Tag: architecture

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Fondation Louis Vuitton

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We joined our friends David and Monica this weekend in Paris. Planning this to meet each other half way planet earth took some organization, but it was worth it, because the exhibition of the Sergueï Chtchoukine collection is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity to see all these marvelous paintings in one place. Later i will blog on the exhibition itself, but for now i will focus on the building in which it is presented…the Fondation Louis Vuitton. Starting as a company making high quality bags, travel trunks and accessories out of prepared canvas and leather, the company later became one of the leading companies in the fashion world. Nowadays they are part of the LVMH group. A large holding specializing in luxury goods and one of the wealthiest companies in the world….and that shows, because in the Bois de Boulogne they build a museum which can not be compared with anything i have seen except the other Gehry designed buildings. Guggenheim Bilbao, Vitra in Weil Am Rhein and the Disney Concert Hall in LA), but this one is special….. First of all the layers / shells are all executed in white instead of the aluminium ones in Bilbao and L.A.). constructed and attached to each other with wooden supporting beams and because of the outer layer material, it was possible for Daniel Buren to convert these shells into one of his most complex, impressive and colorful In Situ works ever.

When you walk towards the entrance you get a glimpse of the pattern as it is executed, but when you leave the museum at the other side and walk into the garden, …..get some distance…..there it is …. you see a beautiful building totally covered by a great work of art. I do not know how long the Buren will be visible on the building but as long it is there, try to see it because it is well worth to see this one “live”. Compare it with the Christo In Situ works. Whenever you have seen one there is no photograph which can be compared with seeing the project with your own eyes. The scale in which it is executed makes these works special and so is this Daniel Buren….and Yes the Fondation Louis Vuitton is not the only one who combined these artist together, because books on Vuitton, Gehry and Buren can all be found at www.ftn-books.com

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Arne Jacobsen (1902-1971)

Arne Jacobsen
Ant chair

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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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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On the road to Germany, Switzerland and Austria there is some great architecture. Botta, Gehry and Piano

Ok,  it is a little detour but worth to make it. Traveling to Basel it isn’t a detour because it is next to Basel , where also The Beyeler Museum by Renzo Piano can be found and the Tinguely Museum is also not to be missed. It is one of the earlier Gehry buildings which is realized in Weil Am Rhein for the VITRA corporation. Visit it and certainly visit the restoring facility for “classic” Eames chairs in the recently realized new building and enjoy them both. Continue your architectural journey to one of the best museums in Europe…the Beyeler Museum ( architecture by Renzo PIano ) and continue with a visit to the Tinguely Museum ( by Mario Botta), spend one night in southern Germany, enjoy a Wiener Schnitzel and then continue via Munchen to Vienna and enjoy this city with its great buildings and impressive collections. When you walk through this city, at one time you will certainly encounter the Osterreichische POSTSPARKASSE building ….the entrance door looks closed, but enter it and see one of the most beautiful art deco buildings i ever visited.

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Horta and the Belgium Museum for Comics

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In the Zandstraat 20/ The Belgium Museum for Comics, ( centre of Brussels ) in an art nouveau building there is the Brasserie Horta, named after the famous Belgian Art Nouveau architect Victor Horta. If you walk Brussels there are many Art Nouveau buildings to be found , but the one that is the most important is probably the one which houses the Victor Horta museum in Saint Gilles. If you want to visit it, please note that the opening hours are very limited and only small groups may enter the building. Once there ,you will find one of the most authentic and beautiful Art Nouveau buildings to be found in Brussels. The Tourist Office has some nice walks on which the most typical Art Nouveau and Art Deco buildings are indicated and when you take this walk , beside the buildings , there are many wall drawings to be seen ( practically all related to Belgian comic art ). Stop at the mentioned Brasserie Horta at the Museum for Comics, have a coffee and visit its collection, containing many authentic TinTin/Herge items. https://www.stripmuseum.be/nl/home

and continue your walk to end at the Horta museum in Saint Gilles.

 

prepare your visit with the nice little book which i have available at www.ftn-books.com

horta

 

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Alessandro Mendini

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Because of a recent sale , i was reminded that there are so many important designs made by this master of ALCHIMIA. The design group that made the most remarkable designs in the eighties. Beside these designs he made for Alchimia, he also was a gifted architect and book designer. A multi talented artist who made some of the most iconic designs and in the Netherland was partly responsible for the architecture of the Groninger Museum. The Groninger Museum got his new building in 1994. At that time it was one of the most spectacular Museum buildings in the world.

This was possibly the building that paved the way for many more avant garde museum buildings. For instance the Gehry building which was made for the Guggenheim museum was opened in 1997, 3 year after the opening of the Groninger Museum. Since, the Groninger Museum always has had a special interest in design and their own publications have for the greatest part been of the highest possible quality. In many of them Swip Stolk had a role and they always show the influence of Alessandro Mendini .

