FTN-blog

The importance of Marinus Fuit is growing. This Haarlem based artist recently made a gift of 22 paintings by his hand to the Frans Hals Museum / Haarlem, making this now the most important collection of his paintings in the Netherlands.

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These paintings are inspired by Pop ARt , but all have a great realistic quality, making these easy to understand and to be admired by many. I always have a feeling that Fuit and Sees Vlag know eachother. The kind of detail in their works look similar.

www.ftn-books.com has the scarce Venlo catalogue from 1982 available

Urban designer Frits Palmboom (1951) made his name in 1987 with the book Rotterdam, verstedelijkt landschap (Rotterdam, Urbanised Landscape), a completely new interpretation of the urban morphology of Rotterdam. Based on a historical analysis of the physical history of the urban landscape, Palmboom showed how a combination of the geology of the delta, the polder patterns and the war damage of the bombardment together with the motors of modernisation of large-scale traffic and ports had led to the characteristic fragmented urban fabric of Rotterdam.

As a student, Palmboom was inspired at the former TH Delft by the work of Pjotr Gonggrijp. His work showed him how drawing could be a form of reading the landscape. In 1973 Palmboom made an analysis of and design for the urbanisation of the area around Alphen aan den Rijn, in which the influence of Gonggrijp is clearly visible. Based on a meticulous morphological analysis, Palmboom developed a linear urbanisation model along a public transport line based on cycles of growth and change.

The design of IJburg (1995-97), which Palmboom made together with Jaap van den Bout, also relates to the coherence between the large-scale manufactured landscape of the polders and the IJsselmeer area, and the physical morphology of the new district of islands. Palmboom designed a vocabulary of transitions between water and land with an eye for the relationship between man and the vast water landscape.

Without a doubt Palmboom is one of the leading Urban architects of our time and it is nice to be able to ofer one of his earliest publications from 1979 inwhich he takes a look at 8 projects on Urban architecture and building in the Soviet Union from 1926-1930.

I have been living with art works by Ossip for the last 20 years. It started with a production of a nice catalogue for the Ossip presentation at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag and a small purchase at gallery Ramakers and since a studio visit in 2006, i have been following Ossip and his works closely. At some point we have developed a friendship and the same as with other artists i know and have been following i started collecting Their works have become part of our collection and lives.

I always find that people react in different ways on Ossip his works. Some are immediately intrigued and others are scared by the strange and disfigured , humans. I can understand these feelings since Ossip his works bring an “unease” for the viewer. Still i personally also have experienced questions raised when looking at his works. Why? a circle around the centre figure in ” STADJE” and even more why is the circle around the human figure made out of sand?

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It is all desolation in this STADJE and the figure looks to be lost in a war scene frfm WWI. Location?…. somewhere in the Alsace region in France/Germany, and circles around the figure. From the centre they spread out and feel like radiation and focussing on this centre/ key figure.

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It also can be a style element found by Ossip and used in a series of paintings since i found the same kind of circles in BOY/Jongen, but the difference is that this young man tries to cast a spell to us. There is even a hole in the absolute middle of the painting . Hard to be seen but there, which must have helped Ossip to draw these circles. I find these early works by Ossip more fascinating than his recent works with moving parts and figures. The focus in these early works is the compositions, the focus in his last works is on the movement which make these less interesting to me.

www.ftn-books.com has some nice Ossip publications now available including some original art. please inquire at ftnbooksandart@gmail.com

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When you have been collecting art as long as i have been doing , one gathers over the years a large collection and have been looking at hese works for many times. Discovering, wondering, gaping and admiring

All these moments add up to an experience i can only highly recommend for everybody. Yes ….everybody since the cheapest of art is available at very small prices. How about Rob Scholte’s multiples that he made for “KRUIDVAT”. Extremely large editions , but still great art and this art isd finacially accessible to almost everybody. The initial price was set as low as a few Euro’s but these have become true collectibles and fetch much higher but still affordable prices nowadays . ( available at www.ftn-books.com).

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The first Observation i want to share is one of the infamous ” dripping” paintings by Frank van Hemert. This painting from van Hemert was bought by me at auction and when i wrote Frank that we had acquired this painting the first reaction was…..but this one is a”TOTAL LOSS” because of the paint not drying and hardening enough.

And yes Frank van Hemert was right. The pink /red parts were still soft and sticky. This painting had been back to his studio for a restauration and after it had been restored the collector must have thought it wiser to sell……and …it was my luck. Over the years the painting started to dry and it is getting better and dryer every month. A beautiful, impressive painting. A dynamic one too, since the paint looks as if it is moving. I still love this and it has become one of the pillars under our collection.

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Almost all van Hemert titles are availabel at www.ftn-books.com

Emil Orlik (21 July 1870 – 28 September 1932) was a painter, etcher and lithographer. He was born in Prague, which was at that time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and lived and worked in Prague, Austria and Germany. He was the son of a tailor. He first studied art at the private art school of Heinrich Knirr, where one of his fellow pupils was Paul Klee. From 1891, he studied at the Munich Academy under Wilhelm Lindenschmit. Later he learned engraving from Johann Leonhard Raab and proceeded to experiment with various printmaking processes.

After performing his military service in Prague, he returned to Munich, where he worked for the magazine Jugend. He spent most of 1898, travelling through Europe, visiting the Netherlands, Great Britain, Belgium, and Paris. During this time he became aware of Japanese art, and the impact it was having in Europe, and decided to visit Japan to learn woodcut techniques. He left for Asia in March 1900, stopping off in Hong Kong, before reaching Japan, where he stayed until February 1901.

He produced a large collection of paintings, woodcuts prints and etchings.

At the turn of the 19^th century, for the first time, Japanese prints were available in Europe to be collected and traded. To the Europeans, these prints appeared fresh and modern, though they existed in Japan since the 18^th century.

The Japanese artists were not concerned with perspective or an accurate depiction of nature but rather, their focus was on the beauty of the line and composition.

Emil Orlik was fascinated by Japanese art and culture. He had travelled extensively through Europe searching but finally in 1900, he journeyed to Japan. Orlik learned Japanese and travelled alone on foot through parts of Japan that few Europeans had discovered. There, he studied from the artisans he admired. Upon his return to Vienna, at that time, he was one of the few European artists that had ventured to Japan.

His works brings together his European roots and his newly discovered Asian sensibilities. The below catalogue is available at www.ftn-books.com