.com

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Posted on 26.08.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Matt Mullican ( 1951) ….a universal sign and color artist

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Mullican is possibly more known and appreciated in Europe than in the US. Born in Santa Monica / California in 1951 he had part of his artistic education in the Netherlands and it was here and in Belgium that he received his first exhibitions. Flip Bool, curator at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag in the mid eighties acquired a large Matt Mullican for the collection of the Gemeentemuseum and this, together with a beautiful and impressive Donald Judd garden sculpture were 2 of the acquisitions i admired very much at that time and over the years both have proven to be important and valuable additions to the collections of the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag.

His work is concerned with systems of knowledge, meaning, language, and signification. Mullican also works with the relationship between perception and reality, between the ability to see something and the ability to represent it.

Mullican work is still very appealing to me. But unfortunately executed on a scale that is hard for a private collector to add this to their collections. It is executed at a scale that needs space, museum space or a large office hall space and therefore for me only to be admired at a distance. Only one publication on Mullican is available at www.ftn-books.com. But it is an important one in a limited edition by Imschoot.

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Posted on 25.08.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Jan Toorop ( 1858-1928)… a 19th century dutch master

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If there is one artist who brought impressionism into dutch art, it must be Jan Toorop. Roughly you can divide his artistic career into 4 phases. The first being his impressionist period ( a memberof Les XX), the second his neo impressionist period, the third being his symbolistic period and the last period is his realistic period in which he was converted completely into a Roman Catholic artist. Toorop is interesting because of his first 3 periods. Being born in Indonesia he has a different approach to his subjects and experiments with techniques and colors and uses a color scheme completely different from his dutch contemporaries. They focussed on skies and landscapes , whereas Toorop focussed on people and their surroundings. There are some great examples to be found in the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag of his very early period where he painted with a palette knife and broad brushes. His very atmospheric scenes in London, a city where he lived for a couple of years and where he painted some great paintings. The “Trio Fleuri” is one of the most appealing painting from his London years, together with the Waterloo Bridge painting and both can be seen in the collection of the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag.

and for those interested in Modern Art. A great painting by Toorop that symbolizes the dawn and rise of Modern Art in this world.

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There are some nice publications on Toorop available at www.ftn-books.com

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Posted on 24.08.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Jackson Pollock ( 1912-1956 )…the ultimate abstract expressionist.

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It was 1977. …..the first time i visited the US and went to New York together with my father we visited the museum of Modern Art. In which i saw for the very first time a large Jackson Pollock drip painting. It was an amazing experience and i remember standing in that room …in awe and amazement of such a large , beautiful, impressive, overwhelming abstract painting. The size of it, the spontaneous dripping and the extreme detail when you went close up to it, opened a door to abstract Modern Art for me. Since i have seen many Pollock paintings, but none was so perfect as the very first one i encountered in the Moma. the ONE, number 31, 1950 painting

There are some nice action movies with Pollock painting to be found on Youtube and this is possibly the one that shows best the creating of a Pollock painting.