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Alexander Calder (1898-1976)

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Born in the 19th century . Calder has become for me one of the pioneers in Modern Art. The public knows Calder by name for his mobiles, but for me Calder is the first artist who explored the extreme sizes in sculpture. Later, this was followed by Serra, but Calder must have been one of the very first to make sculptures bigger than a building. A few of these can be found in STORM KING, but these are not the only ones. These very large sculptures are scattered all over the world.

From Denmark to Brazil, the Calder statues are the highlights among other statues in sculpture parks all over the world. It is a pity there is only one large sized Calder in dutch collections. It is the “anteater” from the collection of the Rijksmuseum.

So do not miss them when you are abroad or there is a special exhibition on Calder because they are among the very best in Modern sculpture. I am fortunate to have some great classic Calder publications within the inventory of www.ftn-books.com

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Barcelona and Antonio Gaudi

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In the next 2 weeks many people will visit the city of Barcelona. 2 instant tips…first if you like cigars, go to Gimeno on the Ramblas, secondly beware of pickpockets. They operate in groups in the crowded streets like the Ramblas but also in the Subway. They group around you, press against your body without no reason and somebody within the group of pickpockets, steals your wallet. But that said, this blog is not about the negatives of Barcelona, but the great places you can visit. 2 absolute musts are the Fundacio Antoni Tapies and the Fundacio Joan Miro. These are two of the smaller sized museum in Barcelona. Both you can visit within a visit  of 1,5 hours and then you have seen the best Museums in Barcelona ( my opinion) and most importantly on the same location you can see the magnificent Mies van der Rohe Barcelona Pavilion.

But Barcelona is much much more and one of the highlights you will encounter every time you turn a corner in the city center is the great architecture. Of course there is Gaudi , but also Jujol. Musts are the casa Mila,the Park Güell and the ver going on project of the Sagrada Familia and by Jujol there is his famous Centre Jujol Can Negere.

If you want to prepare your visit there are some nice publications at www.ftn-books.com

 

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Jan Hoet (1936-2014) and Chambres d’Amis.

(drawing by Marlene Dumas )

It has been already almost 3 years that Jan Hoet died, but since his death no one has taken his place. He was truly innovative with his exhibitions and next to Rudi Fuchs , they probably were the best from their generation of curators of Contemporary Art.

His international reputation was first established by “Chambres d’Amis,” an innovative exhibition he organized in Ghent in 1986. In that show, about 50 American and European artists were invited to create works for 50 private homes in Ghent, which were then opened to the public for several weeks. Followed a few years later by Open Mind and his Documenta IX in which he performed as a boxer established his name as one of the very best in his field. His last great project was over the edges. 4 giant exhibitions spread over 2 decades made him one of the absolute best.

The Museum in Gent , his long lasting love SMAK, which he served as a curator and director from 1975 until 2003 was his laboratory for the greater projects he organized outside this Museum rooms. www.ftn-books.com is fortunate to have some very nice titles of his exhibitions. including the Chambres d’Amis which is getting scarce these days.

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three Sol LeWitt posters

 

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I have always been a fan of Sol LeWitt and especially his exhibition posters i always like very much. Each of them a piece of art and whenever there is chance to buy them… i do so.

For instance there was a short city break some 10 years ago, when we did go to Barcelona. Flew with one of the greatest carriers of all time…Ryanair. When you ever have flown with Ryanair, you know of their strict policy to allow only 1 piece of hand luggage. maximum dimensions aprox .55 x 35 x 15  cm. not weighing more than 10 kg. When you pack for 4 days it always is a challenge to not exceed this weight, but so far we always have managed. This time, some 10 years ago, it was winter which is a slight complication, because all your clothing is much heavier and bulkier, but still we succeeded in packing under 10 kg. But….there was this very nice  Fondacion Antoni Tapies museum in Barcelona and they sold a small poster by Sol and i had to buy some of them for my collection. Problem…. the cardboard tube did not fit in my cabin luggage suitcase, so i had to remove some of clothing to make space for it. This flight was exceptionally warm for me. 3 layers of clothing i had on my body, but the good thing is, I brought the poster home with me. Undamaged in mint condition and still a couple of them are for sale at www.ftn-books.com. The other 2 available posters come from one of my favorite museums in Germany. The Josef Albers Museum / Quadrat in Bottrop. Whenever you have a chance to visit both museum mentioned, give them a try a see their wonderful collections.

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Stanley Brouwn (1935)

Stanley Brouwn….Autodidact artist, born in Paramaribo/ Suriname and a conceptual artist for his entire artistic life began to fascinate me some 20 years ago when i bought an artist book in which the exact measurements of 1 meter were repeated for over 50 pages . Most of his conceptual works were published in books and because of this, his books are considered as the actual work of art. Small publications, in many cases far less than 500 copies make these highly collectable items. This is work from an artist who is as a conceptual artist closely related to ZERO, but also to FLUXUS . Original in his own way i would say he is not ZERO and not FLUXUS….no he is Stanley Brouwn and very much worth collecting.

some of the Brouwn publications are available at www.ftn-books.com

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