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Tapio Wirkkala (1915-1985) an Iittala visionary.

Like Andries Copier in Netherlands, you probably have seen and perhaps are even using the designs by Tapio Wirkkala. Born in Finland his designs are certainly influenced by Scandinavia design. They are without any unnecessary details , clean and clear. Most of them have been published by Iittala and among them there are such iconic designs like the Thule and Tapio glass series .

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But he also had his free projects in which he developed beautiful ceramics. Wirkkala had a solo exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum in 1976 for which Wim Crouwel designed the exquisite catalogue. The catalogue itself has become rare since there have been a worldwide recognition of Wirkkala as a truly original designer and artist, but www.ftn-books.com has this catalogue available together with other catalogues on Finnish designs and art.

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Joost Baljeu ( 1925-1991 )

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Here is a short text that you can find on Wikipedia on Baljeu:

Joost Baljeu was born in Middelburg on 1 November 1925. During World War II (1939–45) he began painting in an expressionist, realistic and semi-abstract idiom. After Cubism he evolved to constructivism. He made his first reliefs in 1954-55. From 1957 to 1972 he was a professor at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague in the Hague.[1] The Canadian artist Eli Bornstein began to make three-dimensional “structurist” reliefs during a sabbatical in Italy and the Netherlands in 1957.[ He met and was influenced by artists such as Jean Gorin, Joost Baljeu, Anthony Hill, Kenneth Martin, Mary Martin, Victor Pasmore and Georges Vantongerloo.

I truly began to appreciate his works just some 10 years ago at the time i first visited a gallery on dutch Modern Art. The art dealer had at that time 2 large wall sculptures by Baljeu, which were not only very impressive, but unfortunately much too expensive to acquire.

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Because i had seen these, i was spoiled and never wanted to focus at something much smaller. The admiration remained , but no additions were made to our collection of Modern Art. Still www.ftn-books.com has some excellent and highly collectable Baljeu publications for sale.

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Annely Juda Fine art in London 57 years of Modern art

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Annely Juda CBE (born Anneliese Emily Brauer; September 23, 1914 – August 13, 2006) was a German art dealer known for founding the Annely Juda Fine Arts gallery in London. Notable artists represented have included Anthony Caro, David Hockney and Leon Kossoff. Juda introduced several Japanese artists to the London art market.

Since i have become an art book dealer who specializes in art and museum publications i frequently encountered publications by the Annely Juda gallery. When you look at their histoy of gallery presentations you encounter many of the great names in Modern Art. Klee, Bellmer, Christo, Honnegger and many others. As with other galleries that started in the sixties, they have build a loyal following of visitors, collectors and admirers. Not only because their gallery presentations are among the very best, but also because of their publications which are published to accompagny their exhibitions. These publications are a “niche” in the art book collectors world, but hard to find and certainly well worth searching for becauzse they are among the best art publications from the last few decades. www.ftn-books.co has some of them available.

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Josef Albers Museum / Quadrat Bottrop and its amazing poster publications.

It must have been in december some eight years ago that me, my wife and Ellis my sister in law decided to make a small detour to Bottrop after vsiting the Alsace region. When we arrived there were were impressed by the surroundings of the museum. a park and a sculpture garden next door to the museum building itself. Of coursse we came over there to see the Josef Albers paintings, but after the visit we started to see what wonderful items the bookshop was selling. Among them….posters, special prints and Josef Albers furniture.

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I bought the posters , because they were there for sale in all sorts of appearances. Specila prints, silks screened, signed and even limited editions and they were not exported or could not be ordered only bought on site. That is the reason why we returned one year later and i bought more of them. Making them a substantial part of my inventory. Most of them are sold out now, but i am fortunate to be able to offer them. These are among the very best exhibition poster sin the world by some of the grewatest names in Art today. The posters i bought are available at www.ftn-books.com…just search for Albers or Bottrop.

 

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Picasso and Monet in the Gemeentemuseum

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About 30 years ago Rudi Fuchs became director of the Gemeentemuseum and one of the first things he notices was the limited amount of purchase power he had in building a new collection for the Gemeentemuseum. He wanted to expand the collection with some quintessential new works which showed the importance of the collection. At that time most of the dutch museum were all collecting the same dutch artists, because there were no funds to acquire works on the international market and thus build the same kind of collection in contemporary art. Fuchs developed an idea to sell 3 of the less important major works from the collection of the Gemeentemuseum.  Being 2 Picasso paintings and the early Monet /Quai du Louvre. All important , all very well known and probably priceless at auction. These highly important works would easily fetch over 50 million USD at that time and with the interest of that sum he would ten fold his budget for purchasing art. Politics thought different, because these works were not bought by the museum but bestowed to the museum.

