Posted on 30 June 20184 July 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Haus Konstruktiv – Zurich- Suisse

Museum Haus Konstruktiv – the Foundation for Constructive and Concrete Art

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It was 2 months ago that i visited the museum HAUS KONSTRUKTIV. At first a little disappointed but the Graevenitz exhibition made the visit worthwhile . Personally i think it is importnat that such a small part of the modern art scene has an excellent platform in which special exhibitions can be held.

The Haus Konstruktiv is located in one of the most distinctive icons of Zurich’s industrial architecture, providing a space for concrete art.

The museum is dedicated to the exploration of concrete, constructive and conceptual art. The Museum Haus Konstruktiv focuses on making it part of a living dialog with international trends in contemporary art.

Over the five floors of the former Selnau electricity sub-station, visitors discover works of art in the context of their historical background through temporary exhibitions and collection presentations. Also on permanent display are treasures from the museum’s own collection, the legendary “Rockefeller Dining Room” by the Swiss artist Fritz Glarner. Beside the special exhibitions the Haus Konstruktiv has an excellent exhibition program of which some publications are available at www.ftn-books.com

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( to be continued )

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

Emmett Williams (1925-2007) , Fluxus poet and master of Concrete Poetry

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A little anecdote….the first time i saw the publications of Emmett Williams was in the early eighties in the Gemeentemuseum. It was a very nice publication, but at that time i did not see the qualities of his works and publications. When a few years later too many of the edition was unsold , we decided to put them in a “sale” for 2 guilders each. Even at that price they were very hard to sell and now 30 years later… I was offered a small collection of Emmett Williams books and bought them back at 30x the price of 2 guilders, a price well worth the books ,because these are very special books. The VOYAGE is published in only 1000 copies and works like a classic “flip book”. These books are absolute “must have’s” for serious collectors. They are becoming more rare every year and as an artist Emmett Williams will become one of the most important artists from the Fluxus mouvement.

These books are available at www. ftn-books.com

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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 27 November 201612 February 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Klaus Staudt and Konkrete Kunst

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The people who follow this blog, must know by now of my love for Konkrete Kunst and one of the people who is in the centre of this mouvement is Klaus Staudt. Born in 1931 he originally studied medicines , but after an initial study into the arts in 1957 , he started following classes at the Academy of Arts. Soon he began to experiment with forms and grids, a little like the Minimal artists in the US were doing at that time and from that moment on he began to develop his own style , using multi layers and perspex/plastics ao. as his materials to make his creations. Because of this multi layer aspect his works have a 3D quality which makes them very special and typical Staudt.

Staudt being one of the first Konkrete artists is becoming more and more important and has had some very nice retropektives in the last 2 decades. Some of his publications and multiples are availabe at www.ftn-books.com