Ross Bleckner’s paintings blend abstraction with recognizable symbols to create meditations on perception, transcendence, and loss. In contrast to the prominent painters of the 1980s who reasserted figuration, Bleckner persisted in his attempts to identify what meaning the abstract image could convincingly hold in our times. As the 1980s progressed and the AIDS health crisis began to take its toll on society at large and on many of Bleckner’s friends and colleagues, his paintings became elegies to specific losses suffered and reflections on bereavement. Bleckner’s paintings, glowing and contemplative, resemble passageways to the beyond.
Bed Flower series , 1985, is particularly evocative of an elegy. To Bleckner, the items presented in the work function as psychological objects that transcend individual value to become important socially. The chandelier hangs in an ambiguous, loosely defined dark space, possibly a funeral parlor or a place of transition. Bleckner punctuates the darkness with flickers of light, holding onto the faintest trace of hope.
THis blog is on Hilla Rebay, born in Germany but living part of her life in the US.
The inmportance of this artist is growing by the year and since i have acquired the extremely scarce original 1948 New York catalogue in which she explains what makes her paint in the way she does. The best i can do now is quote the German text which i found on Rebay. Catalogue available at www.ftn-books.com
1948 schreibt Hilla von Rebay im Katalog zur Ausstellung Gegenstandslose Malerei in Amerika in der Städtischen Kunsthalle Mannheim und zahlreichen anderen Städten in Deutschland Folgendes:
„Gegenstandslose Malerei bildet keines der uns auf dieser Welt geläufigen Dinge oder Lebewesen ab. Sie will nichts anderes sein als ein schönes, rhythmisch gegliedertes Gebilde aus Farben und Formen, das durch seine Schönheit allein erfreuen soll. Die Proportionen der Leinwand oder des Blattes selbst bestimmen diese Gliederung, die wie ein musikalisches Kunstwerk kontraproduktiven Gesetzen gehorcht. Das Grundmotiv eines Bildes gibt den Ausschlag für seinen Aufbau, der dann dem Gesetz eines eigenen Rhythmus folgt. Ein solcher Kunst noch ungewohnter Betrachter wird diese Gesetzlichkeit nicht von vornherein erkennen; erst nach längerem Umgang mit diesem Werk wird er im Unterbewussten die Wirkung seiner Schönheit und Vollendung an sich erfahren und seine im Geistigen begründete lebendige Gesetzlichkeit zu verstehen beginnen. Die gegenstandslose Malerei spricht zu denen, die für reine Schönheit empfänglich sind. Selbst wenn Formen wie Kreis, Viereck oder Dreieck Verwendung finden, Formen, die man in solchen Zusammenhang fälschlich als geometrische bezeichnet, so sind sie hier doch rein künstlerischer Natur. An und für sich betrachtet bestand die reine Form ja schon lange, bevor man etwas von Geometrie wusste, und Geometrie von sich aus war niemals imstande, diese Formen in Kunst zu verwandeln: das ist allein Aufgabe des Künstlers. …
Sicherlich ist es leicht, aus Farben und Formen ein Ornament oder einfaches Muster zu entwerfen; aber wie sich in der Musik eine Sonate durch Melodie, Rhythmus und Kontrapunkt vom einfachen Ton unterscheidet, den jeder anzuschlagen vermag, so ist es auch in der gegenstandslosen Malerei. Nur dass bei ihr, im Gegensatz zur Musik, das Auge als aufnehmendes Organ angesprochen wird. Mag der Betrachter zunächst einfach sein Gefallen am Spiel der Formen empfinden, so wird er allmählich doch dahin gelangen, auch die läuternden und entspannenden Kräfte eines Bildes zu erfahren, dessen Schönheit im Geistigen, nicht im Sinnlichen beruht. …
Vor Tausenden von Jahren gebot uns die Bibel, kein irdisch geschaffenes Bild zu verstehen. Heute endlich besitzen wir die Voraussetzungen, dies Gebot zu erfüllen. Religiös gesinnte Künstler empfanden die innere Verpflichtung als erste; sie verzichteten auf bloße Nachbildung der Natur und suchten dafür nach jener tiefen Konzentration und Selbstdisziplin, die zum Wesen des eigentlich Schöpferischen gehört.“
Paul César Helleu was a close and life-long friend of Sargent. According to Stanley Olson, John Singer Sargent bought a pastel from Helleu. “They were constant companions, going everywhere together, having their meals together, seeing each other every day. . .” In a letter to his daughter, Paulette, in December 1922 Helleu wrote, “J’ai voulu faire photographier Sargent qui à été pour moi, tout au long de ma vie, plus qu’un père.”
