gemeentemuseum – Page 16

Posted on 4 March 201712 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Marcel van Eeden (1965)

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I picked Marcel van Eeeden for todays blog because of two reasons. First of all ….arguably van Eeden is the greatest drawing artist in the Netherlands today. He publishes frequently on the internet and has exhibitions all over the world. Transforming every day scenes and news paper clippings into authentic van Eeden drawings he has made after 30 years a tremendous oeuvre. Born in Den Haag and living nowadays in Zurich, van Eeden is the latest addition to the video series of famous dutch artists. The series started some years ago and contains now over 100 contributions. Fascinating 15 minute portraits/movies on the best of dutch artists.

http://hollandsemeesters.info

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De Gemeentemuseum was one of the first museums in which the drawings by van Eeden have been presented and since this opportunity to see his intimate drawings, i became interested in his publications. The books he published feel like graphic novels , but are instantly recognizable as van Eeden publications. Some of these highly collectable books are available at www.ftn-books.com

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To show the quality of the series of HOLLANDSE MEESTERS i put the van Eeden video with this blog, but do not forget to look at the complete lists of dutch artists and look for more at the site of http://hollandsemeesters.info

Posted on 28 February 201712 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Toon Verhoef (1946)

I have always admired the works by Toon Verhoef. The first time i met Verhoef was when i was introduced to him when he visited the Gemeentemuseum on the occasion of the preparation of an exhibition. Since i have tried to obtain a work by Verhoef for our collection, but never succeeded…… i came close when i bid on an extremely large work which came from the former collection of the Artesia bank. It was sold at AAG and when i researched the work i found out that the composition was not random, but an abstract representation of the british queen Elizabeth II parading before Aboriginal warriors.

Verhoef is for me a fascinating artist and his compositions are timeless and brilliant.

there is a nice documentary on Youtube where Verhoef explains the history of the painting and the “Elizabeth” picture.

and for a nice selection of Verhoef titles visit www.ftn-books.com

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Posted on 20 January 201712 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966)

Two occasions spring to mind. Both occasions i was highly impressed. First there was the special Alberto Giacometti exhibition at the Haags Gemeentemuseum in 1986. /Curated by Mariette Josephus Jitta.

A large and important exhibition which showed many of the iconic sculptures by Giacometti…including a walking man and walking stray dog.

The second occasion was decades later when we visited the Beyeler Museum for the very first time. In the room with views into the garden the WALKING MAN was combined with one of the very large Monet paintings he painted in his studio at Giverny. It was so impressive that i will never forget this stunning combination. An outstanding display of classic “modern” art. Since , i have seen many more statues by Giacometti, but never again the combination was so beautiful as within the presentation at the Beyeler museum.

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Of course the Giacometti catalogue of the 1986 Gemeentemuseum exhibition is available at www.ftn-books.com

Giacometti

Posted on 19 January 201712 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Informele Kunst exhibition / 1983

Yes ….34 years ago i was a rookie and just had walked into the museum world and there there was this exhibition which i could not understand. An exhibition on INFORMELE KUNST in Nederland en Belgie ( dutch language) in the Schamhart wing with at the entrance an extremely large painting by Jan Cremer. At the time it was painted he asked a price for it of 1 million guilders.

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At that time a ridiculous amount of money for a work of art, but time passes and if i had known what i know on art now i would have started collecting these works which were within the exhibition. names? Schoonhoven, Leblanc, Cremer, Peeters, Armando, Verheyen, Gentils, Mortier. If only……….

