sandberg – Page 8

Posted on 29.09.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Robert Capa (1913-1954)… a war photographer

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Only 41 years of age , but with an iconic oeuvre he left us.. Some examples of photographs we all have encountered for more than once in your lives. Foremost Capa was a war photographer and left us some iconic photographs. but when you study the Magmum site (https://pro.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&ERID=24KL535353 ) you discover that beside his war photographs there are some tremendous other photographs to be found within the Magnum archives, but that his most important subject was WAR in all its aspects and cruelties. A true journalist photographer who showed us the cruelties of war . No polished photographs but a raw image of the reality.

What i stumbled upon when searching for material on Capa is that he had an affair with the famous Ingrid bergman. In 1945 after the fall of Nazi Germany, Capa was staying at the Hotel Ritz on Place Vendôme where he met Hollywood actress, Ingrid Bergman. Bergman was traveling around Europe to see the devastation caused by the war, and entertaining the troops. When they met, Bergman was still married to Petter Lindström who she had a baby with. Capa asked Bergman for dinner, and soon after they started to have an affair. In 1946, Bergman asked Capa to come to Hollywood with her, and he did. While Capa was in Hollywood, he visited her at a studio where she was filming, Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Notorious’. Capa had shot some still photos for the film which he was given no credit for when they were published Hitchcock later made a film with James Stewart and Grace Kelly in 1954, called ‘Rear Window’, loosely based on Capa and Bergman. Bergman wanted to marry Capa and also tried to convince him to quit his job to work in Hollywood. Capa knew that he wouldn’t fit in, and told Bergman that he can’t have a wife and kids because of his duties of work. Their affair ended when Capa left Hollywood for an assignment in Turkey.

There is a great Capa and Magnum publication available at www.ftn-books.com

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Posted on 01.09.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Piet Zwart (1885-1977)…dutch design

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There is so much to be told about Piet Zwart, but a short blog on him can only indicate his importance to the world of design and typography. If ever there was a designer who’s influence is of worldwide importance, it is Piet Zwart. I wish my friend David took care of this blog, because he is far more knowledgable on Zwart than any other person i know of. About 40 years ago, shortly after Piet Zwart died, he received some major exhibitions in the Netherlands. Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and the Boijmans van Beuningen museum all had their Piet Zwart retrospectives of which the one curated by Flip Bool for the Gemeentemuseum was probably the most important one. There was a long relationship between the Gemeentemuseum and Piet Zwart, which resulted in an extensive gift from the Zwart family and several exhibitions on Piet Zwart and his designs in the Gemeentemuseum of which some publications are still available at www.ftn-books.com. For all collectors of Zwart… i want to inform you that there are some very nice catalogues of Piet Zwart items still available at Bubb Kuyper in Haarlem. Bubb Kuyper held special Piet Zwart auctions during the last 3 years in which they auctioned many rare Piet Zwart items.

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One more things on Piet Zwart that you possibly did not know of. Because of the relationship with Piet Zwart , the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag placed a bench in its garden. design?….yes, Piet Zwart and to memorate his 80th Birthday , Willem Sandberg designed a special publication which is also available at ftn-books.

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PS.

I almost forgot. The street lightning in some of the older parts of Den Haag…yes , also Piet Zwart’s design.

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Posted on 30.08.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Henri Cartier Bresson (1908-2004)

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If ever there is a photographer who is recognized as one of the greatest ever, it is Henri Cartier Bresson. Being a Magnum photographer you can see and discover many known and unknown photographs by Henri Cartier Bresson on this site:

http://pro.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&ERID=24KL53ZMYN

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What it also shows is the power of black and white photography. It is in many cases far more authentic and beautiful than color photography and Heni Cartier Bresson proves that he is one of the most original and talented . Beautiful compositions and catching the very best important moments to make the perfect photograph.

www.ftn-books.com has some nice books on Henri Cartier Bresson , including the excellent Sandberg designed catalogue for his Stedelijk Museum exhibition in 1963.

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Posted on 24.08.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Jackson Pollock ( 1912-1956 )…the ultimate abstract expressionist.

