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Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002)

A few months ago i dedicated a blog to Jean Tinguely who’s exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum can be seen until the 15th of March. Within this exhibition there are some excellent examples of Tinguely letters illustrated by his wife Niki de Saint Phalle.

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Niki et Jean

Of course she was in the beginning the wife of….but on her own she has become famous with a highly original and recognizable oeuvre. Illustrations , sculptures, books and paintings. became her world after she had divorced from her first husband. Autodidact , she first made very masculine art, but in the mid sixties she made a 180 degrees turn and “invented” the Nana. Niki de Saint Phalle’s version of the super woman. An expressive figure painted in bright colors . This became her trademark and this figure was used in multiple exhibitions. As a statue, as an entrance for an exhibition ( Stockholm), as a fountain and hanging from the ceiling as an angel. She made these statues/sculptures from polyester and plastics and because of these frequently used materials she became ill and had to move to the US for the cleaner air in San Diego. This helped her , but after a long sick bed she finally died in 2002.

SInce her art has become more important every year. At auction her works are in high demand. She had major exhibitions in Japan, in the Tinguely Museum/ Basel and Centre Pompidou and every year i notice that her books are sought after more an more. Even the small decals which she made for the Tinguely Museum are sold rapidly. So find still some publications at www.ftn-books.com as long as they last.

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Zero..Walter Leblanc.. Edoardo Landi..Dadamaino at de Rijk Fine Art

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Last Saturday at De Rijk Fine Art in Den Haag a very exquisite small exhibition opened …name….Too Good To Be True…. and yes this is a small art dealer exhibition where all works shown are for sale and of a rare exceptional quality. Zero, Gruppo N and Minimal art all combined in one beautiful presentation and very well worth visiting, because such an excellent selection of works is rare.( I have never seen so many Dadamaino’s in one place for sale ….so only for this fact visiting is a must.)

We visited the exhibition last Sunday. Just returned from 2 days Vienna where we chose our new dog, we loved the contrast between the “Art Nouveau and Wiener Werkstatte” and the minimal, but still very complex modern art on show at De Rijk. For me there were 2 highlights. First of all the Walter Leblanc. aprox 90 x 90 cm. A Zero inspired circle of twisted strings from 1963 in AAA condition, very well framed and the lightning made this work in all its simplicity stand out as one of the very best Walter Leblanc’s i have ever seen.

 

Secondly there were 2 works by Edoardo Landi i liked very much. The larger one of the 2 won me over as soon as i started to take some distance from it. The space between the lines appeared to be different each time, meaning an extra dimension was added to the work. Visiting Den Haag?…go to de Rijk to see some amazing art!

De Rijk Fine Art, Noordeinde 95, Den Haag, +31(0) 653953493

 

The above publications are available at www.ftn-books.com

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UTZ…George Sluizer movie and Meissen porcelain

Utz is a 1992 dramatic film directed by George Sluizer, produced by John Goldschmidt and starring Brenda Fricker, Peter Riegert and Armin Mueller-Stahl. Mueller-Stahl won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival.[1]

The film is based on the 1988 novel Utz by Bruce Chatwin, who also co-wrote the screenplay.

The most iconic scenen in this movie is Armin Mueller Stahl destroying his beautiful collection of Meissen porcelain. Yesterday we were in Vienna to chose our new dog and visited the Dorotheum. Not only an auction house but more a very large department store where one can buy and sell all kinds of collectibles. Among these items for sale were some examples of Meissen from the 19th and 18th century. ( ca. euro 15.000). I never realized these pieces were so valuable, but seeing them you can see where many Contemporary artists get there inspiration from. www.dorotheum.com

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There are not many but still some 10 titles to be found on porcelain in the inventory of www.ftn-books.com so please take a look.

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Arne Jacobsen (1902-1971)

Danish design…Hot in the sixties and now timeless in 21th century. If you look at Danish design over the last 70 years you conclude one thing and that is these Danisg designers are masters with plywood. This technology of molding wood is also used by Ray and Charles Eames, but for me Arne Jacobsen is the greatest. He made so many beautiful and classic designs, one could wish one had a bigger house to show all this beautiful furniture.

But beside furniture Jacobsen had another discipline in which he excelled….architecture

also simple and beautiful  and because these architectural designs are not extravagant they are truly timeless like his furniture is. In the 50’s this true artist met Willem Sandberg and resulted in an excellent exhibition which was organized by the Stedelijk Museum in 1959. Accompanied by a typical and one of the best Sandberg designed catalogues from the Fifties. books available at www.ftn-books.com

 

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