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Sjoerd Buisman (continued)

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A few years ago I wrote a blog on Sjoerd Buisman and explained that I admire his works since I met him at the Gemeentemuseum where he did a project with willow branches on the sides of the ponds of the Gemeentemuseum, but I could not find photographs of the project!

Now I can correct this omission since I bought 2 books on Buisman. One on his sculptures and other works from 1967-1992 and the other on his GROEIWERKEN in which I found the photographs I had been looking for for a very long time.

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Both Sjoerd Buisman titles are now available at www.ftn-books.com

 

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A recently discovered Mondrian

A few weeks ago i read an article by the  “de Speld”  ( it is an almost daily article on the backpages of the VOLKSKRANT paper), that a recently discovered Mondrian was presented to the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag to further complete its large Mondrian collection .

mondriaan smurf

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Gerard Verdijk at the Kunstmuseum Den Haag

Readers of this blog know of my admiration for Gerard Verdijk. It is a pleasure to know and announce that once again there is a large exhibition being held at a major dutch museum. This time the Kunstmuseum Den Haag ( Gemeentemuseum Den Haag ) has an exhibition which opens on the 29th of February and will close on the 13th of April.

( the invitation depicts ” fetish + tabou” from 2000 )

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Erwin Olaf exhibition….

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The Erwin Olaf exhibitions at the Gemeentemuseum/ Fotomuseum are now closed for some months and what remains i sthe memory of a highly successful exhibitions with evn for me had some new elements in it which i did not have seen before. I had seen the cabinet with the peeping holes, but the Video wall with some 20 nude people who  crouched and erecetd themselves was impressing. The catalogue however did not do justice to the exhibition. Too large, too expensive and the lesser known moving images from the video walls were missing. Still a great exhibition to remember and for those collectors interested i secured some of the materials that were published to promote the exhibition .

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These are available at www.ftn-books.com together with some other nice Erwin Olaf publications

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Gust de Smet (1877-1943)

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I have always been an admirer of the painting DE LOGE by Gust de Smet and at the time i worked at the Gemeentemuseum i have seen it numerous times and it never disappointed me. This work is so typical for the works by Gust de Smet and when you study it for a while, you begin to notice that it a bridge between abstraction and cubism, executed in a very personal way.

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There are so many object to be distinguished within the painting that it looks like a tapestrie of paintings within the painting. On many paintings by de Smet you will find, beside the figures, a still life or a bowl with fish or…. a vase filled with flowers. These objects make the painting typical de Smet.  De Smet is one of the great Belgian expressionist painters, but outside Europe he is hardly known. Undeservedly …..because De Smet makes beautiful paintings that deserve to be exhibited worldwide.

Whenever you have the chance, visist the De Smet museum in Saint MArtens LAtem and loose yourself among many great de Smet paintings.

http://www.ftn-books.com has some nice De Smet titles available

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André Thomkins (1930-1985)

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The books i am now very keen on and am selling at a much higher price level than the ordinary Eighties and Nineties books are those that i put up for “sale” a long time ago when i was working as the Museumshop manager at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. We had to make space in those days, because the very limited space available was not large enough to accomodate a large stock and in my wisdom, i decided to put up the Dieter Roth, Broken Music and Andre Thomkins publications up for sale because their sales were well below par.

In retrospect this is one of the bad decissions i have made, but at that time it was the only right one to take.  The result …books were sold out over time……, but  i now always try to make the pruchase when a Dieter Roth or Andre Thomkins book is encountered at the book markets or at auction. In the past 20 years i have collected in this way some very nice Dieter Roth and Andre Thomkins titles and what strikes me …in the last couple of years the interest in Andre Thomkins is rising. I conclude that he finally is appreciated fro the great artist he is and that the editions that have been made with Thomkins ( specially the Hansjorg Mayer ones) have become desirable and collectable books.

www.ftn-books.com has some Andre Thomkins titles still available

 

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Haagse Stijl

What is meant with HAAGSE STIJL? This question was answered with a beautifull exhibitionat the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag in 2004. The book which was published on that occasion was compiled and written by Timo de Rijk and ahs become the ultimate book on the subject. ( available at www.ftn-books.com)

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Haagse Stijl is the period that a typical ART DECO style in Den Haag was developed. There were several furniture producers at that time in Den Haag and Pander was one of them. They made everything from consoles to bookcases and from desks to wast paper baskets.

During the years between the two world wars a luxurious and modern style of design emerged that was termed the ‘Hague School’. The style featured architectural forms, with the straight-sided, Cubist shapes of the furniture directly echoing those of contemporary buildings. Important influences included Berlage’s idealism, traditional arts and crafts, the interiors of Frank Lloyd Wright and the avant-garde ideas of De Stijl. The result was a modern, commercial style of design. Art Deco in The Hague – Interior design in The Hague during the interwar years occupies eleven rooms and shows some of the finest furniture and interiors of this period in The Hague

These golden years of DE HAAGSE STIJL was only a short period , because WWII made an end to most of the producing furniture makings in Den Haag and surroundings, but followthe auction houses closely and you certainly will find objects and furniture from this time slot….a tip the VENDUEHUIS has opened a special location from which their online auctions are directed. This is the spot to find DE HAAGSE STIJL.

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Floris Arntzenius (1864-1925)

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Floris Arntzenius is one of those painters who can be called a dutch impressionist. His touch is not as sunny as the French impressionists, but more subdued and influenced by weather and seasons in the Netherlands, making his paintings less bright and cheerfull. Still his depicting of daily life and townscapes makes his work of a rare quality. His painting can be compared with that of Jan Toorop, but where Toorop changed his style for several times during his life, Arntzenius stayed true to classic dutch impressionist scenes.

left Arntzenius / right Toorop

 

The Gemeentmuseum Den Haag has some very nice Arntzenius paintings in its collection and has published several catalogues over the years of which some are available at www.ftn-books.com

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Hermanus Berserik (1921-2002)

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I just thought about Berserik, because i lay my hands on one of the most intimate publications by an artist . It is the facsimile published BLADVULLING book by Hermanus Berserik full of sketches by this artist. He painted daily life scenes and was very fond of his sailing boat, which he depicted numerous times together with other nautic themes.

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You can still encounter his works at reasonable prices at auctions and his etchings can even be called CHEAP. If you do not know anything about the artist just visit:

Hermanus Berserik | De wereld onder een stolp

where a Berserik exhibition was held until the 18th of January. It gives some excellent in formation. The other way to get informed i to look for publications on the artist. http://www.ftn-books.com has several Berserik titles available.

BTW. I just learned at the MORE site that Berserik was an ex cellent photographer too.

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Christian Megert (1936)

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Todays blog on Christian Megert, because next Saturday afternoon an important Christian Megert exhibition will be opened at de Rijk/ Chabot fine art. Suisse born and one of the earliest ZERO artists, he researched space and composition mainly by using mirrors and reflecting materials .

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Because of the reflections created this way his art is also very close to the Kinetic art which was made in those days. Megert stayed true to his discoveries in creating his compositions with reflecting materials (mainly mirrors) and is increasingly becoming more appreciated and collected by important collectors all over the world.

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This is an exhibition not to be missed and any serious (ZERO) collector should pay a visit to the Megert exhibition at de Rijk/Chabot Fine Art.

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there are multiple publications on ZERO artist available at www.ftn-books.com