Tag: art

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Eja Siepman van den Berg…a studio visit

 

A few month ago i contacted Eja Siepman van den Berg and inquired after a small statue she had made in an edition. The first contact resulted in an invitation to come and visit her in her studio in Beetsterzwaag, but because of circumstances it was impossible for us to make an appointment to visit.

Time passes and circumstances change so we finally had a chance to take some days off and decided to go to Friesland and yes …there is also the studio of Eja. We contacted each other again and found a time to visit on the 10th of august. I really looked forward to visit this fascinating artist because i never visited a real sculptors studio.

The morning of the 10th it was raining again and we run towards the entrance where we were met by Eja Siepman van den Berg. Turned to the left and walked right into the studio gallery where there was a special exhibition by a Chinese artist Xinjian Lu ( blog in a few days ), together with the statues by Eja. The abstraction of the large paintings by Xinjiang with the bronzes by Eja worked extremely well. Each showed its qualities together with the works by the other and nowhere a work dominated . I took some pictures which show just what i mean. This was a perfect setting for both artists.

After showing us the gallery and the works which were on show we soon chose our favorites and it appeared that the more abstraction was within the sculpture the more we admired it. Not that the full body sculptures were not appealing, but we thought that the sculptures with the focus on a specific body part were more abstract and had more strength

The next room, where we drank coffee, was the artist studio. Decorated with a magnificent photograph by Eja on the wall together with a work by JCJ van der Heijden.

I never knew she was a gifted photographer as well , but she explained that she made photographs during the time she had a shoulder injury and it was almost impossible for her to sculpt. The Large JCJ van der Heijden was the remainder of an exhibition which was one time held in the gallery. An extremely organized studio, with a special spot with mirrors to make the sculptures. The one that she was busy with was modelled after a photograph and in most cases Eja uses photographs to model after. Eja explained that the editions of the sculptures is protected by french law in which is stated that the maximum number of sculptures which is allowed to be made from one cast is eight. Above this number one speaks of an edition which of course can be limited too.

It takes an extremely lot of work before the final result can be shown in the gallery or museum and one can only admire the patience any sculptor must have before the final result can be shown. Sculptors must be a different kind of artist breed and one can only have the greatest respect for the path they have chosen to show their art to us…. their public.

 

wilfried

Books available on www.ftn-books.com

site for Eja Siepman van den Berg : http://www.ejasiepmanvandenberg.nl

http://www.hetdepot.nl

 

 

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Günter Tuzina …not a minimal artist, but minimalistic art.

 

tuzina word a

The second time i met Günter Tuzina was with his exhibition in 1992 in The Haags Gemeentemuseum and noticed that he still followed his own artistic path. Making variations on his windows with crossed lines in color schemes which were very recognizable and typical for the works by Tuzina. At the time Tuzina executed a walldrawing for one of the staircases in the Gemeentmuseum which is beside the LeWitt, Toroni and Forg staircase drawings still on show. I think Tuzina is one of those artists you can see work of and immediately know it is by Tuzina. A few years ago i was impressed by a work which was for sale at Christie’s but unfortunately it was out of my budget and sold for twice+ the estimation, but one can get lucky too, because a little before that i noticed these 2 beautiful drawings on the local book market, which were made in a series of 55 for the Bebert publishing house. Both are signed and numbered and all the drawing on each of them is done by hand and all have a different background color. These are from the same edition of 55 copies but the background colors vary and therefore these are unique and…..these beauties are now for sale at

www.ftn-books.com

It is hard to find good publications on this artist but ftn-books also has some nice titles available.

wilfried

 

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Lucien Clergue….a photograph

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

A few days ago i wrote about ARTA . A small gallery in Den Haag in which they sold editions by graphic artists. Immediately i remembered the Lucien Clergue photo i bought with them. At one time they had a small number of photographs from an edition by Lucien Clergue…. a naked woman … in the Mediterranean sea. A very beautiful body which attracted me, not only because it was one of the first nude photographs that was offered to me , but also because of its quality. At that time i even had no idea that photographs were printed in editions too, but looking at the back of the photo and seeing the stamp, signature and edition number i realized that this was the reason it was so affordable. It was one of the great purchases as a collector, because now these photographs are worth 200 times as much and are collected by photography collectors all over the world.

