New books at Bax Book Store

How influences of western esotericism in art are influenced by family networks

Art is not only the product of artistic inspiration, it is also determined by the social context of an artist. The avant-garde was ideologically determined by Western Esotericism, especially spiritualism, modern theosophy and anthroposophy. Genealogical methods uncover networks of artists, which not only run ‘vertically’ in generations, but also in ‘horizontal’ lines between families.
Text in Dutch.

Mondrian's Passions

No artist has changed the face of modern art, design and architecture more fundamentally than the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian. During his career Mondrian slowly but surely evolved from a traditional 19th century realist painter to the prime pioneer of pure abstraction.
Post-war art historians and critics have always depicted Mondrian as an odd hermit, socially shy and introverted, with a frame of thinking as rectilinear as his art and his Calvinist upbringing.
But how true to his life is this image really?
This book is about Mondrian’s true passions: how painting, the struggle with outward appearance and painterly substance, becomes the inner expression of a view on life; how writing about painting evaluates ideas and development; and the cultivation an extensive social network to reach out to the world.
Mondrian’s message can be condensed into the magical amount of seven words: Art is passion, and passion is life.
This book contains a selection of seminal essays on Mondrian, published in international exhibition catalogues and books between 1994 and 2014, in various languages.

The painting methods of Piet Mondrian, Theo van Doesburg and Bart van der Leck

De Stijl movement never was a coherent group. Analysis of the painting methods of Piet Mondrian, Theo van Doesburg and Bart van de Leck reveal why.

  

How genealogy explains Theo van Doesburg's alias

The real name of the artist Theo van Doesburg, most active propagator of the De Stijl movement, was Christian Emil Marie Küpper. How and why did this Emil Küpper decide on his alias? Genealogy has all the answers.

 

Virtual Mondrian Museum - Mondrian3D

On Piet Mondrian's birthday, March 7, a new Mondrian museum opens its doors to the wide public: Mondrian 3D. The museum is a production of Activeworlds Europe, DXMedia and Bax Art Concepts & Services.

The concept of the museum is an extension of the ideas of Mondrian himself, even though the idea of a virtual environment didn’t exist in his time, at least not in this way. Mondrian wanted his art to be available to everyone, so that everyone could become familiar with his ideas. He had high ideals about the function of his art in modern society. He wanted his art to fit in with the latest technological and social developments, and at the same time it should deepen cultural awareness and awareness of the inner self.

Concept and goals of Mondrian 3D

The idea for a virtual museum dedicated to one artist dates from several years ago. In the real world museum organizing a retrospective of a major artist like Mondrian is a growing problem. An exhibition takes many years and is extremely expensive, in money, time, transportation and security. In this time of economic tightness sponsorship of exhibitions is increasingly under pressure. In the course of time works become progressively fragile; restoration prior to transport is costly and intensive. Some works are in private collections and are not available for loan at all. In the course of history work is lost, perhaps also the pictures of works that no longer exist, through fire or theft or disaster.

In a virtual museum is it possible to without all these restrictions to bring all of the works of an artist together and preserve the history of an oeuvre and an artist. A virtual museum is an environment where everyone in the world has access on his own time, now and in the distant future. The virtual museum can act as an interactive map connecting to centers of expertise in the real world, and in which discussions of professionals and enthusiasts can lead to understanding the cultural value of an artist. Collaboration between professional partners ensures that the virtual museum and its educational goals have the same high level as that of a physical museum.

Click here for the trailer of Mondrian3D

For many a virtual museum may appear science fiction, but among younger generations outside the traditional museum this is by no means the case. The youth of today is accustomed to moving in virtual worlds. Their way of communicating and forming communities is intricately connected with such environments. For young people the virtual world is not ‘testing place’ for social interaction; it is a real and natural part of daily life. In addition, young people at home and at school are now accustomed to gather knowledge and insights via the digital way. Working with digital sources has become an integral part of study skills taught at primary school. In this way, the virtual museum serves as an important and dependable first source of knowledge for the oeuvre of an artist. The next step is a visit to the real museum, where young people can smell the paint. Young people, in short, move from the virtual to the real. In pedagogical respect, one can be critical about his, but it is also possible to use this constructively.

