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Ossip Zadkine (1890-1967)

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Ossip Zadkine is perhaps one of the most famous artists in the Netherlands without people knowing him by name. Zadkine made the sculpture ” DE VERWOESTE STAD” which symbolizes the destruction of the heart of Rotterdam after the bombardment of it in the early stages of WWII ( 14 mei, 1940) .

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The sculpture was revealed in 1953 and financed by DE BIJENKORF on the condition that it always must be on the same spot within the centre. The human figure has a hole where the heart should be making it the perfect image for a destroyed city centre.

Since the revealing of this statue  Ossip Zadkine received on several occasions exhibitions of his works in the large museums in the Netherlands , but for many his claim to fame here is this ” DE VERWOESTE STAD”

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

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Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979) and the pochoir print.

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If ever there was one artist who raised the bar of the art of the small /pochoir print to tremendous proportions it is Sonia Delaunay. Delaunay had her peak during the Art-Deco period and it shows. Here is just a selection of Delaunay prints found on Google .

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Her use of colors, patterns is typical for Delaunay and her art has proven to be timeless and typical Avant Garde for the time she was most productive. The same as Mondrian, she used primary colors, but in a much more free way of making her  compositions. Where her husband Robert Delaunay was influenced by cubism and made colorful cubist interpretations of reality, Sonia stayed true to her abstract compositions with just one side step into the world of fashion for which she made colorful costume  and fashion designs.

For me the first pochoir print i ever saw was the cover of the Stedelijk Museum catalogue for the Sonia Delaunay exhibition in 1958. Willem Sandberg did the design of the catalogue, but what makes this catalogue so special is of course the original pochoir print by Sonia Delaunay on the cover.

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This publication is available at www.ftn-books.com

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Dieter Roth (1930-1998)

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I really do not know why it took me so long to appreciate the art of Dieter Roth, but the only reason i can come up with is that his books published by Hansjorg Mayer were such a long time considered “remainders” at the bookshop of the Haags Gemeentemuseum and it was impossible to find buyers for them. Since…. times have changed because the same books that could not be sold ( even at ridiculously low prices) are now the ones that are sought after by collectors and institutions all over the world and when you look at these closely they all have some qualities in common. The printing is executed by the best printers possible. The lay out and design are done in many cases by the artist which makes them more artist books than reference books and because of the series character the books itself are almost a work of art of their own.

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My tip for the future is whenever you find such a book, buy it…even you think it is a little expensive these books will be important not only as a book but also as a work of art in the decades to come.  www.ftn-books.com has some excellent and rare Dieter Roth items available.

 

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Eugène Leroy (1910-2000)

Eugène Leroy is a too long forgotten French Abstract painter who has a unique style of his own. Born in 1910 he witnessed the coming of age of abstract painting and developed a form of abstract painting which is seen among painters in later decades. I do not know if the dutch Marc Mulders is influenced by Eugène Leroy, but when you compare both their paintings you can see similarities in the use of the paint and colors. Grey, brown and spots of brighter colors are typical for both in their early works.

Leroy was presented with a solo exhibition in the van Abbemuseum in 1988 and it was probably the last exhibition Rudi Fuchs curated for the van Abbemuseum before he became director at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. Personally i think Leroy his paintings are a little bit too much, but undoubtedly he will become more and more appreciated and known outside France. His style is unique and his paintings are true classics from France from the last century. www.ftn-books.com has some catalogues available.

 

 

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Peter Nadas (1942) ….a photographer

 

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I did not know it because i only know Nadas from his Photography exhibition in the Gemeentemuseum for which an impressive small catalogue was published , but when i looked for the biography on Nadas i noticed that he foremost is known for his writing during the last 3 decades. It is now clear to me that this is the reason why so few books with his photography have been published during his life until now. Still his photography was done in the tradition of his Hungarian countrymen. For example Kertesz must have been a great influence on the photography by Nadas. The book on offer with www.ftn-books.com ( Kindred Spirits) was published on the occasion of the Peter Nadas exhibition in the Fotomuseum Den Haag/2004, in which the qualities of his photographs were shown. Nadas is known as a writer, but these photographs show that he has 2 artistic sides. Beside being a writer …..the other side is definitely being a great photographer.