A pity I did not start collecting these artists, because then the time was perfect to buy at reasonable prices. Prices started to rise from that year on and the end is not in sight. What remains is the excellent catalogue which is still available at www.ftn-books.com

Informele Kunst

Posted on 2 January 201712 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Coco Chanel and Sol LeWitt

An unlikely combination, but…. they have something in common. Recently a new cotton bag with a special design by Sol LeWitt was published by the same publishers as the one who published the Cotton bags with the Chanel exhibition some 2 years ago. Same size and same quality and both cotton bags are available at www.ftn-books.com

I know for certain there are bag collectors and these original museum cotton bags are produced in such small numbers that they are highly collectable and only available for a very short time. So be quick in this first week of January and purchase the bag(s) for your collection.

this blog is daily published on www.ftn-blog.com

Posted on 25 December 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Gemeentemseum Den Haag..From Rodin to Bourgeois

It was an exhibition i was really looking forward to. I know the collection of sculptures the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag has very well and thought they would make a superb exhibition with them. Last weekend we visited the exhibition and….i must say i was disappointed. The statues and sculptures were grouped and i could distinguish themes and periods within the groups, but what struck me most is that there were too many sculptures on too little space. For me sculptures must have space around them. That is the reason sculptures outside work so well. In the Gemeentemuseum there were too many on too little space and on top of it, the epic spider by Louise Bourgeois was not shown within the exhibition, but was squeezed into one of the smallest cabinets of the museum.

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This sculpture exhibition competes with too many other exhibitions at the same time and far too many objects within the exhibitions, made the museum visit one of the least attractive ones of the last years.

old situation with Kirkeby brick sculpture

old situation

new situation

I love the museum, but this collection deserves far better than the way it now is exposed to the public. Far too many objects. No space between them….no air to breathe at all . The SCHATKAMER in which the STIJL period is exhibited on the ground floor is one of the worst museum spaces i know of in the Netherlands and now that the inner garden is (unfortunately) covered( see photos), because they wanted a space to drink coffee ( beside the restaurant), read some magazines and sell some books( beside the museumstore), the beautiful Bourgeois sculpture is now squeezed into a cabinet and is no longer a part of the sculpture exhibition FROM RODIN TO BOURGEOIS, because it is placed out of the exhibition on the other side of the building. So please free the inner garden space from everything in it and make this an exhibition space and put the Bourgeois, Nauman, Carl Andre in it or better…. use it for the Sol LeWitt,Serieel project nr. 1: Groep B (1966-1970). These sculptures really deserve some space and a better exposure. That would be a real “tribute to Sol LeWitt”. Go and see what space can do for a beautiful sculpture. Visit the Serra in the Guggenheim in Bilbao or the Giacometti in the Beyeler and see how it must be done to present them in the best way possible. Space and air is what these great sculptures need.

A last remark, the Museum shop is turning into a souvenir shop. If that is what they feel the museum needs, the museum certainly must follow that path, but i feel strongly that it is nice to learn something about the great art which is shown in a museum and for that you need other products than scarves, cups, pencils and the occasional postcard. For books on the Gemeentemuseum and its collection and exhibitions there is still another place to visit ….please visit www.ftn-books.com and find here the publications this great museum has published over the last 60 years.

One positive thing about the current exhibitions. The Tomas Rajlich exhibition is exquisite ( blog next week) and the Ravesteyn room with the Givenchy dresses and the Audrey Hepburn filmclips in the background is great.

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Posted on 16 December 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Ap Gewald …. 40 years Gemeentemuseum Den Haag.

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In the first couple of years i always thought Ap was Ab, because i had known several people with the name Ab. Since Ap corrected me, it became Ap/ @p and since we have stayed in contact with each other…not only professionally , but also socially.

His career at the Haags Gemeentemuseum/Gemeentemuseum now spans a period of 40 years. 40 years in which Ap has become one of the “mastodons” of the museum and one of those few within the organization of the museum, who contributes, as a registrar, to every exhibition that takes place within the museum walls. I think Ap is one of those people that you like instantly… easygoing and open hearted and because of that we stayed in contact with each other, meeting occasionally and discussing the art and museum world. There is one occasion that i want to mention in this blog. A few years ago i held an auction on Catawiki, within the auction there was a small Stedelijk Museum book with a lithographed cover by Christa Ehrlich . I mentioned it on Facebook and got an answer from Ap in New York. He was there with the design of the cover from the collection of the Gemeentemuseum which was lend to the Moma(?). This can not be coincidence, but must have a meaning…. so let us try to find out what the meaning of this is in the years to come. Ap, not only a colleague but also a friend! Thanks for 40 years Gemeentemuseum and 36 years of friendship and keep practicing your logistic skills in the coming years with the present we just gave you 😉

wilfried & linda

ehrlich-a

Posted on 12 December 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Richard Paul Lohse ( 1902 – 1988 )

