calder – FTN-blog

Posted on 28.02.201811.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Alexander Calder Stedelijk Museum catalogues by Sandberg

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There are 3 Calder catalogues published by the Stedelijk Museum ( 1947,1959 and 1969). 2 of them are available through www.ftn-books.com. The first 2 were designed by Willem Sandberg and the last one by Wim Crouwel. Many colelctors like the 1959 catalogue , this because of the bald design and great prints on the cover, but for me the 1949 is the best, much more subtle and a catalogue that shows the design path Sandberg is going to take. Choice of paper, typography and illustrations make this the perfect early Sandberg publication.

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Posted on 23.12.201612.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Alexander Calder (1898-1976)

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Born in the 19th century . Calder has become for me one of the pioneers in Modern Art. The public knows Calder by name for his mobiles, but for me Calder is the first artist who explored the extreme sizes in sculpture. Later, this was followed by Serra, but Calder must have been one of the very first to make sculptures bigger than a building. A few of these can be found in STORM KING, but these are not the only ones. These very large sculptures are scattered all over the world.

From Denmark to Brazil, the Calder statues are the highlights among other statues in sculpture parks all over the world. It is a pity there is only one large sized Calder in dutch collections. It is the “anteater” from the collection of the Rijksmuseum.

So do not miss them when you are abroad or there is a special exhibition on Calder because they are among the very best in Modern sculpture. I am fortunate to have some great classic Calder publications within the inventory of www.ftn-books.com

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Posted on 26.07.201612.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Maeght – Derriere le Miroir…Great art can be inexpensive.

Maeght editeur is one of the leading art publishers from the last 50 years. Beside the exhibitions they organized, they are also a very influential publisher in the art scene. One publication in particular stands out …and that is the DERRIERE LE MIROIR series….which was published from 1946-1982. Many great names were presented within this series and beside the many Miro publications, there were also volumes devoted to Picasso, Braque, Calder, Bazaine and many others. What makes this series so great is the original lithographs that are included in each volume. Beside the normal illustrations there were original lithographs in almost each volume. depending on the number of pages there were at least 2, but in many cases 8 to 10 originals to be found in each number and sometimes they were printed over 2 pages, which made the size 22 x 14.8 inches. really impressive and because they were not numbered nor signed they were published with a reasonable retail price, but they stayed affordable and when you calculate the price per original lithograph, they are right out “cheap”.

The series eventually stopped in the early eighties , but during the time of its publication the artist within the series got an opportunity to make a publication for “everyman” .

www.ftn-books.com still has a nice selection of this great and historic series. Among the titles available there are volumes containing works by Calder, Braque and Miro and i can only give the highest recommendation to these very nice books with great art within them.