Lucien Clergue (1934-2014) proved to be one of the greats in photography from the last century and this sereis of naked women in the sea are among his best. . I still cherish this photo and even remember that i picked the perfect copy for my collection. There is no place for it anymore to hang it on the wall , so now and then i think about the selling it and maybe in the future i decide to do so.

SInce i am a full time antiquarian bookseller i regularly encounter Lucien Clergue publications and put them up for sale at www.ftn-books.com and on each such occasion i remember this beauty in the sea by Lucien Clergue.

There is a great selection of photographs still available at www.anneclergue.com, but the one  i have in mycollection i did not encounter anywhere on the web.So this is to share it with you .

wilfried

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Panamarenko – A lesser known book, but maybe the best book on this artist

Panamarenko is one of the artists which i follow with great interest and because of this interest i have collected many titles on this fascinating artist. I know of excellent gallery publications , beautiful Museum editions ( Berlin ao) and many limited editions, but one of the most interesting to me is this edition by Marzona. An early book on Panamarenko but with many detailed description of the “machines ” he invented and produced. It shows the strength of his imagination. Totally original designs by an artists who stayed true to his belief that he had to invent and make his dreams come true.

The Marzona edition is from 1975, and because of this publication date it includes many of the inventions Panamarenko has become famous for:

The mechanism of gravity

Insect flight

The helicopter as a potential winner

U Kontrol III

Polistes

Scotch Gambit

 

available at www.ftn-books.com

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Agnes Martin and Thomas Ammann

Agnes Martin has become one of the greats in Modern Art from the last Fifty years. In 1977 the Stedelijk Museum published an excellent catalogue in which the quality of painting was obvious. Beautiful and impressive design by Wim Crouwel and one that is in worldwide demand because of its design and subject. Since then many catalogues were published on Martin but 2 stand out. The first is the one which was published for the Agnes Martin exhibition in the Josef Albers Museum / Quadrat Bottrop. The catalogue was published in such an excellent way that i had to have one myself for my own collection. The poster is even more special because it is an original silkscreen print in such delicate colour scheme that it reflects in the best way the quality of the work by Agnes Martin. The final book i would like to tell about is the Thomas Ammann  Fine Art catalogue they published in 2008. Large sized book with excellent printing and impressive paintings by Martin. Buy these three titles at www.ftn-books.com and  do not forget to take a look at the impressive poster made for the Quadrat exhibition when i will list this later this month at www.ftn-books.com.

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Richard Long and Aggie Weston

First of all you must know that Aggie Weston comes from a work by Kurt Schwiters ” A SMALL HOME FOR SEAMEN”. It is told that Agnes Weston founded seamens’s homes and this name was used by Coracle press for their art magazine publication. Coracle hoped that this magazine provides some refuge for lesser known artist.

This brings me to Richard Long who was, at that time, by no means a lesser name, but Richard Long was nevertheless invited to contribute to this  No. 16 Winter 1979 number.

Beautifully published with excellent print quality makes this a perfect collectable artist book.

The book is only 16 pages with text, walks and photography by Richard Long, but should not be missed by any Richard Long or artist book collector. This is a Coracle publication from 1979 and contains beside the Richard Long texts. Photographs on:

A Line in England Yorkshire 1977

Stones in Wales   Castell y Gwynt 1979

A circle in Africa  Mulanje Mountain Malawi 1978

wilfried

Available at www.ftn-books.com

 

 

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Jean Tinguely…..Meta-Matic No. 10

Yesterday, i had a short story on the Jean Michel Basquiat Retrospective in the Beyeler Museum. The next day, after that visit we visited the Tinguely Museum in the same city of Basel. The Tinguely Museum is not to be missed and is a museum which will appeal to young and old, because many of the works on display are interactive and can be turned on or off by the public. The Museum shop had something very special at that time…..they had in operation the original Meta-Matic No. 10 by Jean Tinguely which could be operated by the public. Only condition…..buy a sheet of paper and a token with the Tinguely shop.

