Posted on Leave a comment

Peter van Straaten ( 1935 – 8 December 2016)

schermafbeelding-2016-12-10-om-14-14-28

This is probably not for the dutch. There have been numerous articles on Peter van Straaten, who died 2 days ago. But for those who are not familiar with the works by van Straaten …. Here is a short blog on him. He is one of those who documented every day life, politics and even sex in drawings and with his drawings commented on the dutch society. Drawings with pen and black ink made his drawings stand out through over 5 decades. He published his drawings in newspapers ( Volkskrant), weekly magazines ( Vrij Nederland ) and his famous series of erotic drawings were published directly as a book . The last series is rarely encountered in the biographies of van Straaten, because of its explicit content, but look past the nudity and you will see a highly entertaining drawing of a situation in which one can feel the unease of it.

This series is for me what van Straaten stands for. A free mind and a different approach of every situation, made his drawings worthwhile looking at. Highly detailed, beautiful drawings of an artist who will be missed. There are some publications by Peter van Straaten available at www.ftn-books.com

Posted on Leave a comment

Piet Dirkx daily …102

dirkx-102

Piet Dirkx cigarbox 102

Posted on Leave a comment

3x DELFT = Bogart, Henderikse & Schoonhoven

Just a simple announcement today. At gallery Schoots + Van Duyse, Antwerp. There will be on the 18th of December  the opening of the 3x Delft exhibition. All three artist  (BOgart, Schoonhoven and Henderikse) have Delft in common. A fascinating exhibition because rarely these artists can be seen together in one venue. 18.12.2016 – 26.02.2017

For those of you who want to prepare themselves before going. Please take a look at www.ftn-books.com for publications on these artists.

Posted on Leave a comment

Piet Dirkx daily …101

dirkx-101

Piet Dirkx cigarbox 101

Posted on Leave a comment

Valerio Adami and Pop Art

schermafbeelding-2016-12-08-om-09-38-52

Sixties and seventies are the decades of Pop Art and Valerio Adami was one of the artists outside the US that was influenced by the more famous Pop Art artists and developed his own style from the popular comics, with their thick black outlines (ligne clair). He was not always appreciated for his art, but always was assured of a valuable platform to show his art in the Maeght galleries and publications. He took figures , situations and objects apart to reassemble them again into another composition, thus making them abstract and hardly recognizable.

Personally i am very fond of Valerio Adami. For me he is the artist who bridges comics with serious (Pop) Art. This is another of the artist who s relatively cheap to buy and collect and i predict his works and publications will be in high demand in the next 20 years.

www.ftn-books.com has some nice Maeght and other publication on this great artist.

Posted on Leave a comment

Piet Dirkx daliy… a milestone …100

dirkx-100

Piet Dirkx cigarbox 100

Posted on Leave a comment

Sol LeWitt….A Tribute …and the Joost Swarte bag

Yesterday, i received an invitation for the opening on the 17th of december 2016 of a Tribute exhibition on Sol LeWitt. There is a long lasting relation between the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag and Sol LeWitt, which collaboration first resulted in the very first European Minimal art exhibition in Europe and later the wall sculptures on the Schamhart wing some 20 years ago. In between exhibitions were held , including his drawings exhibition and of course he made several wall drawings on location.

Because of this relation, Sol Lewitt was invited in 1987 to design one of the plastic bags which was used in the shop of the Gemeentemuseum. Sol designed 2 bags, one in color and one in black on transparent polyethyleen. 2 excellent designs and both were executed and used for a couple of years in the shop. Now the black drawing is used for the invitation of the tribute exhibition. What people forget is that the typography is not done by Sol LeWitt , but it was “borrowed” from an earlier bag designed by Joost Swarte, who designed a plastic bag, including the typography, with the different collection parts in mind. This lettering was used for 100% by Sol for his own designs. So the main part is done by LeWitt but the typography was done by Joost Swarte in his very recognizable lettering. A beautiful bag was the result and only a few copies of this bag remain available for sale at www.ftn-books.com

Exhibition Sol LeWitt a Tribute opens on the 17th of december and runs until the 9th of april, 2017

 

Posted on Leave a comment

Piet Dirkx daily …099

dirkx-099

 

Piet Dirkx cigarbox 099

Posted on Leave a comment

Ed van der Elsken(1925-1990)…an almost complete list of publications.

If there is one dutch sixties photographer who deserves world recognition for his entire oeuvre it certainly is Ed van der Elsken. Over 40 years of work in photography and cinema gives a spectacular list of publications:

Een liefdesgeschiedenis in Saint Germain des Prés (1956)

Bagara (1958)

Jazz (1959)

Dans Theater (1960)

Nederlands Dans Theater (1960)

de jong & van dam nv 1912-1962 (1962)

Sweet Life (1966)

Wereldreis in foto’s vier delen (1967-1968)

Eye Love you (1977)

Zomaar in een sloot ergens bij Edam (1977)

Hallo! Een nieuwe Ed van der Elsken (1978)

Amsterdam! Oude foto’s 1947-1970 (1979)

Avonturen op het land (1980)

Parijs! Foto’s 1950-1954 (1981)

Amsterdam? (1984)

‘Are you famous?’ (1985)

Elsken: PARIS 1950-1954 (1985)

San-jeruman-de-pure no koi L’Amour à Saint Germain des Près (1986)

Jong Nederland ‘Adorabele rotzakken’ 1947-1987 (1987)

Elsken: JAPAN 1959-1960 Nippon data (1987)

De ontdekking van Japan (1988)

JAZZ Ed van der Elsken 1955-1959.61 (1988)

Natlab (1989)

Africa Ed van der Elsken 1957 (1990)

ONCE UPON A TIME (1991)

Once upon a time (1993)

l’Amour! (1995)

Hong Kong the way it was (1997)

Leve ik! Ed van der Elsken Foto & Film Essays Filmografie (1997)

Nippon data & After Ed van der Elsken (2000)

Fotografie + Film 1949-1990 Ed van der Elsken Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg (2000)

Eye love you Ed van der Elsken Fotografies + films (1949-1990) (2001)

55 Ed van der Elsken (2002)

My Amsterdam Ed van der Elsken (2005)

 

But there is one which is not on this list published by the official site of Ed van der Elsken. It is the exceptional publication made for the van Abbemuseum in 1961, designed by Wim Crouwel with contributions by Karel Appel ( who made a special inlay) , Schierbeek and Lucebert….photography… YES!, by Ed van der Elsken.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Like some of the others from the above publications this is available at www.ftn-books.com

and here are some of the others:

Posted on Leave a comment

Piet Dirkx daily …098

dirkx-098

Piet Dirkx cigarbox 098