Tag: paris

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Bernard Buffet and TOXIQUE by Sagan

Why Bernard Buffet in this blog. …an hour ago i was reflecting on my early youth and i remembered we had a reproduction of a Clown by Bernard Buffet hanging on the wall.

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In the early sixties, Buffet was one of the most famous young artists who was appreciated by the great public. A recognizable style and what is more important…. No abstraction what so ever. A stylized reproduction of reality in portraits, landscapes and still lives and made available for a large audience through reproductions .

This resulted in an overkill of Buffet’s on the market and meant his work was not in fashion for at least 3o years, but now this is changing. Large retrospectives are being held and one now realizes that his works are part of the evolution in Modern Art. One of his very best 60’s artist publications is TOXIQUE , By Francoise Sagan

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and available at www.ftn-books.com, but looking through the inventory and reading some of his older catalogues you must admire the very personal style of Bernard Buffet and understand why he is now considered as one of the great artists from the 20th century.

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Rodin at the Groninger Museum

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August Rodin…. a legend among sculptors and a sculptor who is appreciated by young and old. The Musee Rodin in Paris receives over 700.000 visitors each year and now some great works from their collection are on loan at the Groninger Museum. In total 140 sculptures and 20 works on paper are in the Rodin exhibition, which makes it the largest Rodin exhibition in the Netherlands ever. So this is a great opportunity to visit the Mendini designed museum in the north of the Netherlands and visit the Rodin exhibition ( until the 30th of April 2017).

Groninger Museum, Museumeiland 1
9711 ME Groningen

What makes me look really forward to this exhibition, is the special part by Erwin Olaf. I know the sculptures by Rodin quit well, because i have visited the Musee Rodin and saw his exhibition in the Museum Het Paleis ( 1995) in The Hague multiple times. But these Olaf photographs are a first. Olaf photographed dancers of the National Ballet in typical Rodin poses, creating an atmosphere as if these photographs are taken in the Rodin studio. Spectacular photographs of these talented dancers with bodies like they were sculpted by Rodin himself.

For more information on Rodin look at these available books at www.ftn-books.com and the site of the Groninger Museum….www.groningermuseum.nl

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Ed van der Elsken(1925-1990)…an almost complete list of publications.

If there is one dutch sixties photographer who deserves world recognition for his entire oeuvre it certainly is Ed van der Elsken. Over 40 years of work in photography and cinema gives a spectacular list of publications:

Een liefdesgeschiedenis in Saint Germain des Prés (1956)

Bagara (1958)

Jazz (1959)

Dans Theater (1960)

Nederlands Dans Theater (1960)

de jong & van dam nv 1912-1962 (1962)

Sweet Life (1966)

Wereldreis in foto’s vier delen (1967-1968)

Eye Love you (1977)

Zomaar in een sloot ergens bij Edam (1977)

Hallo! Een nieuwe Ed van der Elsken (1978)

Amsterdam! Oude foto’s 1947-1970 (1979)

Avonturen op het land (1980)

Parijs! Foto’s 1950-1954 (1981)

Amsterdam? (1984)

‘Are you famous?’ (1985)

Elsken: PARIS 1950-1954 (1985)

San-jeruman-de-pure no koi L’Amour à Saint Germain des Près (1986)

Jong Nederland ‘Adorabele rotzakken’ 1947-1987 (1987)

Elsken: JAPAN 1959-1960 Nippon data (1987)

De ontdekking van Japan (1988)

JAZZ Ed van der Elsken 1955-1959.61 (1988)

Natlab (1989)

Africa Ed van der Elsken 1957 (1990)

ONCE UPON A TIME (1991)

Once upon a time (1993)

l’Amour! (1995)

Hong Kong the way it was (1997)

Leve ik! Ed van der Elsken Foto & Film Essays Filmografie (1997)

Nippon data & After Ed van der Elsken (2000)

Fotografie + Film 1949-1990 Ed van der Elsken Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg (2000)

Eye love you Ed van der Elsken Fotografies + films (1949-1990) (2001)

55 Ed van der Elsken (2002)

My Amsterdam Ed van der Elsken (2005)

 

But there is one which is not on this list published by the official site of Ed van der Elsken. It is the exceptional publication made for the van Abbemuseum in 1961, designed by Wim Crouwel with contributions by Karel Appel ( who made a special inlay) , Schierbeek and Lucebert….photography… YES!, by Ed van der Elsken.

