Museum Shops

I like going to museums, and of course the art is the main focus of the visit. Especially in a museum as large and wonderful as the Kunstmuseum Basel, where I went earlier this month. But the end of the visit is not as pleasing if there isn’t a well equipped museum shop to stop in. An unsatisfying assortment of items on display might even spoil the visit. Not that I always buy something, indeed, frequently I pride myself in being able to go out again without having bought anything. Yet it is nice to see a good selection of art books, many of which one probably didn’t know existed.

The shop at the Kunstmusem Basel is very well equipped. Quite a trap. And no, I did not pride myself in walking out without having bought anything, on the contrary. I do not remember ever having spent so much money in a museum store as on that occasion. First of all, they have a huge selection of postcards, and although I do have quite a few at home and am constantly working on reducing this collection by actually writing and sending them to friends, I have not yet arrived at a moratorium? forbidding me to buy. Certainly not in a situation of “buy ten and get two for free”. Secondly, there is a huge selection of wonderful art books on display. And thirdly, some of them are offered at reduced price.

Amongst the latter was a volume with prints by Joseph Albers, a book edition  of his 1972 limited edition of prints “Formulation: Articulation”. 

 As I am currently working on my pieces for the exhibition “Inspiration Bauhaus” that two friends of mine and I will have in Octover 2014 in the Fagus Works in Alfeld, Germany, that felt like a piece I really needed to include in my collection. Probably also influenced by the experience I had had when going through the museum’s collection: in one room there was a relatively small “Homage to the square” with a title “The blue call”, which I had really impressed my when seen from the other end of the long room in which it was displayed on a wall where it could easily be overlooked when you first entered the room.

But the really expensive part of my purchase was this:

Front view of
"undiscovered minimalism
Gelims from Northern Iran" by Parviz Tanavoli
with contributions by Heinz Meyer  and
Werner Weber

I got attracted to its neighbor first – the catalogue of the exhibition on Moroccan carpets currently on show in Munich Pinakothek der Moderne), but because I am planning to go and see that later (perhaps even this week) I did not buy that one. After putting it down, my eyes got caught by the word ‘minimalism’, and after opening the book my guts had already decided that this was a ‘must have’. When I saw the price, mind started to argue with guts, but guts won, and credit card paid for it...

Just a couple of shots of pages in the book – you have to decide for yourself wheter it’s a must-have or not. 

These gelims are absolutely fabulous! For more information on the gelims you can click here.

Little escap(ad)e: Kunstmuseum Basel (CH)

As already mentioned, in the end of October my family and I spent a week in the southeast of Germany, just across the river Rhine from Basel. Of course, we visited Basel, too, and as the Fall fair was still on, my son and I took a ride in the ferry wheel, which gave us a splendid view over Basel.

And on our last day, I took the chance and went to see the Kunstmuseum in Basel. 

I had been there before, about thirty years ago, when my 12^th grade High School class took an outing to Basel. But this was a special treat. I went to see the special exhibit “Piet Mondrian, Barnett Newman, Dan Flavin” – and as I could not purchase a ticket for only the special exhibit, I got the treat of the entire museum with it.

Of course, photography was not allowed inside the museum, so all I can show are these pictures of Dan Flavin’s installation outside, in the interior courtyard, and Rodin’s famous sculpture “Citizen’s of Calais”.

Dan Flavin, reflected...

... and partially.
The installation covers all four corners
of the interior courtyard, so it can't be fitted onto one picture.

Auguste Rodin, Citizens of Calais

The special exhibit  lines up the three grand names in chronological order and points out the influences that the younger artists took from each of the preceding one(s).

Piet Mondrian being the oldest of the three goes first, images can be found here, then follows Barnett Newman, (images can be found here and the link to the Barnett Newman Foundation is here), and the last of the three is Dan Flavin, with lots of pictures here. 

Although the special exhibit was large in its entirety, I would have liked to see more works from each of the artists. Especially Newman, and I can never get enough of Flavin, either... but be happy for what you get. It’s very interesting to group these three together, though.  

And I quite enjoyed seeing the other parts of this immesely huge museum – though I would have preferred it if Agnes Martin had had a wall by herself, and not right next to a work by Cy Twombly...

The special exhibit is on until January 19, and the rest is there all the time!