love – FTN-blog

Posted on 13.12.202025.08.2020 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe (4)

Alfred Stieglitz met Georgia O’Keeffe at a time when he was already at the top of his game. Twenty years her senior, the photographer and gallerist was more than just a partner for the younger artist – he also served as her mentor. He was the first to exhibit her abstract drawings and helped nurture her into the respected painter she would grow to become. O’Keeffe’s talents eventually led her to New Mexico, and the couple’s relationship consisted of little more than love letters sent back and forth until his death. The ultimate testament to the power of long distance relationships, each of the 20,000 letters has since been collected for the book “My Faraway One: Selected Letters of Georgia O’Keefe and Alfred Stieglitz”. Maybe it’s just us, but Noah’s 365 letters to Allie in The Notebook suddenly seem a lot less romantic.

These and other Stieglitz /O’Keeffe titles are available at www.ftn-books.com

Posted on 29.10.201926.07.2019 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Vrouwen van Amsterdam, 1970

This is the title of a publication which is since a few weeks available at www.ftn-books.com. Inspired by the Ed van der Elsken exhibition at the Nederlands Fotomuseum which recently closed, i was looking for publications that were special and depicted the era of Sixties and early Seventies. This is one of the first of i hope many discoveries. “Vrouwen van Amsterdam” was published by Fototribune in 1970 and contains photographs of Amsterdam Women by the vey best . Ed van der Elsken, Cor Jaring, Koen Wessing and Claud van Heye. These are just a few names who had their input in this great publication. Typical Late Sixties photography, the age of Love & Peace depicted by great dutch photographers.

Posted on 26.09.201826.09.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Anthon Beeke (1940-2018)

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This morning i learned that one of the greatest of all dutch graphic designers, Anton Beeke, died in an Amsterdam hospital, yesterday on the 25th of September. Born in 1940 he soon became part of Fluxus and Provo and was one of the famous names in the AMSTERDAM art world in the sixties. He even became later a contributing partner of Total Design, the agency which was founded by Wim Crouwel ao. I mention this because where Total design was one of the first agencies to apply the computer in designing, Beeke stayed true to his own method, the typical way of composing an image with “camera, scissors and glue”.

His images are strong and stood out and drew immediate attention to the subject. One of his best known designs was the alphabet composed with nude woman.

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It was a meant and searched for reaction on the New Alphabet by Crouwel. There are several Beeke publications available at www.ftn-books.com

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Posted on 16.04.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)

Today a celebration and many congratulations to my wife who has been married for 12,5 years to me. For our honeymoon we travelled to Mexico together with our son Lucas. So for that reason i chose to make a blog on Frida Kahlo, the most famous Mexican artist.

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During the time i was working at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag we had a show on Frida Kahlo in the Museum Paleis Lange Voorhout in 1993. It was by far the best show, with the highest number of visitors, this little museum has ever had. The show lasted only about 70 days but was extended twice because of the high number of visitors. Mainly women attended the exhibitions and i found out that for them Kahlo was a liberated woman who has been a role model for many. What struck me most in her works were the very personal sometimes even surrealist elements in her paintings and where i had imagined large paintings and works of art , these were in many cases small paintings. Still….a terrific exhibition and the last one to have been organized in the Netherlands in the last 25 years. What remains is the catalogue which is a classic among Kahlo collectors and available at www.ftn-books.com. Last but not least…congratulations to my wife Linda. These were 12,5 years filled with love, travels, fun and health…may the next 12,5 years give the same to us….