Activeworlds

ActiveWorlds is a virtual environment, similar to Second Life or Sims. In this virtual world is it possible to exhibit a complete body of work, make your own exhibition, create separate spaces for private collections, hold meetings, lectures and tours, to offer educational projects and sell merchandise. The possibilities of a virtual museum as an extension of a physical museum are basically endless. Behind the avatars are real people, who can inform visitors, be it at a set time on the day (so real-life) but also when a visitor activates a button. And just as in a real museum you can meet each other at the meeting point, go to the café, walk to a specific work and discuss it together. A virtual museum offers even more: have you ever stood in front of a painting and secretly thought: what happens when I turn a painting? How does it look when it hangs upside down?

Visit the museum

Mondrian 3D is a virtual museum on a private area of the web. A simple plug-in is needed to access the world, the work, yourself and other visitors you see on your screen and with whom you can communicate. All information about the plug-in, visiting the museum and your presence at the opening can be found at www.museum3d.eu.

'Character is destiny' - Piet Mondrian and his horoscope

Recently the Netherlands Institute for Art History acquired the Harry Holtzman Estate on Piet Mondrian. Among the very few documents Mondrian preserved until his death is an interesting one: the horoscope Mondrian had drawn for him late 1911-early 1912.

Already in 1993-1994, as I was working on the exhibition Piet Mondrian 1892-1914. The Amsterdam Years in the Amsterdam City Archives – now housed in the building designed by Mondrian’s co-theosophist Karel de Bazel – I had several talks with my colleague Robert Welsh about the horoscope. I wondered which insights Mondrian had drawn from it, concerning his personality and his career. Judging from the vast network I uncovered during my investigations, it had become clear that Mondrian was not the stiff, introverted man he has always been judged to be. A better characterization would be: a solitary person among his fellow people, someone who weaved in and out of social circles in a receptive and playful, but at the same time reserved, independent and reflexive way. ‘Piet, now you see him, now you don’t’, was the jokey description of him at gallery openings in Paris.

Yesterday, on 7 March 2013, the birthday of Mondrian, the website www.mondriaan.nl was launched. Posthumously Mondrian received an impressive and modern birthday present. In another way Mondrian himself celebrated his birthday on 7 March 1908 by treating himself to the lecture Rudolf Steiner gave in Amsterdam. He kept the Dutch transcription of Steiner’s lectures all his life, together with his horoscope. Apparently they meant much to him.

The Victory Boogie Woogie - a corpse dissected

Last week I received a review copy from the Amsterdam University Press: a new book on Piet Mondrian, Inside Out Victory Boogie Woogie, edited by Maarten van Bommel, Hans Janssen and Ron Spronk. Mondrian started on the painting Victory Boogie Woogie in 1942, but it stayed unfinished because of his death in February 1944. The painting was bought in 1998 from the collector Samuel Irving Newhouse at a whopping price of 82 million Guilders (approx. 37 million Euro’s) through a gift of the Dutch National Bank to commemorate the introduction of the Euro in the Netherlands. The acquisition caused a public outrage, and even the House of Representatives raised questions about the way it was acquired. But now the painting is on victorious display in the Gemeentemuseum of the Hague, and is by now a prominent attraction of the museum.

News and recent activities - Newsletter March 2012

In December 2011 the IFK in Vienna hosted a conference 'Touché. Die magische und technische Evidenz der Medien', to which Bax Art contributed. Gudrun Braunsperger of the Austrian ORF produced the radio program 'Schwarze Löcher der Wissenschaftskultur' in the section 'Dimensionen - die Welt der Wissenschaft'. It was broadcasted on February 14, at 19.05 hrs at oe1.ORF.at. Bax Art received special permission from ORF to give you free access to the audiostream until June 22.

The opening of the Ben Joppe exhibition, performed by the designer Wim Crouwel, was a great success. A few hundred fans attended the opening with performances by the Amsterdam Chamber Theatre and Rusalki Quartet and with superb sushi from Yatta Sushi. Full report is given on the Ben Joppe Facebook page.

The intelligent, beautiful and utterly professional social media expert Jennifer Delano brought Ben Joppe back to life through Facebook and Twitter. Discover how she crept into the skin of Ben Joppe and created a host of fans!

Jan Stap published a book on 'Mondrian the man'. Not his art, but his character and social life is the main focus, with totally new information on Mondrian's youth in Winterswijk. Jan Stap donated his documentation and images exclusively to TheArtArchives for study by others. Many thanks! The files will be uploaded soon.

TheArtArchives recently posted a new portion of the membership list of the Theosophical Society. Now the period 1875-1915 is available, covering nearly 58.000 members. A valuable source for genealogy, art history and social history!