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Guillaume Le Roy a Triptych

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Just a short story how i found the Triptych by Guillaume Le Roy. I have been impressed by the graphic art of Guillaume Le Roy for over 15 years now. Since i began visiting specialized book auctions, i found that his works were offered on some occasions. In the beginnig i was not interested in buying them , but some 10 years ago i bought my first ” lot” which included 4 large prints ( ca. 120 x 80 cm). I began to admire his techniques and his compositions were fascinating to look at.

This was the beginning of a small collection of works by Le Roy. His black and /white ( now some are for sale at ftn art ) prints showed within the limit of the use of only black and white so many detail and shades that come alive as soon as you put them on a wall. So far the earliest of history on Le Roy and me as a collector.

2 years ago , at the november sale of which i could not visit the viewing days,  my interest was raised in the catalogue when i saw a description of an item that looked to be an early print by Guillaume Le Roy. The description was not that clear but i recognized his graphic signature. I placed a written bid and i won the item…… picked it up at the auctionhouse and discovered it was a genuine Guillaume Le Roy . …. a Triptych.

 

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Two folding panels covered on both sides with etchings and in the middle another 2 etchings. In total 6 etchings and another discovery….it was signed, numbered and dated. very hard to discover the signature, but it was there , together with the other edition information ( see the photograph with the item).

One problem, i do not have the place to present it properly, so decided to put it up for sale and now it is available for the true admirer who values and cherishes Le Roy works too.

https://wordpressstrato-pacfwc5kp0.live-website.com/product/20416/

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Wim Crouwel….SM Gedrukt in Japan / 1967

Wim Crouwel is a regular name appearing in my blog. This is not only because i have many titles available at www.ftn-books.com, but mainly because i consider Wim Crouwel the most important graphic designer from last century. There are some that are important too and i think of Gerstner and Sandberg, but Wim Crouwel is in my opnion the absolute best. Wim Crouwel made some 200+ designs between 1960 and 1980 for the Stedelijk Museum, Among them posters, catalogues an folders and many have become iconic for graphic design in the Sixties. There was of course the VORMGEVERS catalogue which is in high demand and extremely hard to find, but the one i would like to discuss now is the GEDRUKT IN JAPAN catalogue, which has become rare and expensive too. It is of great graphici quality and although it is only 20 pages, for me it is the summit in design from the sixties. A simple but highly effective lay out. The use of Magenta on the front . The SM logo and underneath a very very fine line with below it one of the logo’s for the Osaka Art Festival . Published in 1967 with no. 407……it is perfection on the 20 pages.

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galerie Nouvelles Images…”the end”

A few days ago it was a shock for me to learn that gallery Nouvelles Images will close its doors permanently. This gallery has been a long time institution in the dutch art world and one of the galleries that gave direction to the dutch art world. Ton Berends and later on Erik Bos were visionary gallery owners that meant a lot to the young artists and because of their influence opened doors to museums and foreign galleries. Beside that they were great art dealers who presented and represented many artists for the very first time in the Netherlands and on art shows.

I visited the gallery dozens of times and i always enjoyed the spacious rooms. My personal favorites were of course Dirkx, van Hemert, Geurts and Willem Hussem who’s heirs they have  represented for more than 30 years now. Nouvelles Images will not exist any more in the near future. So take a look at a great art institution in The Hague while you can. The gallery will close on the 1st of October 2018.

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www.ftn-books.com has many Nouvelles Images available

GALERIE NOUVELLES IMAGES SLUIT DE DEUREN

Sinds de oprichting in 1960 is NOUVELLES IMAGES (NI) een beeldbepalende en invloedrijke galerie in Nederland; eerst onder de visionaire leiding van initiator Ton Berends en vanaf 1989 onder de bevlogen aanpak van zijn opvolger Erik Bos.

Erik Bos is in december 2016 overleden en liet zijn nalatenschap ten goede komen aan de beeldende kunsten, in het bijzonder de fotografie via het Erik Bos Fonds, een fonds op naam van het Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. De galerie voortzetten was voor alle betrokkenen een grote wens.

Sinds vorig jaar maart werkten wij, de nieuwe directeur Marie Jeanne de Rooij en rechterhand Sander Creman, voortvarend aan de continuering van de galerie voortbouwend op de geschiedenis en reputatie van NOUVELLES IMAGES met een zichtbare focus op de gewenste vernieuwing.

Helaas is door de aanhoudend ongewisse kunstmarkt en de complexe overdracht van de galerie door de direct betrokkenen met pijn in het hart besloten de galerie met ingang van
1 oktober 2018 te sluiten.

NOUVELLES IMAGES dankt alle kunstenaars voor hun kunstenaarschap en vriendschap, en alle kunstliefhebbers die de kunst en de kunstenaars door de jaren heen met hun aankopen gesteund hebben.

NOUVELLES IMAGES organiseert van zaterdag 1 september t/m zondag 9 september een laatste verkooptentoonstelling met werken uit de collectie NI waarvan de opbrengst aangewend zal worden om de galerie goed af te sluiten voor de kunstenaars van de galerie en voor de direct betrokkenen. Meer informatie over deze tentoonstelling wordt op korte termijn bekend gemaakt.

Marie Jeanne de Rooij & Sander Creman

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Viktor & Rolf , 25 years in Fashion

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Viktor & Rolf celebrate this year their 25 years of cooperation jubilee. Working together and designing fashion in a very personal style with lots of humor. A success story which brought these dutch fashion designers fame and all over the world presenting their collections, opening exhibitions and resulting in a highly succesful internet store filled with pret a porter and fragrances . They call themselves FASHION ARTISTS and when you look at the catalogue that is available at www.ftn-books.com you can see why. The book is 100% Viktot & Rolf. Cover, the chosen black, printing and layout , everything breathes Viktor & Rolf.

For those living in Australia …know that there will be a Viktor & Rolf exhibition coming up in Melbourne in the National Gallery of Victoria.

 

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the Analogy between Jan Saudek and Katharina Behrend

When you literally strip all from your subject and leave her standing in front of a chosen background there is not much difference.

There is 70 years between these 2 photographs but when you tell me it is only 10 years i would believe it too. Katharina Eleonore Behrend made her photographs between 1904 and 1928 and the entire series which was still within her family was left to the Stichting Nederlands Fotoarchief in Leiden. The series shows an artistic point of view on daily life in the beginning of the 20th century and gives a perfect impression of the Netherlands around 1910. The art nude is somehow different….. it is classic in its pose and shows why photography can be great art too. Beautiful light and the perfect intriguing picture.

The Katharina Eleonore Behrend 1904-1928 book is available at www.ftn-books.com

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Piet Stockmans (1940)

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Stockmans worked for Koninklijke Mosa in Maastricht as an industrial designer for a great part of his artistic life, but since 1989 he is a free lance designer and became very well known for his extremely fragile ceramics and his cooperation with the great culinary chefs of Europe.

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If you look at the eyes of Stockmans you discover where he found his favorite color beside the white of his ceramics. He frequently uses the color of pale blue on the edge of his egg shell ceramics. windlights , coffee cups and small vases have in many cases a blue edge. The edge together with the use of the fragile material is the signature of Piet Stockmans. Nice to know is that his products are fully handmade, all unique because all are made and finished by hand and still affordable. A true ceramic artist on whom www.ftn-books.com has some nice publications available.

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Furniture catalogues…. impressive and highly collectable

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Many of you have sometime in their lives took home a furniture catalogue. No, not the one from IKEA  or Habitat, but one from one of the more prestigious designers like Vitra, Herman Miller, Alessi, Foscarelli or Cassina. These are the ones that matter and because they have almost unlimited funds for promotion at their sisposal their catalogues belong to the very best. The best photographers, designers and printers are selected and with them they make beautiful timeless books/catalogues/editions for their products. Even better….because they are just promotional material many of these are lost or replaced making them scarce and highly collectable items. To start a collection ….just visit your local furnituer mall, selct the best store with the most prestigious furniture name and ask them for some product catalogues so you can do your choosing at home. My guess is you will leave the store with a bundle of catalogues and have started your own collection. Beside these free publications some of these companies have their own line of publications. One of them is Cassina who have produced several prestigious books on their products and designers over the decades. www.ftn-books.com has the ones on Le Corbusier and Mackintosh now for sale.

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El Lissitzky (1890-1941)

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Here is an artist who’s works were very well known from the very first beginning of his career. Suprematism being one of the key collection parts of the Stedelijk Museum, El Lissitzky soon became part of this great and important collection. Because of this large collection part, an interest in his works was aroused from the very first beginning resulting in some purchases by important collectors and acquiring works by museum for their collections. Among them; Stedelijk Museum, Haags Gemeentemuseum, Boymans van Beuningen and the van Abbemuseum.

There is so much to be told about El Lissitzky as an artist because he was a true multi talented artist. A Painter, sculptor , architect and designer all within the same person. One aspect of his career i would like to mention specially. His graphic design.

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El Lissitzky is the 9th person from the left

During his stay in Germany Lissitzky also developed his career as a graphic designer with some historically important works such as the books Dlia Golossa (For the Voice), a collection of poems from Vladimir Mayakovsky, and Die Kunstismen (The Artisms) together with Jean Arp. In Berlin he also met and befriended many other artists, most notably Kurt Schwitters, László Moholy-Nagy, and Theo van Doesburg. Together with Schwitters and van Doesburg, Lissitzky presented the idea of an international artistic movement under the guidelines of constructivism while also working with Kurt Schwitters on the issue Nasci (Nature) of the periodical Merz, and continuing to illustrate children’s books. The year after the publication of his first Proun series in Moscow in 1921, Schwitters introduced Lissitzky to the Hanover gallery kestnergesellschaft, where he held his first solo exhibition. The second Proun series, printed in Hanover in 1923, was a success, utilizing new printing techniques. Later on, he met Sophie Küppers, who was the widow of Paul Küppers, an art director of the kestnergesellschaft at which Lissitzky was showing, and whom he would marry in 1927.

There are some really nice El Lissitzky publications available at www.ftn-books.com.