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Like some of the others from the above publications this is available at www.ftn-books.com

and here are some of the others:

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Mark Brusse a dutch artist and world famous in….France

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Mark Brusse has been living in Paris/France now for a very long time , but he originated from the Netherlands, where he started his career as an artist in the 60’s. He is described as a “poetic” artist and works with a multitude of materials. Painting, drawing, etching and making sculptures….. a multi talented artist who was far less appreciated in his home country than in France, where has has lived now for most of his life. This is the reason why many more publications in French can be found on this artist than there are in dutch. The strength of Brusse is his simplicity. Whith a few lines, a small drawing or some well chosen colors he draws your attention into the work and because this poetic simplicity he persuades you to like and admire it. In recent months i myself experienced on at least 2 occasions the strength of his works. The first time was at auction at the Venduehuis where the BLUE SHACK was sold.

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…. a powerful painting and one i would have loved to have for my collection and the second time was a week ago where some Brusse prints were sold at Bubb Kuyper. These i was lucky enough to buy at a reasonable price and at least 2 of them will be for sale shortly at www.ftn-books.com

….but if you can’t wait for more information look at www.ftn-books.com to find many more publications on Mark Brusse.

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Pierre Soulages

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In contrast with the colorful works by Daniel Buren, This blog on Pierre Soulages. The master of black and white from France. I have not seen many works by him in the real, but what i have seen impressed me very much. One of the last museums i visited in France was the Centre Pompidou in Metz. The new museum which houses a few of the extremely large works from the Centre Georges Pompidou Museum. Among them a very impressive large Soulages.

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Only for this painting alone the museum is worth visiting. Bu there are a few others worth mentioning. A very impressive large Miro and one of the best Louise Nevelson sculptures i have ever seen.

But back to Soulages. Soulages is the French counterpart of Pollock and recognized as one of the great  abstract expressionists in the world. His works have been on show in several European Museums, but a few years ago  a special Soulages museum opened in Rodez. Became interested in Soulages? Then Visit the museums Georges Pompidou ( Paris and Metz) and the Soulages museum in Rodez. A great excuse for a trip to France …..

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and prepare your visits with some available books at www.ftn-books.com

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Jules Pascin and Montparnasse

First of all there are not many titles available on Jules Pascin at www.ftn-books.com, or any other site, because only a few titles were published over the years,  but that does not mean i do not like the works by this artist, who lived part of his life in Paris and belonged to the Montparnasse artist circle.

Jules Pascin, or the “Prince of Montparnasse, was a Bulgarian artist known for his paintings and drawings. He later became an American citizen. His most frequent subject was women, depicted in casual poses, usually nude or partly dressed.

Pascin was educated in Vienna and Munich. He traveled for a time in the United States, spending most of his time in the South. He is best known as a Parisian painter, who is associated with the artistic circles of Montparnasse and was one of the emigres of the School of Paris. Having struggled with depression and alcoholism, he committed suicide at the age of 45.

His works range from highly realistic, raw portraits to society portraits for the nouveau riche and  in between many beautiful women.

Highly  recognizable, erotic and typically Pascin

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Roland Topor

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I first heard about Topor when i was living in Paris for almost a year. It was one of these artists who was known for his illustrations and not for his Fluxus works. Later on… my idea about his works was reversed and i primarily saw him as a Fluxus artist. There were several times when i could buy his works at auction, but in only one i was successful . The remainder of the Vogtschmidt gallery was auctioned to compensate with gallery Vogtschmidt for the Karel Appels she had sold and not paid for. In the auction i bid a fair amount for a little drawing of an angel and this is still in my collection. Because it is not on the wall i decided to sell it and this made me remember Topor.

