zero – Page 4 – FTN-blog

Posted on 27.04.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima into Zero art ( Staudt and Leblanc)

HRH King of the Netherlands, Koning Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima collect Zero art. It was yesterday evening that there was a 90 minute interview with King Willem-Alexander on the occasion of his 50th birthday on prime time television. An open and honest interview in which i learned to appreciate more the person Willem-Alexander is. I am still opposed to a King or Queen as head of state, but this was the first time i admired this King and learned that he and his wife Maxima appreciate Zero art. At the beginning of the interview , where Wilfried de Jong ( interviewer) was received in the entrance hall of the kings home, villa Eikenhorst. Willem- Alexander showed 2 of the works from his collection, the first was a work by Klaus Staudt ( he referred to it as being from a german artist) and the other was not mentioned at all , but i am for 99% sure it was a TORSIONS painting by Walter Leblanc.

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Both great works of art and it makes me curious about the other works in their collection. To celebrate the Kings birthday there will be a 10% discount today on the entire inventory of www.ftn-books.com and an invitation to the King to look at the great books i have in my collection on ZERO art.

We live nearby and it will be an honor to show you some nice ZERO publications.

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discount code only the 27th and the 28th of april: Koningsdag2017

Leblanc

Posted on 04.04.201711.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Yves Klein (1928-1962)

Yesterday i learned from a dutch TV program (DWDD / De Wereld Draait Door) that there is a large Yves Klein retrospective in the BOZAR museum Brussels.

Yves Klein , touched many currents in Modern Art, even was one of the participants in ZERO, but eventually developed a style of his own using in many of his works the iconic BLUE color he developed. Was it zero, action painting or performance art? Today art lovers around the world can not answer these questions , but one can see for one self what fits most, because there is a great retrospective on his art in BOZAR/ Bruxelles until the 20th of August. His monochrome blue paintings are on show together with his action paintings of blue prints of female bodies. A great show and possibly a once in a lifetime chance to see many important Yves Klein works together.

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Nowadays Klein paintings fetch record prices at auctions all over the world, but in one of his first shows In Krefeld in 1961 nothing was sold. This was followed by an unsuccessful opening at Leo Castelli’s Gallery, New York, in which Klein failed to sell a single painting. He stayed with Rotraut Uecker at the Chelsea Hotel for the duration of the exhibition; and, while there, he wrote the “Chelsea Hotel Manifesto”, a proclamation of the “multiplicity of new possibilities.” In part, the manifesto declared:

At present, I am particularly excited by “bad taste.” I have the deep feeling that there exists in the very essence of bad taste a power capable of creating those things situated far beyond what is traditionally termed “The Work of Art.” I wish to play with human feeling, with its “morbidity” in a cold and ferocious manner. Only very recently I have become a sort of gravedigger of art (oddly enough, I am using the very terms of my enemies). Some of my latest works have been coffins and tombs. During the same time I succeeded in painting with fire, using particularly powerful and searing gas flames, some of them measuring three to four meters high. I use these to bathe the surface of the painting in such a way that it registered the spontaneous trace of fire.

To prepare your self for the exhibition, know that over the decades excellent books on Klein were published. There are some available at www.ftn-books.com

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Posted on 17.03.201712.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Lucio Fontana (1899-1968)

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For me , he is one of the greatest from Last century. Lucio Fontana has had a long career in art and joined several groups, before he became part of the ZERO mouvement.

https://youtu.be/tOPR5YDVpUo

After ZERO he stayed true to his new found form of art in which monochrome paintings were slashed with a sharp Stanley knife or manipulated with his fingers,thus altering the surface with other materials and objects. Glass was one of his favorites to use. Fontana did not become very old, but in his art career of over 40 years he was one of the front runners in Modern Art. Willem Sandberg admired him very much and because of the importance of Zero and this admiration for Fontana, Fontana received his first Amsterdam monographic exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum in 1967. Catalogue design by Wim Crouwel makes this the perfect combination for a great publication. Sandberg/Crouwel and Fontana combined in one publication is hard to beat. Since 1967 , Fontana featured in many group exhibitions on Zero and had solo exhibitions all over the world. Art collectors must pay huge sums of money to acquire a Fontana ( if ever there is one for sale/ there was one at Dorotheum and Sothebys last year, they made specials on youtube on these paintings)

and Museums that have one in their collection are lucky, because his paintings are nowadays “hors catagorie”. What can be had at reasonable prices? Of course some great publication at www.ftn-books.com and whenever you find a MUSEUMJOURNAAL with the special Fontana cover, do not hesitate and ….BUY IT!!!.

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Posted on 20.02.201712.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Beauty and simplicity at de RIJK Fine art

Last week i was in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and was very much impressed by the Malevich and “white” rooms with Dekkers and Schoonhoven. White and nothing but white and it reminded me of the current exhibition at de Rijk Fine Art ( Noordeinde 95 /Den Haag).

Excellent, high quality, museum worthy paintings by ao Schoonhoven , Dekkers and Leblanc… in a totally different setting which was more a cosy living room ( including the dog ;-), than a gallery. The simplicity and in the same time complexity of the works, work very well in this setting. They do not need a museum presentation to show their true qualities. This exhibition lasts until the 26th of February so i advise you to take a look at the de Rijk gallery and see for yourself the qualities of this great and important gallery exhibition.