During the summer of 1889, Sargent had a number of guests to stay at his house at Fladbury near Pershore, including Vernon Lee, Ansttruther Thomson, Flora Priestly, and Paul and Alice Helleu. Helleu’s intimate portrait of his wife at Fladbury was painted in that summer when both he and especially Sargent, were experimenting in Impressionism. Sargent completed among others, Two Girls with Parasols at Fladbury, Fishing, Two Girls in a Punt, A Boating Party, and probably the best know of the Fladbury pictures, Paul Helleu Sketching with His Wife (now in the Brooklyn Museum, New York).
In Patricia Hill’s book John Singer Sargent (New York, 1987), William H. Gerdts writes in his essay entitled “The Arch Apostle of the Dab-and-spot School, John Singer Sargent as an Impressionist”, p. 131: “Finally, Paul Helleu Sketching must be seen as a further step in Sargent’s development of the theme of out-door- painting. Helleu’s canvas is turned away from the spectator, just as it had been in Dennis Bunker Painting. But whereas Bunker was shown ruminating, away from his easel, Paul César Helleu is busily at work, and presumably confidently so. The subject he paints is of no concern nor does the spectator have a view of the scene which might be serving Helleu for his subject. What is certain is that it is an outdoor view, immediately recorded. Moreover, Helleu, like Sargent, was first and foremost a portrait painter, and by definition a portraitist of studio conceptions. Thus, Sargent presents Helleu as a convert to the new method, exploring new thematic interests. And it must be noted that Helleu is depicted doing exactly what Sargent was doing in his picture – painting out-of-doors. Helleu therefore becomes, in a sense, a surrogate Sargent himself, both men established artists in one tradition, sailing off into what was for them relatively uncharted waters.”
www.ftn-books.com has the 1974 Knoedler /New York catalogue available.
Last week I acquired a large collection of catalogues from the LEFEBRE GALLERY. The collection contains 63 different exhibition catalogues all fro the period that this famous gallery was open between 1960 and 1986. A great collection which I will share in the coming 7 days….today day 1
from top to bottom /left to right:
Antonio Segui, 1977
Sugai, 1967
Jules Bissier, 1967
Jules Bissier, 1965
Jules Bissier, 1985
Jules Bissier, 1964
Jules Bissier, 1974
Jules Bissier, 1972
The Lefebre Gallery was established in 1960 by John and Ljuba Lefebre at 47 East 77th Street in Manhattan, New York. John Lefebre became known for his photographs from the artist he presented, but the collection is from his exhibitions only.
The gallery’s inaugural exhibition, “A Collector in Paris becomes an Art Dealer in New York” was based on the Lefebre’s’ personal collection, which included artists who were part of The School of Paris in the 1950’s. As Annette Michelson noted in her introductory text for the exhibition’s catalogue, “ There is an idea of a gallery –the almost ideal gallery- in which every painter represented, every painting, represents a personal taste, in which every canvas bears the mark of a private affection or of a passion (..) These canvases bear the stamp of a milieu (Paris), a period (the post-war years) and a particular sensibility; all have matured together.”
