Tag: painting

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Narcisse Tordoir (1954) …painting as an act

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A key figure in the Antwerp art scene and also very well known in the dutch art scene because he is an advisor to the Rijksakademie Amsterdam.

But besides his presence in the art scenes of both the Low Countries, he has become world famous because of his approach to painting. Tordoir considers painting as an act and with this he has had performances in France, the UK, USA , Austria and many more countries, thus introducing his very personal approach to the art of painting to a new art scene each tine he had a performance or an exhibition outside Belgium or the Netherlands.

It is hard to find a reasonable priced work by Tordoir, but about 10 years ago i got lucky and bought a tetralogy at a local auction. It is a work typical for the works Tordoir produced during the eighties on which he combined several smaller ” paintings into a unique work of art. This work consists of 4 framed works of abstract figures forming together a unique Narcisse Tordoir. This work is now for sale at FTN art together with the books www.ftn-books.com has on Narcisse Tordoir.

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Pjeroo Robjee (1945)

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The Flemmish Pjeroo Robjee is first of all a writer and secondly a painter. As a writer he is considered to be the Flemmish James Joyce. This is not what i want to write about, but i want to introduce Robjee as a painter to you. Robjee has followed some day courses in painting and started to paint in a very personal way, inventing his own style . What does it look like?… i can not describe it , but i encounter something of illustrations in his paintings. The use of Pop Art colors combined with the simplicity of Botero. Shake it and the result is Robjee.

This mix of styles resulted in an invitation by the Belgian gallery Lens Fine art , where he had at least 2 exhibitions in 1975 and 1977. Both publications with these Robjee shows are available at www.ftn-books.com.

I really do not know what to think about these Robjee paintings, but somehow they fascinate me and must be considered as an important cultural heritage for Belgium since Robjee is an important writer who had also another quality…. he made some great timeless paintings that still fascinate.

 

 

 

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Gerrit Benner (1897-1981)

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One of my first blogs was devoted to the museum Belvedere where i encountered some wonderful paintings by Gerrit Benner. This blog is solely devoted to Benner because he deserves it. His paintings are among the first abstract paintings which still hold a link with realism in the Netherlands . These paintings are definitely inspired by nature. Skies, meadows and even an abstract cow can be determined in the compositions. Benner is a painter “pur sang” who’s works are rooted in the dutch tradition of abstract paintings. For instance Mondrian used these abstracted landscapes in his own painting from the early 20th century.

on the left a painting by Benner with Red cloud on the right Landscape with Red cloud by Piet Mondriaan

Benner is a great painter who deserves to be known outside the Netherlands and for those visiting the Netherlands. When you visit the Stedelijk, Gemeentemuseum, Belvedere and Museum Twente you surely will encounter a Benner painting in their permanent collections.

There are some very nice Benner publications available at www.ftn-books.com

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Piet Dirkx….the publications (1)

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During the time i filled my Piet Dirkx daily in the last 2 years, i frequently looked into the publications that i have on and by Piet Dirkx and each time it struck me that these were all quite special. Covers out of the ordinary, special binding and one even one resembling the famous Moleskine notebooks that Piet uses for his notes and drawings nowadays.

Some of these are still available at www.ftn-books.com. Not all are listed… so inquire for the ones in store, but if not in the inventory of www.ftn-books.com keep looking and searching for them , they really are still out there to be picked up.

dirkx selectie a

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Eli Content (1943)

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Eli Content …Born in Switzerland , but living for most of his life in Amsterdam, has become somehow a local known artist. He is world famous in Amsterdam. His art is rooted within the Jewish fate, but apart from that you can look at it without knowing that background and what is left is “pure” abstract painting. His commissions are in many cases religion related . For instance he decorated the Portugese Synagoge in Amsterdam and the titles of his work reflect in many cases his Jewish background.

Eli Content is represented by galerie Onrust in Amsterdam and www.ftn-books.com has one title on Content available.

content joods

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Tomas Rajlich (1940) in the Boijmans van Beuningen until the 27th of May.

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Last Sunday me and Linda visited the Tomas Rajlich exhibition in the Boijmans van Beuningen museum in Rotterdam. I had to see it , because i am a long time admirer of the works by Rajlich. Fundamental paintings almost like Minimal art , Rajlich stayed loyal to his monochrome paintings, with or without a grid with or without a very precise space of 5 cm. in between the lines just paint.  I admire his gold paintings with the pencil grids, but his grids can appear in very different ways. white lines, black lines, pencil or painted with the fingers or the entire hand. The ones in the Boijmans have a vertical grid which is applied with some sort of comb and like the smaller sketches/drawings in the adjacent room, glitter is applied on the surface which gives an extra dimension. Still the execution of the paintings is almost the same like some 30 years ago.

Look at the details of one of his gold paintings and the much more recent red painting. At the bottom of the painting it looks like paint is dripping from the canvas. as if all sites matter except the bottom. Rajlich is for my personally one of the most fascinating artist whom i have met and his art is timelesss. I am glad this show is organized with a great and impressive overview of some of his best recent paintings ( 2003) which he has lent on an extended loan to the Boijmans van Beuningen.

www.ftn-books.com has some nice and rare Tomas Rajlich publications available

Here is the text Boijmans published on its site:

Painting was declared dead in the early 1970s. Tomas Rajlich (1940) opposed this notion and revived painting by making the act of painting itself the subject of his canvases. In 1975 he was one of the most important exponents of Fundamental painting: a collective term for works in which idea and materials are inseparable. Rajlich still considers himself a Fundamental painter and has continued to develop as such to the present day.

The grids that were so characteristic of Rajlich’s early works seem to have disappeared from his recent monochrome canvases. The grid has become simply one of the elements, like the paint, glitter and linen that Rajlich uses to build up his extravagant paintings.

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Gerard Verdijk.. the Mountain of Einstein

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People following this blog know of my admiration for the artist Gerard Verdijk.

Verdijk is becoming increasingly recognized as one of the most avant-garde and influential artists from the last century in the Netherlands, but now his name spreads slowly across the border . During his lifetime his works were collected all over the world and because Verdijk had admirers and collectors everywhere his works can be found in the most unlikely places. Because of his exhibitions in the Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany and even the US his audience grew slowly but constantly and after he had a large retrospective in Dordrecht 2 years ago it is now time for the largest publication ever on Verdijk.

The Mountain of Einstein will be published in an edition of only 500 copies by the end of 2018. It will be a hardcover edition; size : 30 x 30 cm., pages: 396 .

Price ; 99.00 euro

This book will not be available at www.ftn-books.com, but can be ordered with:

Josephine Sloet, Les Places, St. Quentin, 24200 Marcillac, France

josephinesloet@gmail.com

info@gerardverdijk.org

In case you are looking for other publications on Gerard Verdijk please have a look at www.ftn-books.com

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Frans Franciscus (1959)

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There was a time that i wanted to buy a very large painting by Frans Franciscus. I had seen it, i do not remember where or when, but wanted to see the painting in real life because i had my doubts about its size. To see the painting we visited the studio of Franciscus which he shared with Erwin Olaf, who was only locally known as a photographer. I remember it was somewhere behind the Amstel hotel and it must have been some 25 years ago. Still i remember the painting. It was a scene below the surface of the water and included several nude figures. I tried to find it on the internet , but could not find it. When we saw the painting in reality we concluded it was much too large . It would have covered the entire wall above our bed, leaving no space around it at all. This was a wise decision we made, but when i had a chance to acquire a nice print by Franciscus a few years ago i did not hesitate to buy it and it is now for sale

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…..and of course for some classic Frans Franciscus publications visit www.ftn-books.com

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start FTN art with Siep van den Berg

Today is another milestone for me as a bookdealer in art books, because today i started on these pages ………FTN art

There will be irregular additions to this page, but all works depicted on these pages are for sale and guaranteed originals. The first original is a drawing/collage by Siep van den Berg who made this in 1979.

tekening/collage uit een serie constructivistische tekening/ Collage in blauw die Siep van den Berg heeft gemaakt op 16 augustus 1979 in Andelaroche ( Fr.) De tekening is eerst opgezet in balpen waarna er blauwe vlakken zijn bijgeplaatst ( of omgekeerd).
De tekening is gedateerd 16 9 79. Met notitie “Heleen Jarig Geweest” en signatuur in zwarte inkt …SvdB.

Kunstenaar : Siep van den Berg
titel: Heleen Jarig Geweest
techniek ; balpen en collage in blauw
afmetingen ; 27,7 x 20 cm.
gesigneerd : SvdB in zwarte inkt
gedateerd : 16 9 79
conditie : MINT-

price : euro 150,–

shipping Netherlands : euro 8,60

worldwide shipping costs: 11,95

berg heleen a

 

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The collection by Salco Tromp Meesters and the JCJ Vanderheyden (1928-2012)

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Like  last weeks auction of the Klein Breteler collection, Salco Tromp Meesters decided that he had to sell his collection because he could not find a proper location for the 770 works to be preserved and shown. At one time there was the Congresgebouw in Den Haag who exhibited the collection, but this location ended when a valuable Schoonhoven painting was stolen from the building. The 770 works were practically all sold during auction in 1990 and one of them was a beautiful J.Cj. Vanderheyden. An early “pop art” like painting which i tried to acquire for my own collection, but was far from successful because the end price went way to high. What i remember about the painting is there were several mirrors fixed to the canvas and one of the painted object was a Citroen 2VC. I looked for the painting on Google but still can not find it. I every much would like to know its whereabouts, because for me this is one of the most iconic JCJ. van der Heyden paintings ever. Of course www.ftn-books.com has the most important JCJ. van der Heyden catalogues from the last 40 years available.

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