expressionism – FTN-blog

Posted on 15 January 20225 December 2021 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Walter Jacob (1893-1964)

In 1910, Walter Jacob (1893-1964) started training in decorative painting in Meerane, where he met Ernst Müller-Gräfe, who would be influential for Jacob’s artistic development. In his early work, he created especially drawings, resulting from a lack of money. After the First World War, Jacob was a student at the Dresden Academy and in contact with Robert Sterl, whose master student he was from 1919-20.
Jacob is not very well known, but one look at his work and you can not only date it it as typical for the Interbellum, but you also can see that this is great German Expressionist art. It took some decades for him to be recognized as being of importance but finally in 1986 a special auction at Karl & Faber was devoted to him and his works. This catalogue and poster are now available at http://www.ftn-books.com

Posted on 22 November 201831 August 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Walter Gramatte (1897-1927) a German expressionist rediscovered.

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Totally original…that is what i think of Walter Gramatte. His style is as recognizable as some of his contemporaries. Schiele, Klimt and and Klee are recognized within a split second and Gramatte is one of these artist who’s works are recognized as soon as you encounter and see them.

Since two decades there has been a new a renewed appreciation for his works, but publications on Gramatte are still rarities. Nevertheless http://www.ftn-books.com has a few titles in its inventory.

Walter Gramatté was born in 1897 in Berlin and died in 1929 in Hamburg.

Gramatté had a very short (15 years) career but a very productive one – paintings, drawings and prints with subjects of figures, portraits, still life’s, landscapes and book illustrations.

He fought in the First World War and was disillusioned as a result. Like many artists of his generation his works depicted the individual and existential states of being. (Gramatté book, Kirchner museum). He was married to the Russian composer Sonia Fridman-Gramatté.

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Posted on 4 September 201711 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Markus Lüpertz ( 1941)… a dandy painter

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Another of the artists Rudi Fuchs presented at the Stedelijk Museum was Markus Lüpertz . Fuchs is one of his biggest fans and because of that Lupertz was presented in 3 large retropsectives in the Netherland in the last 3 decades. There were exhibitions at the Stedelijk, Gmeentemuseum and van Abbemuseum. Lupertz was and is considered by many curator a true master painter known for his expressively rendered paintings and sculptures, which often merge abstraction and representation. His career first gained traction in the early 1960s, and he was the head of the Düsseldorf Art Academy, one of Germany’s most acclaimed art schools, for 22 years. In his work, Lüpertz combines references to popular culture, biblical and mythological themes and protagonists, and his country’s history and culture, including the Nazi era. His series of paintings of military helmets and other wartime symbols caused controversy in the 1970s, initiating a fraught relationship between him and the viewing public. “You cannot understand the artist in his time, you can only love or hate him,” Lüpertz has said.

www.ftn-books.com has some nice Markus Lüpertz publications available.

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Posted on 24 June 201711 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

David Salle (1952)

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David Salle…..still one of te great names in Modern Art and still very famous in the US, but his works tend to be forgotten a little bit in Europe after he had had many important shows here in the eighties and nineties. Painter, graphic artist, cinema director and photographer Salle is a multi disciplined artist who was one of the first living artist who reached star status in the art world after his works were soled for over a million dollar at auction. Personally i do not think any painting is worth so much money, because i think art is to be consumed and admired and not bought or sold as an investment. An artist who’s works are bought after he/she died is an exception. The works have proven themselves and it is important for museum to show the works of an artist in relation to other works of art, but….for living artists like Salle, Hirst and Koons ART has become a way of making money ( and a lot if it). The idea behind the work is less important than the interest t should create with buyers and investors. So my advice …buy what you personally think is worth to look at, admire and collect it and if it is more expensive … pay a little more for it because you will enjoy the work every day you look at it.

Books on Salle are available at www.ftn-books.com

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Posted on 26 December 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Suzy Embo and Louise Nevelson(1899-1988)

The next 3 days will be with short blogs on female artists that i admire very much. Today’s one is on Louise Nevelson who’s portrait by Suzy Embo is for sale at http://www.ftn-books.com.

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Next year , starting at 23rd of june 2017 a large retrospective on Embo’s photographs will be organized at the FOMU /FotoMuseum Antwerpen. The photograph i have for sale was a lucky find , because it was hidden in one of the great Nevelson catalogues i bought years ago. Excellent condition of the photograph and the strong image of Louise Nevelson makes this one of my favorite artists photographs i have ever seen.

Louise Nevelson is in European undervalued artist, who made assemblages from left over materials and who was not that well known some 30 years ago. She had her exhibitions and retrospectives, but only since a few decades her works appear at auctions and in group exhibitions by Abstract expressionists. Stil she had a loyal following of admirers in the Netherlands and Belgium. In Belgium she even had a solo exhibition in the Paleis voor Schone Kunsten in 197 and you can visit one of the large works at the Centre Pompidou museum in Metz, but for the most of us in Europe this artist was a mystery….(and still is). The case in the US was a total different one. She was recognized as one of the most important sculptors from the 20th century from the early 60’s and onwards.

Major museums began purchasing Nevelson’s wall sculptures in the late 1950s, and she was included in the landmark “Sixteen Americans” exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1959. In the following decades she earned commissions for large-scale sculptures from institutions such as Princeton University (Atmosphere and Environment X, 1969), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Transparent Horizon, 1975), and the Philadelphia Federal Courthouse (Bicentennial Dawn, 1976). In 1967 the first major retrospective of her work was presented at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. During the 1970s and ’80s Nevelson expanded the variety of materials used in her sculptures, incorporating objects made of aluminum, Plexiglas, and Lucite. Not until she was in her 60s did Nevelson win recognition as one of the foremost sculptors of the 20th century.

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Posted on 22 November 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Pierre Soulages

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In contrast with the colorful works by Daniel Buren, This blog on Pierre Soulages. The master of black and white from France. I have not seen many works by him in the real, but what i have seen impressed me very much. One of the last museums i visited in France was the Centre Pompidou in Metz. The new museum which houses a few of the extremely large works from the Centre Georges Pompidou Museum. Among them a very impressive large Soulages.

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Only for this painting alone the museum is worth visiting. Bu there are a few others worth mentioning. A very impressive large Miro and one of the best Louise Nevelson sculptures i have ever seen.

But back to Soulages. Soulages is the French counterpart of Pollock and recognized as one of the great abstract expressionists in the world. His works have been on show in several European Museums, but a few years ago a special Soulages museum opened in Rodez. Became interested in Soulages? Then Visit the museums Georges Pompidou ( Paris and Metz) and the Soulages museum in Rodez. A great excuse for a trip to France …..

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