Rudi Fuchs

Rembrandt in Amsterdam

Katharina Sieverding

Stiftung Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen

Katharina Sieverding, 1967-1997

Aldo van Eyck

Climbing frames, arches, igloos, tumbling bars, jumping stones, and climbing walls all found their way into unsightly wastelands and boring squares thanks to the visionary help of architect Aldo van Eyck, who transformed urban spaces in Amsterdam into more than 700 playgrounds between 1947 and 1978. Beyond the sites' spatial designs, van Eyck also developed a whole series of sandpits, climbing frames, and other equipment in his radical, charming recreation of the city into a space for play. This book considers the importance of the playground in general and more specifically within the international postwar developments in city planning. Van Eyck's sources of inspiration, from Kurt Schwitters to Jacoba Mulder, are surveyed. The playgrounds themselves are examined on the basis of how they were received at the time of construction, through letters from neighborhood residents, memoranda by public officials, and the reactions of contemporary architects. A separate essay traces what happened to the playgrounds after 1978, and how van Eyck's ideas resonate in the design practices and spatial planning policy of today.

The Playgrounds and the City

Aldo Van Eyck

Robert Storr

Essay by Robert Storr. Introduction by Rudi Fuchs.

Eye Infection

Amsterdam (Netherlands). Stedelijk Museum

Geurt Imanse

This catalogue illustrates acquisitions to the museum over a ten year period covering sculpture, painting, drawings, video and film, photography, eramics, glass, posters and industrial design.

Aanwinsten/Acquisitions, 1993-2003, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Leontine Coelewij

Rob Birza

Dominic van den Boogerd

Erik Hagoort

Born in 1961, Rob Birza is one of the most lauded contemporary Dutch artists; when he first rose to prominence in the early 90s he was hailed as the very salvation of Dutch painting. In fact his oeuvre ranges across painting, sculpture, video and installation work, drawing freely on different styles and genres throughout the history of Western and non-Western art and mass culture. Loaded with reference and erudition, Birza's work rewards scrutiny, and is well served by this superb volume.

Cold fusion

Castello di Rivoli (Museum : Rivoli, Italy)

Domenico Bianchi, Alan Charlton, Günther Förg, Barbara Kruger, Toon Verhoef

Günther Förg

Back and Forth The 100 plus new abstract canvases, carefully reproduced in this book with its unusual format, are the result of one of the most intensive phases of work by Günther Förg in recent years, which took place between Autumn 2008 and Spring 2009. The artist places a sequence of calculated colour fields into a basic grid, which changes from format to format, each individual painting having its own tonal rhythm characterised in turn by a high degree of physical concentration. It is then no coincidence that Rudi Fuchs' linguistically stirring yet acutely observed text discerns an affinity between this work and Piet Mondrians's last und most unusual painting, »Victory Boogie Woogie«. However, the way the palette of colours is organised, supplemented by the structure of each individual colour field, substantially differentiates Günther Förg's endeavour from that his predecessor. In fact it is the free flow of the brushstrokes, the delicate upward and more forceful downward movement alongside the choice of colours, which together propel each individual composition beyond the scope of all previously known abstraction. Or as Rudi Fuch's puts it: »Whether he painted vibrating colour fields, irregular grids comprising raw, fibrous lines, he always had clever interruptive strategies in the implementation. Figuration had to give way in order to release the primordial energy of the brushstroke in its purest form: vigorous abstraction«.

Back and Forth

Silvia Fabro

Didactica Magna Minima Moralia

Luciano Fabro

Kurt Schwitters

Jean Arp

Gunda Luyken

Museum der Bildenden Künste (Leipzig, Germany)

Siegfried Gohr

Rudolf Jahns

Ich ist Stil

Jan Hoet

Palazzo Grassi

Rudolf Herman Fuchs

With historical and critical essays by the curators as well as by leading Dutch and Italian art historians, and lavishly illustrated with over 300 color plates, Flemish and Dutch Painting is essential for anyone interested in the art of Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as for readers who want to see beyond the familiar points of view of New York and Paris.

From Van Gogh, Ensor, Magritte, and Mondrian to Contemporary Artists

Flemish and Dutch Painting

Sean Scully

A catalogue of the recent exhibition featuring Scully's 'Landline' paintings, which address the artist's preoccupation with the horizon. Sean Scully is one of the most important abstract artists of our time. His new publication, Landlines and other recent works, accompanies the artist's major solo exhibition at De Pont Museum, Tilburg, and centres on three important bodies of work: Doric, Landline and Eleuthera, Scully's first representational works in half a century. The publication also presents a generous selection of previously unseen early works, illustrating the world-renowned painter's development as an artist. High-quality photography illustrates the artworks both individually and in situ at the De Pont Museum's unique exhibition space. The book also includes three exemplary pieces of critical writing; Rudi Fuchs gives a rigorous analysis of Scully's robust and architectural Doric series of paintings, Kelly Grovier contributes an extensive, melodic text tracing the deep roots of Scully's recent figurative paintings, while Declan Long reflects upon Scully's undulating Landline series of paintings.

Landlines and Other Recent Works

Donald Judd

Marianne Stockebrand

The Chinati Foundation is widely considered one of the world’s most important destinations for experiencing large-scale contemporary art. It was founded by Donald Judd (1928–1994), whose specific ambition was to preserve and present a select number of permanent installations that were inextricably linked to the surrounding landscape. Chinati is located on 340 acres of desert on the site of former Fort D.A. Russell in Marfa, Texas. Construction and installation at the site began in 1979 with help from the Dia Art Foundation, and it was opened to the public in 1986. This handsome publication is the first comprehensive presentation of the Chinati Foundation’s collection in more than twenty years. The book describes how Judd developed his ideas of the role of art and museums from the early 1960s onward, culminating in the creation of Chinati (and including its two predecessors—his buildings in New York and his residence in Marfa). The individual installations at Chinati are presented in chronological order with stunning photography; these include work by John Chamberlain, Dan Flavin, David Rabinowitch, Roni Horn, Ilya Kabakov, Richard Long, Carl Andre, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen, as well as Judd himself. His installations at Marfa include 15 outdoor works in concrete and 100 aluminum pieces housed in two carefully renovated artillery sheds. The book also features writings by Judd relating to Chinati and Marfa, and a complete catalogue of the collection.

Rudi Fuchs

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