Tag: art

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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.

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Jurgen Partenheimer

Since the beautiful WELTACHSE V blue sculpture in the inner garden of the Gemeentemuseum i have been a loyal fan of Jurgen Partenheimer and build a nice collection of books on this fascinating artist. I am not the only one, because a few years ago a managed to acquire a selection of books from another admirer and upon studying them i found some original art work on their title page. One of these books i want to share with you. It is not for sale but shows the quality of Partenheimer’s work. Of course i must make the picture complete and show you the books that are for sale and will do so tomorrow, but for now there is only this very nice small publication. Originally published in an edition of 500, but only 10 were numbered and had a beautiful little drawing on their title pages.

 

wilfried

www.ftn-books.com

part word d

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Joost Barbiers and Land Art Delft

A logical combination!

Honestly… i must say that i had not heard from both, but because we were traveling a few weeks ago Wageningen  ( Hotel de Wereld) and visited the local museum HET DEPOT, in which sculptures related to the human body are exhibited, we came across Joost Barbiers’s his work. Immediately , me and Linda liked it very much. The use of material which is left unworked and partly rough and in most cases  in the same sculpture is polished in other parts ,is beautiful.

The museum HET DEPOT itself can be highly recommended too, but i will discuss this in another blog.

After a few days we came home and i contacted through the site of Joost Barbiers (http://www.joostbarbiers.nl) the artist and was replied by his wife who told me that Joost had passed away in November 2015 and that all of his remaining works were exhibited in LAD/ Land Art Delft ( http://www.landartdelft.nl ). This announcement came as a shock, because we did not expect that, but we also learned that the remaining works from his studio were transported to LAD .

Another great project of which i had never heard before. Included in the mail was an invitation to attend the opening of the exhibition of Joost Barbiers, but because of a tight time schedule on that Sunday i could not attend, so i decided to go early and visit LAD. What a nice surprise!….. a landscape with wild flowers, birds and Land Art makes this a beautiful place to visit, experience great art and….walk the dog. The statues of Barbiers are presented in the best possible way in these surroundings and show why this artist is one to have a bigger audience. Rough and cultivated go hand in hand and these sculptures blend into the landscape as if these sculptures have always been there.

Besides the sculptures by Barbiers ( ca. 20 sculptures ) many other can be found there because LAD has a program with artists in residence who work there and leave there sculptures behind.

Conclusion….do not visit Delft solely to see the original scenery of Vermeer, but visit Land Art Delft too and be amazed by the Barbiers sculptures.

Wilfried

www.ftn-books.com

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Lucht en Water / Air and Water . Escher, Pieck , Miller and Cameron

A theme which inspired many artists through the ages. Of course in the 16th century dutch painters were known for their landscapes with water and skies, but water and sky remained important for all the centuries that came afterwards. Even M.C. Escher used in his prints these themes frequently and not long ago this theme was used on a scarf by Cordon Art to show the importance of the work. In the seventies Wim Crouwel made several catalogues for the Stedelijk Museum with this theme and one i admire most is the one to accompany the exhibition by artists Miller and Cameron who used the theme of sky and water in their exhibition . Boymans van Beuningen presented Lucy and Jorge Orta who presented their waterwerken and finally there is the one who is known to practically all Dutch….Anton Pieck who used the theme frequently.

 

wilfried

www.ftn-books.com

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Raymond Pettibon – Over Easy

In 2002 Raymond Pettibon made the opening exhibition for the GEM museum. The exhibition was curated by Roel Arkesteijn. Pettibon worked day and night to include over 600 drawings and designs, but he finished in time to make it a memorable exhibition. After the opening he had time to make and finish 3 comic books, which were printed ( copied ) and stapled in house by Chantal Sieuw. These 3 titles are since highly collectable Pettibon books , because the edition was only 100 copies for each title.

The Over Easy title is the first to be discussed in this blog.

Artist / Author : Raymond Pettibon

Title : Over Easy

publisher : GEM, 2002

Number of pages : 28

Text language : English

Measurements: 8.7 x 5.6 inches

Condition: MINT

Pettibon had strict demands regarding the way these books were published . As designed  and prescribed by Pettibon these were copied and stapled editions and each copy was numbered in pencil ( xxx/100 ).

At the time of the exhibition these special editions were not popular at all. They sold at only euro 20,00 for each copy but only a dozen or so were sold. ………One year later…. everything was sold out and these books were offered and sold on eBay for prices of around USD 350.00 each. It appeared Pettibon had a very loyal following of collectors who were buying these rarities for their collection. Since that date Pettibon has published many more “comics” / art books, but this Over Easy remains one of the very special ones which was specially made for the opening of GEM in 2002 and can be seen as one of the highlights from the first decade in this new millennium

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Hamish Fulton – the man with one of the most beautiful signatures in Modern Art

The year is 1991. The occasion is the opening of the exhibition on Hamish Fulton. Curated by Rudi Fuchs and Franz Kaiser. The Haags Gemeentemuseum organized this excellent exhibition which was accompanied by a publication ONE HUNDRED WALKS ,which still is one of my personal favorites and certainly is one of the most beautiful books in my collection. The book was designed by Hamish Fulton himself and Gracia Lebbink was asked to do the graphic layout and production. The result….. an artist book which is one of the best ever published.

The book was delivered ( as almost always) just a few hours before the opening of the exhibition and sold during this opening. The next day i encountered Fulton in the corridor of the museum and complimented him on the book and asked if he could sign my personal copy.  No problem….. the book was signed and i had another souvenir for my collection, but then it occurred to me that the idea of signing some of these could be profitable for the museum and i asked him if he could sign and number a series of 20 copies to be sold in our museum bookstore.

The friendly and sympathetic person he is , he did not even think about it and asked for the 20 copies to sign them. Later that afternoon he came to the library , set himself at a desk and signed the 20 copies , which were numbered  1 to 20. The signature he placed in the books is still one of my most admired signatures in Modern Art. The way it is placed on the page and dated, plus the story behind it makes this still very special to me. The books ( signed and unsigned version) are still available at :

www.ftn-books.com

and

https://ftn-books.com/products/hamish-fulton-one-hundred-walks-1991-signed-numbered-mint

both highly collectable items and real artist books.

 

wilfried

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