There is one Fluxus book you have to be on the look out for… SOUVENIR…  a book with crossed out words so nothing can be read. Published by the Harmonie  in 1975. Topor was the only person in the world who knows which text he had written and crossed out.

Arnon Grunberg made a nice biography ( incl. cd) on Roland Topor which is also for sale so please take a look at the Topor items i currently have available at www.ftn-books.com

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Hans Bellmer ( 1902 -1975)

Hans Bellmer poster
Hans Bellmer poster

Is Bellmer a dadaist or a surrealist painter?

A discussion which is held for decades now, but to me he is more  a surrealist artist than a Dada one.

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Born in Poland, but living most of his life in Paris he led a secluded life and died a lonely man in 1975. After his dead the appreciation for his art began. Books were published, exhibitions held and his works were sold all over the world, but during his lifetime he was not that well known, nor popular because of his chosen subjects.

Finally in the last decade of his life he was considered one of the leading surrealist artist from his time and specially the photo series on the doll/ “La poupée”  he made received international praise. His main theme in practically all of his works is an erotic approach to his subjects. Fetishism, voyeurism and sado masochism can frequently be found in his subjects, but the erotic content is not easily discovered. In most cases you have to study the composition of the work to distinguish the erotic parts within.

Finally in 1959 and 1964 he received some recognition by being invited for the Documenta in Kassel.

From 1953 Bellmer lived together with the writer Unica Zürn . A sad relationship , lonely , without any social activities, living in a secluded way in hotel de l’Esperance in Paris. Unica threw herself out of the window in 1970 and Bellmer died a lonely man in 1975. A sad life of a great artist . If you do not know anything about Bellmer start with Wikipedia and learn something about him and begin to discover the surreal world he has created.There are some great titles at www.ftn-books.com to be found on this fascinating artist.

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Jakob Bill….son of Max Bill

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The title sounds like a sequel to a popular horror movie, but it isn’t.

Somehow i have developed a liking for Swiss contemporary KONKRETE artists. Almost all are constructivists and Richard Paul Lohse and Jakob Bill are two of them. This time i will blog on Jakob Bill the son of the famous Max Bill and belonging to the group of Zurich Konkrete Kunst.

Outside Switzerland and Germany , Bill is not very well known, but when you visit the collections in Switzerland you encounter many works by Bill. The Zurich Museum/ Haus Konstruktiv organized some exhibitions with Bill, but his most important major exhibitions were all in Swiss Museums . Except for one…..Organized by one of the best galleries in the world. Galerie Denise Rene organized an exhibition in 1972. Denise Rene was the perfect gallery for an artist like Bill, they already represented great artist like Vasarely, Arp., Agam and Jesus Rafael Soto. Bill fits in perfectly. Perhaps this exhibition was a step forward for the popularity of the works by Jakob Bill, but still the artist is not very well known outside Switzerland and certainly deserves better.

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Picked a book from the shelf and it is…. MAN RAY

The book i picked is the book published by the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum and it reminded me of the exhibition we visited 2 years ago in which the sculptures by Brancusi were combined with the Man Ray’s the Boijmans had on loan and from their own collection. Impressive exhibition in which the Brancusi’s stole my heart. The setting and the sheer volume of the sculptures made this the best “outside Paris” exhibition on Brancusi i have ever seen. Man Ray and Brancusi both have been presented regularly in the Netherlands during the last 50 years, but there are only a few works in the collections of the Dutch museums. The Kroller Muller has bought one some 20 years ago. A “head”, but this was the last acquisition by a dutch museum .

So the fact that both were combined in the Boijmans van Beuningen museum was a sheer joy. I started with mentioning Man Ray, but ended with Brancusi ….and yes ,this is also how i feel about these artists in my personal ranking….first there is Brancusi and then there is Man Ray.

wilfried

www.ftn-books.com

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