From this inaugural exhibition, the Lefebre Gallery established a reputation for mounting important exhibitions of post-war European art. Lefebre was the only American art dealer to represent Cobra artists such as Asger Jorn, Pierre Alechinsky, Corneille, Christian Dotremont, Carl-Henning Pedersen, and Reinhold. Other artists represented by the Lefebre Gallery included Horst Antes, Pol Bury, Julius Bissier, Klaus Fussmann, Hans Hartung, Serge Polikoff, Antonio Segui, Wallasse Ting, among others.
The gallery closed following the death of John Lefebre in 1986.
The series i have available at www.ftn-books.com contains 62 different titles. These publications will be listed in the upcoming 4 weeks. If there is a publication you would like to buy, please sent an email to ftnbooksandart@gmail.com and i will quote you your best preview price.
Patricia Steur is practicing photography as a professional since 1980. She followed the life and career of Mink Deville / Willy Deville from up close. She made photographs of my all time favorite artist Willy Deville,for over 3 decades and has published a beautiful book on Willy, which i recently acquired after being on the search for it for many many years. In the book a DVD with some nice, never published Video’s. Here are the ones that are currently available on Youtube . The first i want to share with you is the very intimate Carmelita song he played for his friend Jack Nitzsche, who would die shortly after this recording (2000).
and in my opinion the second is even better: Willy playing “Heaven stood still”
Willy Deville and his acoustic trio live in Berlin 2002.
I had to share these because Willy’s music is beautiful , timeless and an almost everyday joy to listen. I hope you enjoy these too. I know, these are not books , but to return to the books…..i have a very nice book by Patricia Steur available on the many famous peoples she photographed available at http://www.ftn-books.com and Willy’s music is definitely great art.
The above title is the same title as the exhibition held at the Museum of Modern Art in 1966. I recently acquired this catalogue which is now for sale at www.ftn-books.com and for me it makes clear the importance Modern Artists have for Modern typography. this is not the printed letter, but the much more free and personal lettering by artists on paper and canvas, making this a source of inspiration for modern typographers and designers and it shows clearly the way lettering can be used to make a splendid composition and be informative at the same time. A catalogue i can truly recommend.
Just a little piece of technical information i picked up from an interview with Bertien van Manen who’s works are known, appreciated and collected worldwide. Even the MOMA in New York has a nice selection of her photographs from the early 90’s.
Mrs. van Manen informed her interviewer that she uses the most simple AUTOMATIC camera’s available. Speed, size and ease of use are a key ingredients to take a successful photograph.
This is nice to know, since for us ….simple amateur photographers it is now with all excellent phone camera’s available as easy to take photographs as it is for professional photographers. All you need is a keen eye for the right subject and composition. Bertien van Manen showed us the way and it is now up to us to create our own portfolio’s with ex excellent photographs. www.ftn-books.com has titles by van Men available.
For me Hilgemann was one of the first Zero artists i learned to appreciate, but there is so much more to Hilgemann as an artist. Here is an excellent article i found on Hilgemann at the Borzo site / http://www.borzo.com
Borzo still sells his works and perhaps now is right the time for Hilgemann.
A child of about six in the war, Ewerdt Hilgemann searches through the rubble of the bombed ruins of his hometown Dortmund for shrapnel. He finds them interesting, exciting too, these sharp-edged metal splinters.
Forty years later, and now an artist, Hilgemann works in the marble quarries of Carrara (1975-1985). A truck transports a perfectly sawn one and a half metre cube of marble that he has carefully polished, to the top and then with a thunderous crash sends it toppling off the steep mountainside. And a marble sphere of a similar size, polished to a perfect sheen, has explosives inserted and is then blown up.
Both conceptual ‘performances’ are recorded on film. The artist creates perfect forms, which are then deformed using forces of nature: a sort of reverse creative process.
Thirty years later, in the summer of 2014, Hilgemann exhibits his Magnum Opus. In response to an invitation from the City of New York he places a series of implosion sculptures on Park Avenue. ‘Dancers’, ‘Triples, ’Flowers’ and ‘Cubes’, six metres high, gleaming in the sun, the deformed surfaces of these Titans of steel distort and reflect the overwhelming architecture of the buildings on each side of Park Avenue.