This morning i remembered these paintings and realized that when they had been sold , they would have been lost for the Gemeentemuseum visitors, but even more important….with an interest rate of less than 1% , there would not have been sufficient funds to acquire anything important in todays art market. Conclusion for me that it is a good thing that they were not sold and can still be admired in the gorgeous Berlage building which houses the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag.

For those that are interested in the collection of the Haags Gemeentemuseum…please take a look at www.ftn-books.com

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Robert Mangold ..Holderlin/ Seven Maxims

Added this afternoon the beautiful publication of Robert Mangold ‘s SEVEN MAXIMS, containing 5 original large double page prints to the FTN art page.

This is one of the highlights in my inventory. Not because it is expensive, but i think this is outright beautiful and has everything what a great art limited edition should be. Slipcase, loose sheets. prints spread over double pages , best possible print quality, very limited edition, signed and numbered. This is really superb and needs to be presented in this blog on SEVEN MAXIMS by Mangold.

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Gino Severini (1883-1966)

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Yesterday we spoke of Benno Wissing and today the subject is Gino Severini. The artists exhibition for who Wissing made an outstanding catalogue. The Gino Severini catalogue from 1963. A true classic in dutch design.

In 1963 Gino Severini was not that well known in the Netherlands, but the appreciation for modern art was becoming more clear with every exhibition being held in the Stedelijk Museum during the 50’s and 60’s. The Boymans museum presented this artist after they had acquired a clowns painting by the artist as was the same with the Gemeentemuseum who had TWEE HANSWORSTEN in their collection.

But these paintings are not typical for the artist because Severini is known for his futuristic and cubist paintings.

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So the exhibition was an excellent chance to show the diversity of this italian “dandy” artist who was a personal friend of Theo van Doesburg.

Severini paintings are rarely offered for sale and when they come on the block, they are getting more expensive with each auction. But beside their money value they are important in the development of modern art and the exhibition in the Boymans in 1963 was one of the first that showed his importance for Modern Art as we know it.

The Boymans Severini catalogue is available at www.ftn-books.com

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Benno Wissing (1923-2008)

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In the dutch museum and art scene there are some classical partnerships regarding the design of museumpublications. There are Willem Sandberg and Wim Crouwel who bot worked in different decades for the Stedelijk Museum. There is again Wim Crouwel and Walter Nikkels who worked for the van Abbemuseum. There are Donald Janssen and Gracia Lebbink who had their designs published by the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag and there is Benno Wissing ( one of the founders of Total Designs) who worked almost exclusively for the Boymans Van Beuningen Museum Rotterdam during 3 decades.

Bernard (Benno) Wissing was a Dutch designer, painter, graphic artist and architect. He trained as a painter at the Art Academy in Rotterdam.

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He began his career in 1949 as a designer for the Museum Boijmans in Rotterdam under VP Ebbinge Wubbe. He designed catalogs and posters and established exhibitions. He was one of the founders of Total Design which he worked from 1964 to 1972.

Benno Wissing is for me one of the greatest names in dutch design, but still stands in the shadow of Crouwel and Sandberg. Undeservedly, because his designs are true ” classics”. Just search for Wissing at www.ftn-books.com and find some excellent examples of his truly great designs.

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Gilbert & George …The Paintings, 1971

 

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If you ask me…what is the rarest of all Stedelijk Museum catalogues?…the answer probably will be the 1971 THE PAINTINGS catalogue by Gilbert & George, which is published with no. 511. It is only an 8 page catalogue, measuring 8.3 x 5.9 inches, but this one is really a rare collectable artist book. I finally found one for my inventory and it is now for sale at www.ftn-books.com

 

 

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Richard Prince protesting Trump/ New York Times

I wanted to write a blog on Richard Prince and stumbled upon an article i really want to share with you. Prince returns a payment to Ivanka Trump for a photograph she bought for her collection and with this act protested against the presidency of Donald Trump. You can read the complete article here:

Very nice to read  😉

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and for some Prince publications please visit www.ftn-books.com