I had to dig in my archives to find the subject of the Piet Dirkx weekly in the coming weeks and decided to show you some publications i have collected over the last 35 years.
The first is the invitation fot the artotheek Dordrecht presentation:
André van der Vossen (1893-1963)
A typical dutch abstract artist who was inspired by many of his great contemporaries. Autodidact he now has a nice following of admireres in the netherland who collect his work. You can recognize influences of Matisse, Miro and Calder in his works, specially when he uses torn papers to make his compositions. Compositions which are constructivist on first sight , but study them more closely they become far more loose and less rigid then the constructivist compositions of these times. I personally like his work very much and it is still very affordable to collect. Pollock and Soulages can be recognized within some of his compositions too, but with a very large difference. …..These works are sold at 1/10000 of their price levels.
Andre van der Vossen worked as a teacher at the Dienst Esthetische Vormgeving PTT and Joh, Enschede as a graphic designer and was member of Vrij Beelden, Creatie (Co-founder), de Salon des Réalités Nouvelles in Parijs and with Liga Nieuwe Beelden.
www.ftn-books.com has a nice publication available at www.ftn-books.com
Marcel Mariën (1920–1993)
Marcel Mariën was a Belgian artist, he was born in 1920 in Antwerp and died in 1993 in Brussels. During his childhood, Marcel Mariën faced big difficulties at school since he attended a school where the classes were imparted in Flemish. When he turned 15, he joined, as an apprentice, the atelier of a photographer who taught him all the foundations of photography. He joined in parallel the Superior Popular School for the workers, which led him to discover Rene Magritte’s work. A year later, he became interested in Surrealist paintings and started to write poetry. In 1937, Marcel Mariën went to Brussels to met Rene Magritte, Paul Colinet, Louis Scutenaire, Irene Hamoir and Paul Nouge. He participated for the first time in a Surrealist group exhibition, where he exposed his first object “l’Introuvable” that he created from his own broken glasses. On his return from his military service, he worked in the collective invention of Magritte and Ubac. During the war, Marcel Mariën helped healing the wounded, and then left to Dunkirk and Berck where he was taken prisoner. He was then sent to the concentration camp of Gorlitz until 1941. On his return to Brussels, he met Christian Dotremont and his wife Elisabeth. He founded the Editions “l’Aiguille Aimantee” and published several books. He participated with Scrutenaire and Nouge in the creation of the titles of Magritte’s books. In the beginning of the 40s,he made several trips to Paris, illegally transporting paintings by famous painters such as Picasso, Leger, Chirico and Renoir. Marcel published several books including the first biography of Magritte and participated in conferences about surrealism. In 1948, He settled in Brussels and lived from the profit of his books and from typing works, later on he started working on the “Silver Ocean” cargo sailing from Normandy to the French West Indies. Marcel Mariën met his wife Jane Graverol during Magritte’s first exhibition and with her he founded a communist newspaper they called ” Les Levres Nues”. Despite various deceptions, he managed to create several films including the movie “L’Imitation du Cinema” with Tom Gutt. In 1963, Marcel Mariën left to the United States.Where he worked multiple jobs.The following year, he left to Japan and then Hong Kong. He worked several months in Beijing as a proofreader of the propaganda Newspaper “China under construction” before leaving again to Europe in 1965. He came back to Belgium and published several text of Paul Nouge and Magritte. In 1967, Marcel Mariën exhibited his first collages and some objects. In 1973, he had to go in front of the justice for his past collaboration with the Nazis having participated in the creation of Leon Degrelle’s journal, but he was found innocent. In 1979, Marcel Mariën published a reference book about the history of surrealism in France. He published as well the correspondence of Scutenaire.
(the text above comes from Artsper)
www.ftn-books.com has some Marien titles available
Bettina Rheims (1952)….ANIMAL
Bettina Rheims has been working as an artist since the early Seventies but rose to fame with a controversial series on strip-tease artist in 1978. Since her career took of and she was invited to publish her series of photographs with one of the best publishers in the art book business…Gina Kehayoff. Kehayoff is known for making immaculate publications , and she outperformed herself with the publication of the ANIMAL series by Bettina Rheims. The series of black and white photographs was done in 1982 and published in 1994, hard, cloth bound with see through ( perspex?) cover.
The Animal series enabled her to train her lens on another form of nudity: that of stuffed animals with fixed stares, “which seemed to want to express something beyond death”.”I had to capture their gaze” declared the photographer.
This book is, together with “Morceaux choisis”, my personal favorit book by Rheims and both are available at www.ftn-books.com
Joost Swarte (1947) pins.
