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Richard Serra (continued)

We are relocating!
In the coming weeks we will be occupied with packing and moving our internet store inventory. The entire collection needs to be transferred from Leidschendam to Oegstgeest, and this will take some time.
If all goes according to plan, we will be fully operational again on November 21st, but until then, it may happen that we are unable to immediately assist you with your order. We ask for your understanding, but as soon as possible, your order will be fulfilled with the utmost speed.

Richard Serra is a sculptor and video artist. Initially, he pursued a degree in English literature. To support himself financially, he worked as a student in a local steel factory. These experiences would have a decisive impact.

In 1961, Serra studied art at Yale University (New Haven). He was initially interested in painting. After becoming friends with composer Philip Glass in Paris, he realized that his future lay in sculpture. He returned to the United States, settled in New York, and in the period of 1966-1967, created unconventional works with rubber and neon tubing.

His circle of friends expanded to include artists such as Steve Reich, Carl Andre, Sol LeWitt, Walter De Maria, and Eva Hesse. Robert Smithson had a major influence on his choice for environmental art and land art.

Serra is considered a minimalist and creator of land art. He became known for his monumental works of corten steel. He has grown to become one of the most influential contemporary American sculptors and minimalists. Serra’s largest work in corten steel is “The Matter of Time,” which can be seen at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. It includes eight installations with fifty elements, including ellipses, circles, and spirals.

Many collections and museums have included Serra’s works. In the Netherlands, his works can be seen in Maastricht (Bonnefantenmuseum), Otterlo (Kröller-Müller Museum), Rotterdam (Boijmans Van Beuningen), Amsterdam (Stedelijk Museum), Tilburg (De Pont), and Wassenaar (Voorlinden).

www.ftn-books.com has multiple Serra titles available.

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Land art Flevoland

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Until 2012 there was an organisation and Modern Art museum in Almere which was responsible for the maintenance and exploitation of the Land art projects in Flevoland ( in the middel of the Netherlands).

The museum was called “de Paviljoens” and presented some breathtaking projects during its existence. But because of financial problems they had to close their doors in 2012.

However the good thing is the world famous land art projects are still there. Projects by Robert Morris and Richard Serra are world famous and the “green cathedral” by Marinus Boezem deserves to be known by many more than the few who know of its existence.

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So we are still fortunate that these great land art projects are still there and hopefully funding will be there to preserve these for future generations. Here is the site which presents these great works of art on the internet:

https://landartflevoland.nl/en/

Land art Deltawerk // (2018) Riff, PD#18245 (2018) PIER+HORIZON (2016) Exposure (2010) Polderland Garden of Love and Fire (1997) De Groene Kathedraal (1996) Sea Level (1996) Aardzee (1982) Observatory (1977) More land art in the area

www.ftn-books.com has a series of “de Paviljoens” introductions and books available on these land art artists.

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Ruud Kuijer (1959)

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It takes some time to appreciate the sculptures by Ruud Kuijer, but as his scultures grew in their sizes i started to admire more and more his works. It must have been in the mid Eighties that we once met, shook hands and had a short conversation, but i never have met him since and i did not search for his works until a few years ago i saw pictures of his WATERWERKEN series.

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Impressive, complex, extremely large sized sculptures that reminded me in their size and presence of the Richard Serra THE MATTER OF TIME, which is also extremely large and can only be admired within or from a distance. The Waterwerken series can be found on the Ruud Kuijer site, but there is much more to the sculptures by Ruud Kuijer. You can find some nice publications at www.ftn-books.com in which his earlier sculptures can be found and admired including the recently Centraal Museum catalogue from1990.kuijer centaal

The sculptor Ruud Kuijer is known for his abstract sculptures made from ordinary materials such as wood, concrete, iron, rope and threaded rod. His Waterworks project, a line of seven large sculptures situated along the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal in Utrecht, has attracted a lot of attention. Kuijer’s work is involved in many contemporary sculpture exhibitions, private- and museum collections and projects worldwide.

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Claes Oldenburg (1929)

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Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. They are a couple and the reason i mention this is that without Coosje van Bruggen , Oldenburg would never have become the great artist he now is. van Bruggen has written all monographs on Oldenburg and is mentioned in every publication. van Bruggen was his second wife, but undoubtedly the one who had the greatest influence on him and his works. It was about 15 years ago that i for the first time encountered in real life some other work by Oldenburg than the screw from the Boymans van Beuningen collection.

We visited the Guggenheim in Bilbao and there they were ( nowadays the space is occupied by the MATTER OF TIME by Serra) Immense sculptures made out of polyester and painted in bright colors in a Gehry surroundings. The ensemble of both reminded me of a Disneyland setting, but these sculptures were so impressive that i, for the first time, realized the importance of Oldenburg as a sculptor. It is still a rare occasion that i encounter a large Oldenburg but since the Bilbao sculptures i am looking with different eyes to all Oldenburg sculptures including the very familiar SCREW at the Boymans van Beuningen museum. www.ftn-books.com has some nice Oldenburg publications available including the Crouwel designed Stedelijk Museum catalogue from 1977 and the Crouwel designed poster for this exhibition.

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Wim Crouwel / Total Design- 20 jaar verzamelen / Stedelijk Museum, 1984

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Followers of this blog know of my special interest in the publications of the Stedelijk Museum. I have many titles avaialable and ftn-books.com is one of the first sources that is consulted when it comes to publications of and on the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Yet…. one learns every day, even when you have so many catalogues by the Stedelijk Museum available as i do. It has been years ago that i last saw this catalogue which was published by the Stedelijk in 1984 which gives the best and complete overview of their collecting in the period 1963-1984.

Why is this important? Personally i think that this is the period in which the SM made their best and most important purchases. How about important acquisitions like the ones by Kelly, Dubuffet, LeWitt, de Kooning , Mangold , Lichtenstein and Warhol. Just a few names that belong to the most famous ones, but among the hundreds of these acquisitions there is so much quality art acquired that only with these acquisitions one can fill an entire collection and become  with this collection one of the most important Modern Art Museums in the world. The book was compiled by Joosten and designed by Total Design/ Wim Crouwel, which makes it even more worthwhile collecting . It is now available at www.ftn-book.com

20 jaar verzamelen sm