For publications on Schoonhoven, Dekkers and Malevich visit www.ftn-books.com

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Posted on 30.01.201712.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Zero..Walter Leblanc.. Edoardo Landi..Dadamaino at de Rijk Fine Art

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Last Saturday at De Rijk Fine Art in Den Haag a very exquisite small exhibition opened …name….Too Good To Be True…. and yes this is a small art dealer exhibition where all works shown are for sale and of a rare exceptional quality. Zero, Gruppo N and Minimal art all combined in one beautiful presentation and very well worth visiting, because such an excellent selection of works is rare.( I have never seen so many Dadamaino’s in one place for sale ….so only for this fact visiting is a must.)

We visited the exhibition last Sunday. Just returned from 2 days Vienna where we chose our new dog, we loved the contrast between the “Art Nouveau and Wiener Werkstatte” and the minimal, but still very complex modern art on show at De Rijk. For me there were 2 highlights. First of all the Walter Leblanc. aprox 90 x 90 cm. A Zero inspired circle of twisted strings from 1963 in AAA condition, very well framed and the lightning made this work in all its simplicity stand out as one of the very best Walter Leblanc’s i have ever seen.

Secondly there were 2 works by Edoardo Landi i liked very much. The larger one of the 2 won me over as soon as i started to take some distance from it. The space between the lines appeared to be different each time, meaning an extra dimension was added to the work. Visiting Den Haag?…go to de Rijk to see some amazing art!

De Rijk Fine Art, Noordeinde 95, Den Haag, +31(0) 653953493

Leblanc

The above publications are available at www.ftn-books.com

Posted on 21.01.201712.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

ZERO….the second exhibition

Mid sixties ZERO became an important part within the exhibition and collection program of the Stedelijk Museum. a.0. Jan Schoonhoven being one of the artists being presented. Zero had become “main stream” and accepted and therefore it was time for a large overview of what was and had become ZERO/ NUL. Wim Crouwel was asked for the design of the 2 catalogues. One with text and one with images. Both are exceptional designs executed in a glossy silver , perfect measurements and simple but beautiful typography.

( set is available at www.ftn-books.com)

Crouwel set

ZERO Stedelijk Museum

Posted on 19.01.201712.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Informele Kunst exhibition / 1983

Yes ….34 years ago i was a rookie and just had walked into the museum world and there there was this exhibition which i could not understand. An exhibition on INFORMELE KUNST in Nederland en Belgie ( dutch language) in the Schamhart wing with at the entrance an extremely large painting by Jan Cremer. At the time it was painted he asked a price for it of 1 million guilders.

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At that time a ridiculous amount of money for a work of art, but time passes and if i had known what i know on art now i would have started collecting these works which were within the exhibition. names? Schoonhoven, Leblanc, Cremer, Peeters, Armando, Verheyen, Gentils, Mortier. If only……….

A pity I did not start collecting these artists, because then the time was perfect to buy at reasonable prices. Prices started to rise from that year on and the end is not in sight. What remains is the excellent catalogue which is still available at www.ftn-books.com

Informele Kunst

Posted on 14.01.201712.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

ZERO..the first Stedelijk Museum catalogue

If there is one iconic ZERO catalogue it is the very first ZERO catalogue published with the ZERO exhibition of 1963. SO here are the photographs which makes this very important catalogue available to all. catalogue for sale at www.ftn-books.com

Next week the second ZERO/NUL exhibition set

Posted on 01.01.201712.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Henri Michaux ( 1899-1984)

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Henri Michaux had two talents. For me, above all , he was a painter, but others would say he was a poet/writer. Michaux was good with language and because of that it was easy for him to derive from his letters, signs and bend them into a completely different language of art and make an abstract composition with them.

If i had not known a little more about Michaux and of his background as a writer i easily would have categorized him among the ZERO artists. (on the left there is a drawing by Michaux and on the right there is a drawing by Jan Schoonhoven.)

But his “signs” are not made randomly. Some of his most intriguing ones are done under the influence of LSD and Mescaline with which he experimented. Two separate methods in creating great art by 2 artists, resulting in almost the same composition, some 10 years apart from each other ( 1963 and 1974), but both highly intriguing.

The books are all available at www.ftn-books.com

blog is published on www.ftn-blog.com

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Posted on 19.12.201612.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Stanley Brouwn (1935)

Stanley Brouwn….Autodidact artist, born in Paramaribo/ Suriname and a conceptual artist for his entire artistic life began to fascinate me some 20 years ago when i bought an artist book in which the exact measurements of 1 meter were repeated for over 50 pages . Most of his conceptual works were published in books and because of this, his books are considered as the actual work of art. Small publications, in many cases far less than 500 copies make these highly collectable items. This is work from an artist who is as a conceptual artist closely related to ZERO, but also to FLUXUS . Original in his own way i would say he is not ZERO and not FLUXUS….no he is Stanley Brouwn and very much worth collecting.

some of the Brouwn publications are available at www.ftn-books.com