Hét portret van Anton de Kom. Van collage tot icoon / The Defining Image of Anton de Kom. From Collage to Icon, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, November 27, 2021 – March 20, 2022

«When We Slaves of Suriname was almost ready for publication, the photographer, typographer and industrial designer Piet Zwart (1885-1977) was commissioned to design the book cover. […] Zwart began the design process for the book cover with a photo shoot that resulted in two portraits of the author: one with a serious expression and one with a smile. The portraits are unconventional compared to others of De Kom, who usually posed in formal clothing. Zwart cut De Kom's head from the first portrait and added it to a photocollage of numerous cut-out figures that seem to represent the Surinamese population. Zwart used the photocollage as the basis of a sketch design with diagonal and vertical lines of text in black and red. Ultimately, Zwart's dynamic design was not used on the cover of De Kom's book. It was most likely rejected by the publisher, Contact, which opted simply to use Zwart's portrait of De Kom on the cover of We Slaves of Suriname. The exhibition features the original collage and sketch design for the book cover and prints of both the serious and smiling portrait.» – (excerpt from the exhibition presentation)

PIET ZWART, THE TYPOGRAPHICAL WORK (1923 – 1933) by Bruno Monguzzi. 1987. First edition.

Piet Zwart

Piet Zwart, ‘Untitled,’

Gelatin silver print

Dimensions6 13/16 in. × 4 15/16 in. (17.3 cm × 12.54 cm) 

© Estate of Piet Zwart / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Courtesy: MoMa

A17I3359-1-1 by Cees Via Flickr: old English sheepdog Summer

Zwarte Piet/Black Pete, a short history+update on the cultural debate | thimsternisse

It's Sinterklaas again, woohoo, bring on the peppernuts! At first I didn't want to bring up the tired debate about Black Pete, but a local museum that is spreading some disinformation about Sinterklaas at the moment made me decide otherwise. (I'm sure they mean well but my historian's heart cries). I will share an older bit about how Sinterklaas is not Odin in another post, but for now, if you feel like it why not read a bit about Pete:

Piet Zwart: L'opera tipografica 1923-1933 / Piet Zwart: The Typographical Work 1923-1933, by Bruno Monguzzi and Vittorio Gregotti, «Rassegna», N. 30, Preface by Pierluigi Cerri, Designed by Bruno Monguzzi, Editrice C.I.P.I.A., Bologna, June 1987 [Museum für Gestaltung Zürich. Design Reviewed, Bradford. Display, Graphic Design Collection]

jesus there are fucking farmers in the netherlands right now who have been baracading supermarkets all day bc they're 'protesting' against (much needed and long overdue) goverment plans to reduce nitrogen and in a few days there's just going to be.. less food for people to buy? and im just wondering when the police and the army and the tear gas people are showing up cause if these farmers would have been anything other than white you KNOW they would have been here already

Piet Zwart

"Hij komt, hij komt, de lieve goede Killer, mijn beste vriend, jouw beste vriend, de vriend van ieder kind.

Mijn hartje klopt, mijn hartje klopt zo blij. Wat brengt hij jou, wat brengt hij mij, wat brengt hij jou en mij? Wie zoet was krijgt een koek. Wie stout was krijgt een mes."

A17I3205-1 by Cees Via Flickr: old English sheepdog Summer

nee stop we zijn nog maar half oktober