From his earliest days in a devastated Dortmund to the Park Avenue manifestation in New York, Hilgemann has been consistent in his fascination and his art. In his own words: “To deform a perfect shape without me hammering on it”.
From the start the cube and the square are his best-loved shapes. Hilgemann studies and comes to understand these solid forms. He learns it at the Saarbrucken Art Academy under his tutor Oskar Holweck. (In 1958 Holweck had joined the Zero movement, founded that year by Mack and Piene). Here the young art student Hilgemann learns to respect material and form in their most elementary states. Plasticity is achieved through the effect of light on the surface and the – mathematic – interventions performed thereon by the artist.
In 1970 Hilgemann and his wife Antoinette settle in Gorinchem and here a close friendship develops with Ad Dekkers, Marinus Boezem and herman de vries. In these days Gorinchem is apparently a hotbed for avant-garde art. Irritated – provoked even – by a conservative artistic climate in this small town on the River Merwede, these artists discover common ground for their minimalistic and conceptual ideas.
Their haven at the time is Riekje Swart’s legendary Amsterdam gallery. Hilgemann exhibits his white objects oriented according to mathematical studies here from 1966.
In 1973 the four artist friends – and their partners! – take the initiative for a much discussed and now legendary symposium, whereby the town wants to be a centre for “examining the position of the visual arts in our society”. Fifteen European artists stay together in Gorinchem for six weeks. These include now famous artists such as Kenneth Martin, Morellet, Panamarenko, Pohl, Prantl and Winiarski. Exceptional works of art, lectures and performances fill the town. For Hilgemann ‘Gorinchem’ is an extraordinarily significant period in which his art reaches full maturity and he also establishes his international orientation.
Hilgemann produces his first sculpture created through implosion in 1984 for the exhibition “Beelden aan de Linge” by collector Piet Cleveringa from the neighbouring town of Acquoy. He moves to Amsterdam the same year and from that moment on this visual language of imploded constructions will always typify the art of the ‘air-smith’ Ewerdt Hilgemann.
Lets start a five day blog session with forgotten artists and here is the first to appear in this FTN blog.
An American artist with an Italian background, but born , raised and died in New York. In between he moved to California and studied art in Rome. I tried to figure out the italian influence in his works, but can only see his American roots. If ever there is an influence it probably is the American Pop Art scene that influenced him. What struck me in his life that he was a passionate racing driver and at one time even had his own racing team. His life and progression in art develop a little like the Italian multi talented artist Carlo Mollino, who was also a passionate racing driver, but where Mollino convinces with his aesthetics, Scarpitta is a far more robust and less subtile artist. Still his works stand out from his contemporaries with the frequent use of wood, steel and bandaged objects.
He fascinates…and deserves to be known by far more people . www.ftn-books.com has a few titles on Scarpitta available.
You want to learn the story of Salvatore Scarpitta as a racing driver? you will find it over here:
The studio of Piet Mondrian were works of art of them selves. They acted like a true work “in situ” where every item had its proper place . Because of this, the studio itself became a work of art. This was recognized by many and one of the greatest photographers from last centur even made a series of photo from the Paris studio. The same with the NY studio which was photographed by Arnold Newman.
Kertesz and Newman , two great photographers who realized that Mondrian was a very special painter and made these photographs with one purpose….. so we could see the extraordinary qualities Mondrian had when he approached a painting or an object.
There is onegreat article on Artsy where the studio’s of Mondrian are described.
Artist/ Author: Oliver Boberg
Title : Memorial
Publisher: Oliver Boberg
Measurements: Frame measures 51 x 42 cm. original C print is 35 x 25 cm.
Condition: mint
signed by Oliver Boberg in pen and numbered 14/20 from an edition of 20
