New York, USA – Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) collected 3 artworks of
the pioneer of the New Ink Art movement Alfred Freddy Krupa and
included them in MoMA Manhattan Artists’ Book Collection.
Alfred Freddy Krupa (1971-) is known as the pioneer of the New Ink Art movement (Modern Ink Painting) and author of the New Ink Art Manifesto (1996) which original manuscript is today property of the documenta archive /documenta exhibition/ in Kassel, Germany.
In 2019 ArtFacts.net of Berlin ranked him in the TOP 10 Modern Ink Painters and in 2020 in the TOP 100 Ink Painters based on the recorded exhibition history. The collected works are “Alfred Freddy Krupa: a small recent collection of drawings = mala recentna kolekcija crteža” (1994), “Akvarel: iskustva jednog praktičara” (1994) and “The original art work/artist book by the Krupa / Modern ink painting, what is it?” (2014).
First, two has been created during wartime in Croatia, while he was a student of the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb (ALU); in his birth city of Karlovac, which was then on the first front line.
The third one is actually the conceptual artwork contemplating the meaning and value of the Modern In Painting.
‘Small recent collection of drawings’ is a combination of photolithography (offset) and handmade work in a limited edition (100 pcs) made in MB-Tisak Karlovac (cover photo D.Fajt, introduction M.Muić, translation M.Vidović), and ‘Akvarel’ is an auto analytical study of practical work in the technique of watercolor (made in 15 copies only).
This collection, one of the most important of its kind, is fully devoted to the avant-garde form of artistic expression – the artists’ books (it should not be confused with the MoMa Franklin Furnace Artists’ Book Collection) and some of the most famous names included in the collection are Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930), Gerhard Richter (1932-), Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Keith Haring (1958-1990), Dieter Roth (1930-1998), Sol LeWitt (1928-2007), Yōko Ono (1933-), Hans-Peter Feldmann (1941-), Allen Ruppersberg (1944-), Marina Abramović (1946-), Damien Hirst (1965-), Robert Barry (1936-), Herman de Vries (1931-), James Rosenquist (1933-2017), Edward Ruscha (1937-), Chuck Close (1940-), John Baldessari (1931-2020), Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980), Christian Boltanski (1944-), Jim Dine (1935-), Elíasson Ólafur (1967-), Claes Oldenburg (1929-), Ray Johnson (1927-1995), Anselm Kiefer (1945-) and many others.
The artists’ books can be viewed at the MoMA site – The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building at 4 West 54 Street, Manhattan, New York.
Krupa’s work ‘Alfred Freddy Krupa: A small recent collection of drawings’ (1994) can be found in the Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU) in Zagreb in the special collection is of Rare and Old Publications.
This particular collection contains several seminal titles from the period of historical avant-gardes, such as the almanac of Der Blaue Reiter and the journals Der Sturm and Bauhaus, some twenty issues of the Zenit journal and a number of “Zenithist” publications, such as the Manifesto of Zenithism, Kola za spasavanje, and Anti-Europe.
Among the series of significant collections where various works by this artist are located, it should be mentioned that the Special Library Collection of the Tate Britain Gallery in London stands out, which has one original ink drawing and the monograph ‘Alfred Freddy Krupa’ (ITG-Zagreb, 2014).
At the end of last year, Krupa won the 1st World Award in Painting and the title of Artist of the Year 2020 at the 13th Interartia Art Festival in Volos (Greece), and earlier this year, he became an honorary member of the International Academy of Arts in Volos.
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