Harry van Kruiningen is one of those dutch artist who’s importance grows by the year. He was a multi disciplined artist. Painting, etching, sculpting….he did everything. Personally i think his etchings and illustrations belong (arguably) to the very best that were made during the second half of last century in the Netherlands.
They all have something mystical and when you see where his inspirations was coming from ( African masks) one can see the mystic and recognise the mysticism in his works.
Roger Bissiere held an exhibition in 1958 at the Stedelijk Museum. Catalogue and poster were designed by Willem Sandberg. In 1966 it was again time for Bissiere to show his latest works. This time Wim Crouwel designed both catalogue and poster. With the poster he was inspired by the one Sandberg had designed before. The poster is almost classic Sandberg in its approach. Colors, graphic design. red lettering all strongly influenced by Sandberg. But the catalogue!…there it was ….a typical Crouwel design…., size, binding, colors every aspect oozes Crouwel. Here are both and both are available at www.ftn-books.com.
Followers of the blog will know of my admiration for Wim Crouwel, but what most people do not know is that Crouwel designed in the late Sixties and early Seventies for two other Amsterdam museums. Beside the Stedelijk Museum he made poster and publication designs for the AMSTERDAMS HISTORISCH MUSEUM and MUSEUM WILLET-HOLTHUYSEN. As for the posters….. FTN-books acquired a smalll collection of these pposters which is now for sale at http://www.ftn-books. Here are some pictures of the 12 posters now available.
As promissed, some of the combinations that were published for the Stedelijk Museum exhibitions. I can show these because i recently acquired a great set of Crouwel designed posters. These combined with the other publications of the Stedelijk Museum that i have for sale at http://www.ftn-books.com makes some great visual presentations in my blogs. Today the VORMEN VAN DE KLEUR. The first large scale presentation of Colorfield and minimal art in the Netherlands. The catlogue was published in a Crouwel designed portfolio including 4 silkscreen prints of which one by Ellsworth Kelley and the poster has the same great color scheme. Minimal and colorfield combined into a great poster by Wim Crouwel. Both are now available at www.ftn-books.com.
Yesterdays blog was on the “OP LOSSE SCHROEVEN” exhibition. A breathtraking and important exhibition on Conceptual Art at the Stedelijk Museum. Poster and catalogue design by Wim Crouwel and while preparing the blog i found a page in the book IN AND OUT of AMSTERDAM ( also available at www.ftn-books.com ) which explains the story of the exhibition and even mentiones the poster by Wim Crouwel.
Here is the page from the book:
Another iconic exhibition for the Stedelijk Museum was the ” OP LOSSE SCHROEVEN” exhibition.
It was one of the experimental exhibitions in the Sixties which made the Stedelijk Museum being recognized as one of the most important modern art museum in the world.
I recently purchased another small set of WIM CROUWEL designed posters for the Stedelijk Museum and i will now have the oppertunity to present the combination of the poster with catalogue is this blog. The first…..OP LOSSE SCHROEVEN from 1969. Perhaps this is one of the rarest of them all. ( both available at www.ftn-books.com )
Readers know and read that i was not very enthousiastic about the presentations of the Stedelijk Museum during our last visits. Very little that was appealing and lacking all the quality the Stedelijk Museum is famous for.
Last week we visited the Stedelijk again and what a difference. This was an excellent presentation/exhibition with all the art the Stedelijk Museum is famous for and with some great additions. the Bruce Nauman exhibition itself was well worth visiting, but what pleased me the most was the way some of the highlights from the collection were put together on show in BASE 1 and BASE 2.
A true feast and the only part i thought was not there was some of the Minimal Art from the collection.
The first picture is the one on the Wim Crouwel publications the Stedelijk commissioned during the Sixties and Seventies. Recognized as top quality design and becominmg more and more important as part of the collection. many of these publications are also available at http://www.ftn-books.com.
Rating this presentation….B+.
Another great set andn this time both poster and catalogue look almost identical (1970). Both are great simplistic in their designs , but strong in their appearance and they immediately draw your attention.
The Concrete poetry is one of my personal favorit publications and i like the poster as well. Both are availabel at www.ftn-books.com
Lei Molin followed in his very own way “the road to abstraction”.
Making black and white landscapes in the early years of his career, painting portraits to make a living, he moved in the mid Sixties to Amsterdam where he made a connection with Pieter Defesche, Jef Diederen en Ger Latster, they were called the ” Amsterdamse Limburgers”, because they all moved from Limburg to Amsterdam. In Amsterdam he was influenced by Cobra and Minimalism, resulting in a style of his own losing the bright colors and presenting his works in a sober black an white. In the early Eighties color returned into his works and the us e of plastic foils made his paintings stand out from the ones of his colleagues.
After Amsterdam he movend to Ijmuiden, where he became a member of the Ijmuider kring and got inspired by the harbors of Ijmuiden.
In 1986 he told the interrviewer for a nespaper that he considered his latest works to be the ones of his 40 year career. I have known i could make it, but now i finally i am confident enough to make it. It will not become better, also not worse…this is the result of a lifelong career.
Thr above titles are available at www.ftn-books.com
If i would make a top 10 of my favorit Stedelijk Museum publications this Jan van Munster publication from 1970 would be ceertainly somewhere in my top 10.
Published in 1970. It is typical Wim Crouwel design, but some details make it exceptional. First there is the use of a viny cover which has a silkscreened print in bright red on cover and backside. The vinyl cover is used as a portfolio for just one 2 page publication. Printed recto/verso and protected by a blank sheet of white paper. This publication is very special and instead of being a full catalogue with the exhibition , this is a true artist publication making this much more valuable for all Stedelijk Museum collectors and Jan van Munster admirers. The Jan van Munster 1970 / Stedelijk Museum by Wim Crouwel publication is now available at www.ftn-books.com