There are some nice Mendini titles available at www.ftn-books.com

Including the famous Mendini Sketchbook published by the Groninger Museum

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Antoine Pevsner and the World Forum in Den Haag.

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The question is….why hide a great sculpture behind a sea of 200 flags. The sculpture by Pevsner ( Yes, it is in the picture above…..look closely) was placed on this location shortly after the opening of the Congresgebouw. A modern building with an annex tower designed by JJP Oud. This tower was for a very long time the only high rise building in Den Haag. This all located in the neighborhood of the Gemeentemuseum designed by Berlage. The entrance of the Congresgebouw has a tile painting by Karel Appel.

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In the front, in the pond, a beautiful sculpture by Auke de Vreis has been placed some 20 years ago. Excellent works of art that add quality to the buildings and its surrounding.

Now some years ago somebody from the local administration had the “excellent idea” to place 200 flags, 1 for each nation in the world to enhance the entrance to the world forum……wrong idea…..

The flags have to be replaced frequently because of the wear through wind and sun. Costs approx. 2 x 200 x 100 euro = 40.000 euro each year. So please remove the flags and put a spotlight on this great Pevsner that really adds quality to this surrounding.

wilfried

www.ftn-books.com

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van Doesburg and the Aubette

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A few months ago we visited Strasbourg. One of the two capitals for the European Union. Beside an excellent modern art museum ( another blog in the near future) this used to be the town of the Aubette. The Aubette was a “dancehall”/activity center designed by Theo van Doesburg, just right after he had left the DE STIJL mouvement. He left because he wanted to use the diagonal line too and not be restricted to only horizontal and vertical lines. The Aubette does not exist anymore. There is a plaque fixed on the wall where once was the Aubette, but what remains are the many designs , drawings and photographs that documented this masterpiece of architecture and  with the many wall decorations with diagonal lines, one can imagine that this must have been very impressive when it was opened in 1928. Theo van Doesburg made one of the most breathtaking buildings of the 20’s.

It is nice to know that the Modern Art Museum in Strasbourg recognized the importance of the Aubette and dedicated some of the rooms within the museum to the Aubette. It is possible to virtually walk through these rooms.

see: http://www.musees.strasbourg.eu/index.php?page=aubette-virtueel-bezoek.

Beside the Aubette van Doesburg also designed a house in Meudon. A house  which i once visited without knowing it was a van Doesburg design. The party which was held over there was more important to me. Wish a had known at that time what i know now…and i would have paid much more attention to the outside and interior of this iconic piece of architecture. Now there is only a memory left that i missed something……….

 

wilfried

www.ftn-books.comwww.ftn-books.com

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Paya …Tin Toys in La Casa Modernista/Novelda

It was a long time ago that i first found a toy by Paya, the spanish TinToy factory whose tin toys are now collected all over the world. Unfortunately it was not a “first” edition but a reedition of one of their most famous toys “The General Omnibus”. It was the first i found and since  i have been searching for these wonderful toys. They are made of tin , but within these limitations, almost every subject was possible. Cars, planes, motorbikes, racing cars, busses, street sweepers…..and all made by Paya. Nostalgic feelings could not have been the origin of this fascination, because these were originally made well before the time i was born, but there is something different that appeals. The colors and the subjects and of course the fact that moving winding mechanisms are used within these tin toys make these similar to moving sculptures. like to ones made by Jean Tinguely. Pull away the tin plates from the toy and then there is a raw simple winding mechanism which can be wound and which is frequently used in modern art to move  the subjects  (for example in the moving sculptures from the sixties). Springs and winding mechanisms, the same as in the Paya toys, are used to, make parts and even complete sculptures, move. In any case PAYA is well worth collecting and if by any chance you are traveling the region of Alicante in Spain…visit la Casa Modernista in Novelda. On the top floor you will find a very large collection of TinToys of which many are made by Paya.

 

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www.ftn-books.com

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the Rietveld Schröderhuis

address :

Prins Hendriklaan 50, 3583 EP Utrecht, the Netherlands

Yes, you still can see and visit this iconic architectural masterpiece which was designed by Gerrit Rietveld at the time he was a “de Stijl” member. Together with Piet Mondriaan and Theo van Doesburg he was was one of the founders of the DE STIJL mouvement in the Netherlands.

Soon Theo van Doesburg dropped out of this mouvement because he found himself restricted by the horizontal and vertical lines the mouvement prescribed. He wanted to use the Diagonal line too, but Rietveld believed in these horizontal and vertical lines and used them together with the primary colors he loved so much and draw with them one of the most beautiful small buildings from the last century. When you visit Utrecht, visit the Schroderhuis too. BTW. the house got its name from the first inhabitant of the house. She commissioned Rietveld to build it for her. Truus Schröder-Schräder lived in it for her entire life.

www.ftn-books.com has some nice books on the Rietveld husi and a kit from which you can rebuild the house yourself in a much smaller scale.

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