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It was 1977. …..the first time i visited the US and went to New York together with my father we visited the museum of Modern Art. In which i saw for the very first time a large Jackson Pollock drip painting. It was an amazing experience and i remember standing in that room …in awe and amazement of such a large , beautiful, impressive, overwhelming abstract painting. The size of it, the spontaneous dripping and the extreme detail when you went close up to it, opened a door to abstract Modern Art for me. Since i have seen many Pollock paintings, but none was so perfect as the very first one i encountered in the Moma. the ONE, number 31, 1950 painting

There are some nice action movies with Pollock painting to be found on Youtube and this is possibly the one that shows best the creating of a Pollock painting.

and i am proud to have both Pollock catalogues that were produced for the Pollock exhibitions in the Stedelijk Museum at www.ftn-books.

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Posted on 19.08.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Willem Sandberg (1897-1984) typography

It is almost a year since I tipped the readers of my blog to start to collect Willem Sandberg typography. Since, i have found some interesting examples of his excellent typography which i want to present to you. For those of you who are new in reading this blog. Willem Sandberg was a designer /typographer who became director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam for a very long period ( 1945-1963) who designed many of the publications during this period of time and who contacted and presented many of the most famous 20th century artists in the Stedelijk Museum. His publications are characterized by the use of plain ( carton like papers) and the lettering looks random, made out of torn papers. But these are very accurate designs. You can find many sources of information on Sandberg on the internet, but one of the best is still the site of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. ( www.stedelijk.nl ). Now here are some new and old additions to the inventory of www.ftn-books.com

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Posted on 15.08.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Polish art and typography

While leafing through my documents, I noticed some very nice and interesting publications from and on Polish art and typography. These are a combination of Russian and western art and typography, making them stand out and being typical for Poland. It is the same with Japanese typography.

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A style of typography of its own , but with influences from western typography and design. But back to Poland. This very unique way of design was recognized by Willem Sandberg, who organized an exhibition on Polish posters. Whenever i visit a book) market i always pick them up , because of their appearance and some are worth collecting and selling. Take a look at www.ftn-books.com

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to find some of these very nice publications.

Posted on 13.08.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

William N. Copley / CPLY (1919-1996)

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I always believed that Copley was as much appreciated in the US as he was appreciated in the Netherlands and Germany, But the reality must have been different since i read a short article on his life. His sixties works were not appreciated and understood in the US. People thought his work was pornographic, but in Europe there was a different understanding about these works . Here they were thought to be erotic and because of this different approach to these great works, they were presented in a solo exhibition within the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in 1966. Accompanied by a great Wim Crouwel catalogue, which is available at www.ftn-books.com.

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This appreciation of his art in the Netherlands, must have resulted in the admiration for dutch artist from the sixties and seventies by his daughter Claire who had an influential gallery in the early seventies in which she presented Ader, Dibbets and van Elk who all have become well known outside the Netherlands

If you look at these paintings now you can only ask yourself why these are being found to be pornographic…..These are great “erotic” Pop Art paintings.

CPLY X-Rated

Copley’s works in the 1970s focused on his own understating of differences and challenges between men and women in romantic and sexual relationships. His works were now erotic, even pornographic. In 1974 he exhibited these new works at what was then the New York Cultural Center in Columbus Circle, New York in a show titled “CPLY X-Rated.” These pieces were a sudden change from his previous romantic whimsical periods. The American public had difficulty with the material, for which Copley expressed, “Americans… don’t know the difference between eroticism and pornography. Because eroticism has always existed in art. And pornography has never necessarily been in art. Copley’s experienced greater feedback in Europe, where the work was then well received. In conjunction with the New York Cultural Center Show there was a special “CPLY X-Rated Poster and Catalog.

