Posted on Leave a comment

Jean Gorin (1899-1981) and Wim Crouwel

Schermafbeelding 2017-12-19 om 11.29.02

Jean Gorin , a typical 50’s /60’s artist has stayed a little obscure outside France, but this is undeserved. His art is influenced by Piet Mondrian and Constructivism , but has developed into an art typical of Jean Gorin.

Schermafbeelding 2017-12-19 om 11.40.27

This was recognized by Willem Sandberg who gave Gorin a solo presentation in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in 1967. Here it is getting more interesting from my point of view, because together with this exhibition one of the very very best Wim Crouwel designed catalogues ever was published. The catalogue typically Crouwel sized was partly printed in black and the other part of the text on the cover executed in embossed printing. Together with the design of the catalogue itself it has become an exquisite artist book on Jean Gorin which is still available at www.ftn-books.com

 

Posted on Leave a comment

Oval paintings …. rarely seen

Schermafbeelding 2018-01-28 om 10.02.16

The Oval shape is the less common shape among constructivist, but is was at one time used by some great names in art. Piet Mondriaan used it and also Roy Lichtenstein was a fan and used the shape in his Mirror paintings. Put them beside each other and you will notice similarities between the two. Not only the shape , but also how the space is filled with the composition. I noticed this because a few weeks ago i went to an auction viewing and found the drawings by Henk de Looper for auction. All oval shaped and they really fascinated me.

 

Here is some information on this forgotten artist who deserves better and is represented by gallery PHOEBUS in Rotterdam.

https://www.phoebus.nl/KUNSTENAAR/Henk.de.Looper

Posted on Leave a comment

A special Donald Judd publication, 1993

Schermafbeelding 2017-11-17 om 14.15.26

The Sikkens foundation chooses every year an artist for their prestigious Sikkens Award and in 1993 the honor was Donald Judd’s. He received the award for his entire oeuvre and delivered a lecture/speech on the subject and the importance of Piet Mondriaan on that occasion.  The title “SOME ASPECTS OF COLOR IN GENERAL AND RED AND BLACK IN PARTICULAR”. For years i tried to find the little book which was published on that occasion and presented to the invited audience. A beautiful little book , cahier stitching, designed by Rutger Fuchs, with a typical Donald Judd cover and finally i have found one for www.ftn-books.com. The book is not the perfect copy i would have wished for. On a scale from 1 to 10 i would rate it as 7.5 ,but given the fact that only about 400 copies have been published this is the best copy which is on the market at this moment and possibly the only one for a long time to come available and for sale, because these are scarce and extremely hard to find.

So if you think the Judd publication is  a “ghost” publication….it is not ! It is real!. Here is a short impression.

judd sik a

 

Posted on Leave a comment

Bart van der Leck (1876-1958)

Schermafbeelding 2017-10-04 om 14.33.59

Without me knowing and realizing it  I collected many van der Leck titles. Probably because subconsciously i must have realized that for me personally van der Leck is more important than Piet Mondriaan. Both are of course important members of DE STIJL group but where Mondrian is the artist who developed his art from realism into pure abstraction, van der Leck is the artist where realism was always present in his abstract works. When you look a little longer at his compositions you can distinguish the objects he depicted in his works. Take a look at these ducks…Yes it is a typical DE STIJL composition with primary colors, but you can clearly see the ducks in this painting.

Schermafbeelding 2017-10-04 om 14.41.51

Bart van der Leck was born in the Dutch city of Utrecht on November 26th, 1876. He started working as a glazier, but began focusing on his artistic career soon after. He started his studies at the Art Academy in Amsterdam soon after 1898. He was initially influenced by Isaac Israëls and mainly depicted scenes from everyday life. After he finished his education, his realistic working style became a more monumental and modern one.
In 1907 he rented a room in a farming establishment in Blaricum. His only possessions were a small painting chest and some clothing. He lived in complete isolation for a period of four months and thus many paintings depicting Blaricum and its surrounding area exist from his hand.
It is known Van Der Leck was a friend of fellow painter Mondriaan. They both possessed progressive working styles and their paintings were not appreciated by the painters of the Laren School.
Together with Mondriaan and a few other names, Van Der Leck can be held accountable for the establishment of ‘De Stijl'(1917). He passed away in Blaricum on November 13th, 1958.

Here are some of the van der Leck titles available at www.ftn-books.com

Posted on Leave a comment

André Kertész (1894-1985)… a leporello

Schermafbeelding 2017-05-16 om 11.52.43

André Kertész is one of the most important and influential photographers from last century. Not only his works cover all important decades from the century, but also his innovative way in seeing and photographing subjects made him famous during his life. One of the special items i have in my inventory is a leporello on the studio of Piet Mondrian. A selection of photographs resembling the classci still lifes of the dutch painters from the golden age. Great photography which proves the quality of these photographs. This leporello is available with other great Kertesz titles at www.ftn-books.com

Posted on Leave a comment

100 years ….DE STIJL

It was 50 years ago Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles was released on the 1st of June, but 50 years before that date the DE STIJL group was founded in Leiden in 1917 with the publishing of the book de NIEUWE BEWEGING IN DE SCHILDERKUNST by Theo van Doesburg. Leiden , Utrecht ( home of the famous Rietveld huis) and Den Haag ( largest Mondrian/de Stijl collection in the world will be presenting exhibitions on DE STIJL and its influence on Modern Art. One basic thing about DE STIJL. Use of primary colors, dividing the surface in abstract elements. Mondrian and van Doesburg were originally friends and worked along these lines until van Doesburg thought his works were limited by the use of horizontal and vertical lines and wanted to use the “diagonal” too. This cooled down the friendship and van Doesburg decided to leave the group in 1924. Was it the end of the DE STIJL…no certainly not . The group stopped, but the ideas were there and were later found in BAUHAUS and constructivist modern art. To acknowledge the importance of DE STIJL is done now by these many exhibitions and certainly more than a few will be well worth visiting. Prepare yourself and look at the many DES TIJL/ Mondrian /van Doesburg publications available at www.ftn-books.com

PS . there is a very special bank by Ko Verzuu in blue and yellow which is exclusively available at ww.ftn-books.com. This was a prestige edition by the makers of ADO.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA