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THREE plastic bags for the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag

It has been over 30 years now that i became part in producing these 3 plastic bags for the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag ( Kunstmuseum Den Haag ). I made these bags together with Joost Swarte ( middle ) who was instructed to combine all departments of the museum into one illustration. In the late Eighties Sol LeWitt was asked to design a bag for the museum. There were two different editions. One colorful and one black and white (depicted). LeWitt borrowed the lettering from the Swarte bag, but the design was specially made for the Museum and the one on the right t was a design by Gracia Lebbink who used the “new” style and logo of the museum in the early Nineties to make a simple but striking plastic bag.

All 3 plastic bags are for sale at www.ftn-books.com

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Fristho 1921-1978

A typical dutch furniture product is furniture by the Friesland based Fristho furniture factory. IT ceased to exist in 1978 but left us with some remarkable furniture pieces by the every best of dutch designers from mid last century. Among them Kho Liang Ie and Wim Crouwel who both designed for this factory.

Frsitho dressoir

Typical Fifties/Sixties furniture assembled from wooden parts . Looking very Sixties like, but some sixty years later they still look fresh and relatively modern. Now is the time to find iconic Fristho pieces and start collecting them. They are still to be found and are sold at reasonable prices. Guaranteed future classics among furniture collectors. The book on Fristho is now available at www.ftn-books.com.

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H.P. Bremmer (1871-1956)

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The book i recently read on H.P. Bremmer shows the importance of this art consultant/artist. Not only he advised Mrs Kröller Muller , but he maintained one of the most important art networks during his life, which made it possible for him to advise mrs. Kroller Muller, the very best of art which at that time was and became available. His network made it possible to acquire works by van Gogh, Seurat, Signac, Toorop ….but also more modern artists like Matisse, Toorop and Severini. The result was one of the most stunning art collections in the world and the collection still stands out for its quality and location in Otterlo. . At random some names that made it possible for H.P. Bremmer to maintain his network untiul his death in 1956. : Hannema, Huszar, Lemmen, Israels, Modriaan, Sluijters, Redonm, Toorop, Mendes da Costa.

netwerk bremmer

For those who mastered the dutch language….the very interesting book on H.P. Bremmer is now available at www.ftn-books.com

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Viktor & Rolf….a very special publication

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The Australian exhibition from 2016 was the fundament of the exhibition held at the Kunsthal to celebrate 25 years of fashion by Viktor & Rolf. Even the layout from this exhibition publication was used, but…….extended!

Beautiful and spectacular additions by the worlds best photographers and designers. Contributions by Anton Corbijn,, Cindy Sherman, Herb Ritts, Inez & Vinoodh, showing pieces worn by Madonna, Tilda Swinton and many others. I have seen many books on Fashion , but this is without a doubt one of the most spectecular ones and now available at www.ftn-books.com

viktor rolf c

 

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Natasja Kensmil (1973)

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Natasja Kensmil is one of those talents that emerged in the last 10 years and proved tobe highly important for modern art. Her art is personal and her style can not be compared to anyone else’s. If any….. i immediately though of Basquiat, but these paintings and drawings by Kensmil practically all tell a story or contain a message for the viewer. Her series of REGENTEN PORTRAITS  is a tribute to women who held a position in boards and committees who took care of the old and sick. It was not possible for women to hold a position within a company or government , but these woman made charity in these years possible and took care of the old and sick in society.Schermafbeelding 2021-08-16 om 14.07.56

Another multi panelled work is the “HUWELIJKS PORTRET VAN JOHANDE WITT AND WENDELA BICKER “. Natasja Kensmill forces us to look at our (not so nice) history and beside the importance of the art itself it makes us aware of the message too.

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The book i now have for sale at www.ftn-books.com is different. Personal, horror like drawings bound and published by Boekhandel Broekhuis in 2003. Edition of only 500 copies, this book already shows the attraction of Kensmil’s drawing. They attract and repel at the same time. This is the kind of art one must admire and i will be on thelook out for work by Kensmil for our collection.