The Claire S. Copley Gallery was a Los Angeles gallery on La Cienega Boulevard that existed from 1973-1977. Together with the galleries of Eugenia Butler, Rolf Nelson, Nick Wilder, and Riko Mizuno, the Claire Copley Gallery played an important role in the Los Angeles art scene of the 1960s and 1970sThe gallery provided a venue for emerging American and European minimalist and Conceptual artists, among them Bas Jan Ader, Terry Allen, Michael Asher, Daniel Buren, Jan Dibbets, Ger Van Elk, On Kawara, Joseph Kosuth, avid Lamelas, William Leavitt, Allan McCollum, and Allen Ruppersberg. ( part of the above information was found on Wikipedia)

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Posted on 14.07.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Pinot Gallizio (1902-1964)

Schermafbeelding 2017-07-14 om 15.00.38 The inventor of industrial painting? i am not sure, but here follows the text i found on Wikipedia on Gallizio after i sought information on him. He is rather obscure and rarely presented in collections , but in the 60’s the Stedelijk Museum held an exhibition and published an extremely nice catalogue on him. But this artist deserves better because for many he was a source of inspiration and a great influence. he was admired by Jorn, Constant and Debord.

https://youtu.be/XD21kq8bz0s

Pinot-Gallizio was born in Alba, Piedmont, where he became an independent Left councilman and a chemist. In 1955, he met Asger Jorn, with whom he co-founded the Experimental Laboratory of the Imaginist Bauhaus in Alba, which was part of the International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus, in opposition to the return to productivism by others in the Bauhaus school, in particular Max Bill. It was held in Pinot-Gallizio’s studio, a monastery from the seventeenth century, and was attended by such artists as Enrico Baj who experimented with nuclear painting techniques, Walter Olmo, who experimented with musical interventions, Ettore Sottsass, Elena Verrone, and Piero Simondo.

Pinot-Gallizio drew from his background as a chemist in developing new painting techniques. In 1956 he, along with Jorn, organized the First World Congress of Free Artists, at which a representative from the Lettrist International spoke, foreshadowing the foundation of the Situationist International in 1957 by members of both groups, including Pinot-Gallizio. At this conference the Italian artists withdrew from the Laboratory, and after the formation of the SI only Pinot-Gallizio and his son, Giors Melanotte, remained. He helped to make the SI known in the art world with an exhibition in Paris in 1959

www.ftn-books.com has the Stedelijk Museum publication available

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Posted on 25.06.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

It is just a painting by …Kandinsky

…..and there are many more far more important Kandinsky paintings than the one recently sold at a record price.

Source is Blouin art info. This is what i read this morning and shows exactly what i was talking about yesterday.

Sotheby’s has smashed the auction record for Wassily Kandinsky not just once but twice during its Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale in London.

“Murnau – Landschaft mit grünem Haus” 1909 was the first to break the artist’s previous auction record of $23.3 million when it sold for £21 million / $26.4 million.

Six lots later “Bild mit weissen Linien” 1913 broke the record for the second time, selling for a monumental £33 million / $41.6 million.

The sale also achieved a new auction record for Joan Miro in sterling with the artist’s “Femme et oiseaux” 1940 selling for £24,571,250.

Sotheby’s, Actual Size and Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sales achieved a combined total of £148.9 Million / $187.7 Million / €169.5 Million, with the three top sales marking the first time that three works have sold for over £20 million in a London auction.

Helena Newman, Global Co-Head of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Department & Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe, said: “To have three landmarks in the development of 20th Century art by Kandinsky, Miró and Giacometti come to the market in a single sale tonight was momentous.”

“Collectors were out in force, participating from a record number of locations around the globe, with the level of Asian buyers as numerous as those from the US, underscoring the enduring importance of London as a key driver of the global art market,” she added.

Art has become an investment and something to break records with. Accessible to the “Happy Few”, but art is more than just a record at an auction sale. Art is a very personal experience. In which it moves you, reaches out to you and eventually stays with you the rest of your life. There are some Kandinsky books available at www.ftn-books.com

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Posted on 21.06.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Fernand Leger (1881-1955)

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I am still in doubt for myself if i must consider Leger as one of the great artists from last century…or does he uses a ‘Trick” to compose and impress with his paintings. If one sees an extremely large sized work …it is almost in every case impressive, but as soon as it is a smaller one, the attraction is gone. I will show this with to examples. The first painting is roughly 3 x 4 meters and in the collection of the Fondation Maeght. The send is Trois Camarades in the collection of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. The first has typical figures by Leger with an abstract pattern painred over them….. a beautiful and impressive Leger. The second one, is for me far less appealing and a “flat” painting.

Make up your mind yourself on Leger , but know that there are some excellent publications available at www.ftn-books.com including a famous Sandberg designed catalogue