The paper was the original right size and had a museumstamp on the back to certify the drawing.

The choice of colors was with the buyer of the drawing, but the progress itself was purely automated by the machine. One placed a color in the holder, let the machine do its work for a few seconds, placed a different color and let it work again……and so on. Until the time was up ( i remember it was about 2 minutes in total). A rare occasion on which me, my wife and my sister in law all made drawings. All drawings were certified by the Museum with a stamp on the back.

I bought some extra drawings for my FTN collection and these are now for sale at

www.ftn-books.com

Some years later we returned to the Tinguely museum, because we had seen some lovely Modern Art  over there. Asking about the Meta-Matic No. 10 we learned that it had been removed from the shop area and was now in revision, because of the wear it had when used for making these drawings. My guess is these drawings at FTN-books are about the last drawings that will be for sale.

In any case they are very interesting to look at and to see what kind of abstract drawing a Tinguely machine can make.

 

wilfried

 

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Instant photography / POLAROID

There was a time when our generation was amazed when we saw the instant result when you took a picture with a Polaroid camera. It was at the end of the seventies that these camera’s were hugely popular and many artists in those days used them to get an immediate result. Recently i only know of Araki who still uses the technique of instant photography.  However , a few weeks ago, a friend of the family took a new camera out of his pocket and showed it to us. It was a similar camera to a Polaroid camera , same technique, but much much smaller. Personally i do not think it will replace the digital photography we all got used to nowadays, but maybe some artists will see new opportunities and will use it in their art. Time will tell.

There are some very nice publications to be found on the technique and the artists that used it. Of course Andy Warhol is one of the best known, but there are many more and this form of art was recognized by the Stedelijk Museum in 1982 with a large exhibition on instant photography. An excellent Wim Crouwel designed catalogue which shows many great examples of INSTANT PHOTOGRAPHY.

 

wilfried

ftn-books.com

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Gerard Verdijk (1934-2005)

verdijk dordrecht

First of all a personal note on Gerard Verdijk. I have known Gerard and met him on several occasions because he frequently visited the Haags Gemeentemuseum and its museum shop. One day after one of his visits , in which i expressed my interest in his works, he invited me to come over at his house and look at several ones he had for sale at that moment. Problem was…. i did not have the money to buy a work, but what remained after that visit was the appreciation for his works in which he explored contrasts in shape and color. Many, many years later all fell in place with the acquisition of a very large work by Verdijk, which was part of the Stuyvesant collection and sold at AAG auction. The work titled ….Horizontaal/Verticaal was from 1992 and exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum in the Verdijk exhibition so this together with the Stuyvesant collection it had an excellent provenance and had all the elements in it for which i admired Gerard’s his works. The contrast between the left and right side, the use of color. It looked so simple and yet its complexity is enormous.

That for a personal note. Now it is time Gerard Verdijk is remembered as one of the greatest painters from last century and the Dordrechts Museum recognized that and will open a retrospective on Verdijk on Saturday next, the 30th of July. A well deserved retrospective in which the different periods of his works will clearly show the evolution of Verdijk into the abstract painter he eventually became.

Because i have this personal interest in Verdijk, it is no wonder that the selection of books on Verdijk is quit large. Interested in Verdijk too? look at www-ftn-books.com or mail me for information on the little drawing i have for sale.

 

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Jurgen Partenheimer part II

As promised ….here are some of the publications which are for sale. Jurgen Partenheimer is one of those artists that like to control everything in a publication. This shows in all his books. choice of paper, lay out, printing, binding….everything is done with the ultimate result in mind and of the highest quality. Go to www.ftn-books.com and search for Partenheimer.