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A few months ago i published a blog on a very special Lohse poster published by the van Abbemuseum, but that was a blog on just a single item. Richard Paul Lohse deserves much more, because he is a very important artist. Not only for Switzerland but for Modern Art as a whole. Designer, painter and

I first encountered his work when i was working at the Gemeentemuseum and Rudi Fuchs bought a beautiful Lohse for its collection. It must have been right after his death and because of the connection with cubism and the DE STIJL collection it fitted in perfectly. The painting itself is a typical Lohse painting and because this aroused my interest in Lohse, i started collecting his books and publications. Since the collection has grown and contains at this moment some very specials items that are duplicates and are for sale at

www. ftn-books.com

The most special one is Kalte Kunst ( blog next week ) which contains a beautiful serigraph by Lohse.

Lohse is a multi talented artist , 2 time participant of the Documenta and important for modern art, because without his contributions KONKRETE Kunst would probably not have existed.

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Posted on 7 December 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Sol LeWitt….A Tribute …and the Joost Swarte bag

Yesterday, i received an invitation for the opening on the 17th of december 2016 of a Tribute exhibition on Sol LeWitt. There is a long lasting relation between the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag and Sol LeWitt, which collaboration first resulted in the very first European Minimal art exhibition in Europe and later the wall sculptures on the Schamhart wing some 20 years ago. In between exhibitions were held , including his drawings exhibition and of course he made several wall drawings on location.

Because of this relation, Sol Lewitt was invited in 1987 to design one of the plastic bags which was used in the shop of the Gemeentemuseum. Sol designed 2 bags, one in color and one in black on transparent polyethyleen. 2 excellent designs and both were executed and used for a couple of years in the shop. Now the black drawing is used for the invitation of the tribute exhibition. What people forget is that the typography is not done by Sol LeWitt , but it was “borrowed” from an earlier bag designed by Joost Swarte, who designed a plastic bag, including the typography, with the different collection parts in mind. This lettering was used for 100% by Sol for his own designs. So the main part is done by LeWitt but the typography was done by Joost Swarte in his very recognizable lettering. A beautiful bag was the result and only a few copies of this bag remain available for sale at www.ftn-books.com

Exhibition Sol LeWitt a Tribute opens on the 17th of december and runs until the 9th of april, 2017

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Posted on 23 November 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Pat Andrea and Zomeravond Softball

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I have always been an admirer of Pat Andrea’s work. From his earliest days he illustrated books by Herman Pieter de Boer to his later years in which he made large sized paintings. One of the first ( possibly the first) large paintings i saw by Pat Andrea was his ZOMERAVOND SOFTBAL which was in one of the staircases of the Haags Gemeentemuseum. An impressive painting which in the late 80’s disappeared. Is it in the depot or has it been exchanged with another collection? ….i do not know, but what i do know is, that in 1985 the Berlage masterpiece , the Haags Gemeentemuseum, celebrated his 50 years of history since opening. Gerrit Jan de Rook was the curator who was in charge of a special editions program in which he invited a selection of artists to make a “special” for the celebration. Among these works by the famous Carl Andre, but Pat Andrea was commissioned too, to make a series of 8 small paintings on the theme of “Zomeravond softball”. When they became for sale i was very much impressed by these little gems too and decided to buy one… Now i had my small version of “Zomeravond softball”

andrea-softball

I have very much enjoyed this beautiful Pat Andrea for over 20 years , but decided to sell it when i needed the funds to buy another piece of art. The work was sold, but the admiration for Pat Andrea remained. You can look at www.ftn-books.com for more publications on Pat Andrea. Including Journal d’Aurore, which is at this moment the only copy on the market ( inquire)