I do not exactly know how many pins by Joost Swarte there have been published during the last 35 years or so, but i have counted 25 of which the most part can be found on Google . These pins are among the very best small collectibles there are. Most of them were published by HET RAADSEL in the early Nineties, but others were published on the occasion of an event (Film Festival) or commissioned by a large corporation for their museum store (PTT museum). This is a world of small collectibles by Joost Swarte which has not been explored that much. The number of pins published can be overseen and prices are still fair , although rising quickly after recent auctions of these small objects.
www.ftn-books.com has 2 collectable Joost swarte designed pins available.
Piet Dirkx weekly
A rare one. This in house made publication by Piet Dirkx. april 1987
BNO & GKf and Proost Prikkels 251
The Beroepsorganistaie Nederlandse ontwerpers and the Beroepsvereniging van Fotografen GKF joint forces in a premium edition by the manufacturer of paper for printing purposes….Proost. Proost was known for its quality papers they delivered for printers in the Netherlands and abroad and every few month they published a Proost Prikkels edition to show in which way their papers could be used. The no. 251 is a very prestigious project since it contains fiches ( cards) on all the designers and photgraphers that used their papers. There are 80 fiches in this cassette which itseld is a beautifully typically designed 60’s project . On the front of the card , names address and short biography of the designer and the back holds a picture of one of his most iconic designs.
On the cards famous names like Piet Zwart, Wim Crouwel, Willem Sandberg, Jurriaan Schrofer and Otto Treumann ao. This is the history of dutch design in a smalll box and available at www.ftn-books.com
Terry Atkinson (1939)
Founding member of the art project group ART & LANGUAGE and a very gifted artist in his own right too. He began to teach art at the Coventry School of Artwhile producing conceptual works, sometimes in collaboration with Michael Baldwin. In 1968 they, together with Harold Hurrell and David Bainbridge who also taught at Coventry. formed Art & Language. The group including Atkinson existed until 1974, when Atkinson left the group.
Atkinson is not the easiest artist to fall for. His subjects are war, disease and religion, making his paintings hard to admire. Still the use of color is in many cases bright and uplifting. Atkinson is an artists artist and had his exhibitions in the Netherlands at galleries and the van Abbemuseum in 1984.
www.ftn-books.com has 2 titles available
Antonio Calderara (1903-1978) (continued)
Another blog on Calderara, not only because he is an important artist, but because i have added a very special Calderara to my inventory. It is a very small publication published by the van Eyck BV in the Netherlands. An edition estimated to be less than 500 copies and , what is more important. The little book contains 7 original small serigraphs/ silkscreens by the artist. Like so many of his publications, Calderara made something special of it. It is the same as with his Stedelijk Museum catalogue , which also contains 3 original serigraphs. One is already sold but i have 2 more copies available of this very special Calderara item.
Artist/ Author: Antonio Calderara/ tekst by : Jean Leering
Title : Antonio Calderara
Pages : 28
Publisher: van Eyck bv
Text / Language: dutch
printed by Rosbeek . this printer included 7 original small silkscreen/serigraphs within this beautiful publication
Measurements: 6.1 x 6.1 inches.
Condition: mint- for the cover/mint for the silkscreens
available at www.ftn-books.com
What is in a name? KUNSTMUSEUM DEN HAAG.
Is this the Iconic architectural masterpiece by H.P. Berlage ….Haags Gemeentemuseum?
or is this the home of the largest Mondrian collection in the world….Gemeentemuseum Den Haag?
Or is this the Kunstmuseum Den Haag, because the other names are not known enough among the visiting public.
Yes,Gemeentemuseum Den Haag stands for quality of its collections and is worldwide known for its epic Mondrian collection and Yes …to change the name of this museum is the latest idea by the current director of the Gemeentemuseum Benno Tempel who thinks that the other names are too complicated or not known enough in the art world and in this way it will be clear to everybody what the name stands for.
I personally have a different opinion. The name has changed far too many times during the last 4 decades and i am convinced that the name Gemeentemuseum Den Haag is now known among art lovers all over the world. With changing the name it is more likely that the visitors from outside Europe will think this is “new” perhaps even a german museum , since many museums in the German speaking countries are called ” KUNSTMUSEUM” (Bonn, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Solothurn Winterthur and Basel , Bern inSwitzerland). I think it is a pitty that every new director wants to make a change. Not every change is for the better and this change was not necessary at all. KUNSTMUSEUM is not very original and it does not make clear enough the high qualities of its collection.
The improvement Benno Tempel has in mind with this new name is non existent.
Many of the KUNSTMUSEUM DEN HAAG classic publications, published with its original names. Haags Gemeentemuseum and Gemeentemuseum Den Haag are available at www.ftn-books.com