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Phil Bloom (1947)

Phil Bloom for the HOEPLA TV program

The year 1967 and half of the dutch population spoke about the nude appearance of Phil Bloom on national Television. Phil Bloom lowered the newspaper and showed her nude upper body. It was a dutch first and raised a scandal. Later on one understood that this was not just nudity , but more a kind of Avant Garde kind of art initiated by Wim T. Schippers, who made 4 Hoepla programs of which the last one was withdawn by VPRO. You can see the actual appearance of Phil Bloom here:

https://archief.ntr.nl/jarenzestig/#/artikel/avant-garde-op-televisie

Since that appearance Phil Bloom wrote history and her name became  a household among my genaration, but Phil Bloom is still active as an artist, but now on the creating site. She makes and creates what is called Synthetic realism. Scenes in which realism is combined with a fairytale like surroundings. A colorful figure and one of those that wrote not only history but creates better world with her art.

www.ftn-books.com has a nice signed print by Phil Bloom available

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Frits van der Zander (1947)

Frits van der Zander

To be honest….i nveer had seen works by van der Zander before, but as soon as i discovered the catalogue Frits van der Zander/Schilder i thought his works to be inspiring. I remembered the first time i saw some paintings by Per Kirkeby and i felt the same emotions. They rfelect nature in some sort of way, bur are still almost abstract.

Since 1985, Frits van der Zander has been working on his sequence Genius Loci – ‘the spirit of the place’. The sequence is located at and limited by his home, a part of castle ‘Wynandshof op Gurtsenich’ in Houthem.

This has resulted in several exhibitions: the sequence Genius Loci I till IV, among others at Galerie Wolfs, Maastricht (from 1989), at Museum Van Bommel Van Dam, Venlo 1998 and at Musee d’Art Moderne et Contemporaine, Luik 1998 and also in de Oude kerk, Amsterdam in 1998. In 1994 the book ‘Frits van der Zander / Painter’ with text by Ben van Melick was published (isbn 90 802641 1 3).

The van der Zander book is available at www.ftn-books.com

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Sneeuwwitje / Snowwhite by Marlene Dumas

Just a blog on one of the fantastic works from the collection of the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag (Kunstmuseum). It is SNEEUWWITJE by Marlene Dumas. This is one of the most iconic paintings by Dumas and the painting has travelled all over the world . Now it is back again and on show in one of the rooms of the museum and because you can come up really close to the surface, you can distinguish every line drawn and brush stroke put on canvas. It is a masterpiece by one of the greatest artists alive….Marlene Dumas.

Because of my personal admiration of Dumas i have collected many scarce publications on the artist of which some are still for sale at www.ftn-books.com

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Richard P. Lohse and Camille Graeser, signed copies

Happy New Year! and to start two special books. Both artists admired by me and extremely pleased to announce that i have acquired for sale two signed publications by these artists. Both were signed and dedicated to Prof de Wit (de Wiet) and his wife in the late Sixties and mid Seventies.

This is probably a one time opportunity to acquire a signed copy by the artis of these highly collectable titles.

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Bernard Buffet ( continued)

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Readers will notice this second blog on Bernard Buffet. Buffet was a well known painter in the late Fifties and Early Sixties, but became out of fashion by the end of that decade. But lately there is a new interest in this painter and i can explain why. HIs gallery , galerie Garnier stayed with him during his career and never lost faith and secondly…..his way of painting in series was a way of producing a large number of paintings and i must say not all are of interest and have enough quality to convince, but there is one quality they have in common. These paintings have a style of their own. The Buffet style is there and it really is a style Buffet developed by himself. This makes these paintings stand out and the truly great ones are paintings one must admire. Perhaps Buffet is not the artist who has rose to absolute fame lije Picasso or Pollock. But his art is still there and with this art Buffet is a name which deserves a place in art history. www.ftn-books.com has added some galerie Garnier exhibtion catalogues and has collected a nice series of exhibition catalogues by Garnier which are still available.