Bart van der Leck (1876-1958)
Ex Libris Madeleine de Vlam, 1941-1943
Pencil, gouache, and ink on paper
Dimensions: 20 x 25 cm./7,9 x 9,8 Inch.
Using the same typography and font as he designed for the booklet ‘Het Vlas’ in 1941, Van der Leck created this ex libris for Madeleine de Vlam in the early 1940s. Madeleine de Vlam was a student of H.P. Bremmer, the art advisor and dealer who sold most of Van der Leck’s artworks.
Her last name in Dutch “De Vlam”, translates to “The Flame” in English. Van der Leck visualizes her name with three abstracted fires, accompanied by the text “Semper Fulgens’ which is Latin for “Forever Shining” or “Forever Bright”
There were multiples made after this design in 1943. These prints are about half the size of this design drawing and differ in details, such as the header at the top and the banner at the bottom.
Provenance
Elaine Lustig Cohen (1927-2016) and ‘Ex Libris’
One of the previous owners of this work of art was Elaine Lustig Cohen. She was an American graphic designer, artist, rare-book dealer, and art collector. She and her husband Arthur Cohen founded the famous rare book-shop and gallery ‘Ex Libris’ in New York in 1973.
The couple dealt in important and rare printed material and graphic documentation of International 20th-Century art. They were some of the first Americans to sell European avant-garde materials, and found success in being one of the few dealers to meet the needs of this niche market. Much of their early inventory is now in Museums and international private collections.
According to a label on the back of the frame, the work here on offer was a lent by Elaine Lustig Cohen for the exhibition ‘Geometric abstraction and the Modern Spirit’ from 5 Feb-3 April 1989, in the Neuberger Museum, State University of New York, at Purchase.
That a work of this kind was part of the collection of Elaine Lustig Cohen can’t come as a surprise. It’s a unique piece of art representing modern typography by a famous avant-garde painter from Europe so it fitted her own interests and fitted the niche market of her gallery Ex Libris perfectly.
But next to all that, this work might have been extra appealing to Cohen because it is depicting the name of her famous gallery ‘Ex Libris’ in a very unique and beautiful way.
Exhibited
‘Geometric abstraction and the Modern Spirit’ from 5 Feb-3 April 1989, in the Neuberger Museum, State University of New York, at Purchase.
Literature
Evert van Straaten, Cees Hilhorst, Toos van Kooten, ‘Bart van der Leck’, Stichting Kröller Müller Museum Otterlo 1994, page 151.
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