How to collect museum catalogs from the Netherlands
Collecting Crouwel, Sanberg and Wissing is not only valuable but also fun!
How to start your collection of MUSEUM (Dutch) catalogs of the most important designers of the last century.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
– Focus on the big names in Dutch typography and design. Sandberg, Crouwel, Piet Zwart, Benno Wissing and Paul Schuitema are world renowned for their quality.
– Always look at the quality of the item offered. Pristine items are virtually nonexistent, but mint can be found. It is better to pay a few extra dollars than to pick up an item that is less than perfect.
– The great museums have always been in a position to order their best catalogs from the best designers.
– The size of the edition is also important and makes a publication even more sought after than when the edition is small. Note that many museum publications have edition sizes between 500 and 1700, which are already small. You can expect many of these to be destroyed in the 50 years they were protected with only a small number surviving.
– Early catalogs from budding but now famous artists are sought after and deserve a premium.
– Signed copies are even more collectible and are sometimes signed and numbered from a special edition which makes them rarer and highly collectible.
– Then there is what I call “a secret ingredient” that in many cases is not recognized by others. These great designers sometimes include original art in their designs. Screen prints were used as covers. Sometimes a special inlay with lithography, etching, or screen printing was inserted. At best these were signed, making them absolutely valuable, but in most cases they can be had at a fraction of the price of an original piece of art. (examples are Escher, Miro, Calder and Arp for their Stedelijk Museum catalogs and other publications).
As noted earlier, the largest museums commissioned their best catalogs from the best designers.
You should first focus on these designers who worked with the largest museums in the Netherlands.
THE DESIGNERS:
Probably the most important and well-known is Willem Sandberg. Director and designer of the Stedelijk Museum in the 1950s and early 1960s. Known for his bold use of lettering and recognizable design with thorn lettering used as illustrations. Many of the catalogs designed by Sandberg have become classics.
Sandberg designed around 350 catalogs for the Stedelijk Museum
Second is Wim Crouwel, who was responsible for many catalogs in the 1960s and 1970s and later became director of the Boymans van Beuningen Museum. He designed some 300 catalogs for the Stedelijk Museum.
In Rotterdam there was also Benno Wissing, who then started with Wim Crouwel Total Design. There are some similarities between Sandberg and the early Wissings, but both have their own style.
Piet Zwart and Paul Schuitema are known for their photo collage designs and are also highly collectible.
THE MUSEUMS
The largest museum in the Netherlands are:
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, published ca. 1100 catalogs for 60 years. The designers were Sandberg, Piet Zwart and Wim Crouwel.
Boymans van Beuningen Museum. The main designers were Benno Wissing and 3VO
Haags Gemeente Museum. Published ca. 600 catalogs for 60 years. The designers were Foppe, Janssen, Lebbink ao.
Van Abbe Museum. It is the small museum with the great designers. Wim Crouwel worked for them early on, but don’t forget Jan van Toorn, also known for his 1970s exhibition designs.