Dear reader
In his series about the history of the modern Belgian ex-libris, Aloys Vertongen continues his survey of the eighties and enters the nineties. He discusses some quality artists who mainly produced bookplates in etching, such as Walter Brems, Marc Mariën, Guido Mariman, Jan Scheir, Roel Slabbinck, Jef Van Grieken and Chris Verheyen, but also dwells on a few important graphic artists who were mainly active in serigraphy: Martin Baeyens, Emiel Hoorne and Alain Hautekiet.
Ward Bohé, curator of the IEC, presents the winners of the 2011 Competition for Ex-libris and Small Graphics of Sint-Niklaas (Yuriy Nozdrin, Natalya Kuznetsova, Miroslav Hlinka, Galina Pavlova, Xiao Feng Chen, Axel C. A. Jirsch and Piotr Gojowy). He also indicates four trends: the competition hasn’t lost its international appeal; broadening the competition field by not only allowing bookplates but also small graphics was a success; unlike the previous competition plates in the classical techniques were more numerous than the ones in computer design and finally: not even 50 % of the participants respected the theme that was determined (partying).
Our president Jack van Peer continues his article about the FISAE Congress of Istanbul (2010). He asks some questions about the role of the FISAE (which might only be a symbolic one) and makes a plea for more reflection when attributing congress locations, for more efficiency, more financial support for the organisers and for a careful evaluation of the present structure of the FISAE.
Tony Oost, the former curator of the IEC, introduces the graphic work of Nelly Degouy, a Belgian wood engraver who was mainly active in the forties and the fifties. Tony Oost has organized an exhibition about her work that will open on June the 26th in the IEC of Sint-Niklaas.
The collectors talking about their passion for the ex-libris are Thea Winter and Tjalling Vogelvanger, a Dutch couple present at almost all of the important exchange meetings. They selected a series of bookplates that are very special to them.
Elzbieta Radzikowska from Poland is the first foreign artist who is introduced. Jack van Peer met her on a few occasions, one of them the Istanbul Congress, in which she was rewarded for one of her sensuous bookplates in etching. In the next article the work of the Chinese ex-libris designer Liu Caijun is discussed by Martin Baeyens, who talked to him on one of his trips to China. Caijun’s female nudes in etching and aquatint - images that seem to be made in zero time - have a special appeal. And finally we present the Bulgarian artist Kaloyan Iliev. Just like Desislav Gechev (see Boekmerk 34) he lives in Varna and was educated at the university of Veliko Turnovo. He doesn’t only engrave, but also paints, sculpts and makes installatons. Iliev calls his art the expression of individual freedom in a manipulative era. Very often his colourful ex-libris contain some kind of social criticism.
New ex-libris reproduced in this issue are by Cernos, Fedorenko, Giannadakis, Kublik, Kvartalny, Maekawa, Rooms and Zwiers. Finally we mention the book edited by Shonosuke Ezoe (and with the cooperation of Murray Rosen) about the work of Yukiko Hayashi, a Japanese ex-libris artist specialized in fragile nudes.
Karl Vissers
