jitta – FTN-blog

Posted on 08.12.202327.09.2023 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Ronald Medema (1956)

Ronald Medema (1956) is a Dutch painter who lives and works in Labelveld, Friesland. He completed his painting studies at the Academy of Fine Arts “Vredemann de Vries” in Leeuwarden in 1979. His interest in the meaning of icons in the Orthodox tradition, especially in the discovery of Orthodox spirituality, was already noticeable, which later led to his decision to become Orthodox. On this occasion he received the name Siluan. Medema went on study tours to Egypt, Mount Athos, Greece, and Turkey. Since 2002, Medema has focused solely on the “writing” of icons, the interpretation of the “words” of lines and colors within the Orthodox experience. She took lessons from Bernard Flinking from 2000 to 2004 and from Elena Antonova from 2010 to the present. On Orthodox Sunday, March 1, 2015, he was ordained a reader in Paris and received a blessing as an iconbearer from Job, Archbishop of Termessos, Ecumenical Patron of Constantinople. On April 21, 2018, he was ordained a deacon by His Highness Athenagoras, Metropolitan of Belgium, Governor of the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

www.ftn-books .com has the small publication on Medema written by mariette Josephus Jitta now available.

Posted on 11.07.201809.05.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Donald Judd at the van Abbemuseum

Rudi Fuchs was the admirer and curator who convinced Donald Judd to have a large retrospective at the van Abbemuseum. Judd had his entrance into the dutch Museum scene with Enno Develing who had organized, with all important minimal art artists, exhibitions at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag in the Sixties . Judd was one of them and since the popularity of Minimal Art in the Netherlands grew steadily. The van Abbemuseum made an exhibition with Judd in 1987, after which exhibitions another one with Judd, Fuchs and Jitta was held on the prints by Donald Judd at the Gemeentemuseum. It was one of the last exhibitions Rudi Fuchs curated for the van Abbemuseum before he switched to the Gemeentemuseum as a director and made this print exhibition. Fuchs was a great fan, because together with the print exhibition he ordered furniture, desks and even a complete parquet floor all done by Judd of which only the floor remains at the Escher Museum at the Paleis Lange Voorhout location. The rest “disappeared” , was damaged, or was sold during the last 2 decades.

The blog is to point out that this is an important catalogue which is now available at www.ftn-books.com together with some other publications. As mentioned …Enno Develing wast the first European curator who presented the Minimal Art movement and his artists at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. Here is the extremely important catalogue of this exhibition which i gladly make available for my readers. Click the MINIMAL ART link below and read the PDF version of this rare and very important catalogue.

MINIMAL ART

Posted on 22.04.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Co Westerik (1924)

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One of the last grand “old” masters of the dutch Art scene. Of course C ( Jacobus) Westerik has had his exhibitions abroad, but beside the Netherlands, germany and Belgium his name is not that well known. I met Westerik at the time he was making the portrait of Theo van Velzen. One of the former directors of the Haags Gemeentemuseum. The portrait was presented as a farewell present when van Velzen resigned to be hung in a gallery with portraits of other former directors. A small portrait which he managed to squeeze in and complete it in between 2 other paintings. His canvasses are not too big , but they are scarce because Westerik has a very small production yearly. I really do not know if he still is active as a painter, but at the time the van Velzen portrait was made , his production was 3 paintings a year. All were sold up front to collectors and museums. Among them Frits Becht (1930-2006) .He was the private collector with the largest Westerik collection .

He who was a personal friend for his entire life and followed his career through the years and bought many works. beside a painter Westerik was also known for his graphics in which he excelled. His production as a graphic artist was much much larger and there are almost a thousand different prints known by him. Westerik is a very important artist for dutch art and because i followed him over the years www.ftn-books.com has many publications on Westerik available.

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A short documentary on Westerik can be found at this address: http://hollandsemeesters.info/posts/show/7738

Posted on 20.01.201712.02.2018 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.