DANIEL DE BRUIN

DANIEL DE BRUINThe artist' Sown viewPcople often ask me why Jspecialise in such aspecific small area as the modem heraldicbookplate. But for me the heraldic exlibris isan authentie form ofEuropean decorative art.It ereates a piclorial language in which a1lsodal as~ts are brought 10 the fore, bothsymbolic and realistic. Besides theinexhaustible stock of heraldic motifs, it alsooffers the opportunity of warking on afascinating graphie design with naturalisticand abstract forms.Born on 23 September 1950 in Krimpen aanden Ijssel in the Netherlands. my fascinationwith smalI, colourful images was alreadylatent in my early childhood and manifesIeditself through my oollecting football badges.Of course, [ was not yet aware thai this wasone of the many sportive applications ofheraldie design.I discovered my facility for graphics when Iwas 20 years old and this led me to teachmyself calligraphy and leiter design and alsoto become familiar with heraldry. In 1973 Ibegan coUecting heraldie manuscripts andliterature, both antiquarian and modem, withan emphasis on heraldic design. With mygrowing library I had bookplates made byweU-known engravers such as Prof. MarkSeverin, Wim Zwiers, Lou Strik, PieterWetselaar and Pam Rueter. The combinationof graphie techniques, the art of bookplales,Iypography and heraldry, led inevilably in1981 to me designing my firsl armorial plate.ln order 10 find my way towards a balancedheraldic bookplate, a thorough study of thegraphiebookplale was essential. My years as acollector brought me into oonlact wilh the beslthai Europe had 10 ofter and Paul Boesch, PamGeorg Rueter and TranquilJo Marangoniespedally gave me a good idea of solid linelechnique and perfect black/white relationshipin their works.1n later designs I was influencedby the funetional way in which PieterWetselaar, the Dulch typographer, calligrapherand engravergave form to the bookplale.Besides graphie bookplales, Ihe study of theheraldic bookplates was even more importantto me and I was privileged to acquire my owncoUection of aU the modem heraldic mastersfrom 1880 to Ihe present. Among the Englishtraditional masters, I highly rate the powerfuIdraughtsmanship of G. W. Eve, EdwardKruger Gray and 10hn Vinycomb and in theScottish tradition, masters like Grahamlohnston, Alfred George Law Samson andlohn Robert Sulherland. On the continenl wesee German heraldry, with Adolf MatthiasHildebrandt, Emil Doepler and Prof. OUoHupp being the best-known artists. Finallythere is the Swiss school, in which PaulBoesch standsat the top alongside the equallyexceUent earl Roschet. Among these greatnames, the Austrian Hugo Gerard Ströhlshould certainly not go unmentioned, and Recan be regarded as the best heraldic artist ofthemaU.As Isaid, after various stylistie explorations, Iwas able to design my opus 1 for Willem deKovel in 1981, strongly influenced by PaulBoesch. I continued to use the solid li netechnique and expressive designs withchanging success until the 1990s. Several ofthese examples were iIlustrated in a earJierarticle in this series of the "Eneyclopaedia"(volume 7 in 1988).5

In the 19905 I worked on several commissionsin a slighUy more conventionaJ style anddeveloped a different Une lechnique. TheInlernet revolulion in Ihe middle of Ihe 1990soffered me ellOrmous access 10 unknownheraldic sources and at the same time alllheadvantagescfunlimited and swift communication.My many yean ofexperiena' in the rrindustry gave me theadvantageofbtingableto f'actOf in these devdopments early on andmake maximum U5e01 them.As early as 1996 an American friend,. built iIwebsite whkh induded a cross-section ofmyannoriaI wort and I WIoS able to set up aworldwide hen1dic network. This gave melheoppottwUty to KqUlint myself wilh moreheraldk culluft. In lhe sarM period,. I wloSselected loS a craft mmtbu of the Society ofHeraldic Arts in England and obtainedgreater access to the Eng1ish spealdng worldand its fabulous heraldic heritage. This was agreat step in my development. also poweredby choosing new technology in colourprinting.There follows a selection of my reeentarmorials t'SpedilUy for lhis amde, withbackground information aboul 15 internationalheraldk ifaditions through whkhyou can see the oId and lhe oew. This showslhe vitalityofhera.ldry and its many potentialapplieations iIS thecenturies SO by.One of lhe most curiow commisskJns I waspermitted to work on. was for an AmericanwithTurldsh and Egyptian ancestors, Hasu.nSheriff Kiomel·Kelisli-Morali,. iI descn\danlof a Turkish Bey from a time when theOttornans still had powerand influence~in the 8alkans.A typical example of ltalian heraldf}' is thecoat of arms for Aurelio V,d;uezo-Duenuwhose forefiuher Luigi Valaresso fought as aVenelian knighl against the French in Ihebattleof Fomovo (1495).6

The design for a dient with Polish aneeslors,Darius von Guttner Sporzynski (2002) f,omAustralia, shows the conneetion between oldand new fatherlands. The kangaroo's pawpoints significantly to the horseshoe, a rathercommon Polish heraldic image.Spanish heraldry is shown in the bookplatefor the Mexican David Alejandro de Olvera­Ayes, whose forefather, Diego de Olvera, wasan offieer in Cort~ army (the Conquistadores)during his first expedition in 1519 in Mexico.The bookplate for Johan Deboutte is suffusedwith a Flemish spirit. It is a simple and dearcoat of arms, which is so eharaeleristie ofthe Low Countries, also shown in reeentheraldry for Amold Vredenbregt from theNetherlands.For a member of the Cromarlie braneh of theUrquhart clan living in Florida, Rober! AllenCromarlie, I made a bookplate based on theLetter Patent pubLished by the Lyon Court inScotland in 2005. The horse's head as crestwas chosen as a link to his profession as aracehorse breeder. In my seareh for newcompositional forms, the diamond shape,8

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Mesquita go backtoan old Portuguese family,de Mesquita, and has a typicallozenge shieldfor a unmarred woman.Another notable bookplate from the meltingpot of American society was made forNicholas Milissis. The red thread in hisancestry represented the sacrifices which hisfamily made in the Greek stroggle for freedomfrom Turkish rule. In addition, on the coat ofarms a Greek revolutionary warrior (from1820-1830) was also included as a supporter.ZKINKEl+WJESi= Cl'oe:: >< Cl[""'1A design with a more or less recognisable andrecent American heraldic signatur(' was madefor Carl Pritchett from Texas, U. S. A.On the occasion of his becoming a knight ofthe Gennan Johanniter-Orden, Martin Kinke1,whose family was ennobled in 1751, asked fora heraldic bookplate adding his cross of theKnighls of Honour to the anns.11

A unique example of Catholic heraldry is theplate for Father Peter Wallers who leads 01charitable organisation for street children inColombia.The exlibris for Kar! Johann Vessler, withSwiss roots, is based in 01 modem way ontraditional heraldic paintings and miniaturesfrom 15'" and 16'" century grants ofarms.For Claude Philippe d'Estrees, a descendantof an old French noble family, I designed 01traditional bookplate coveredby 01 crown of 01French "Duc" surrounded by delicatecallißTaphy.Besides the previous examples, I have alsodesigned bookplates for dients in otherEuropean heraldic traditions, from countriesinc1uding Sweden, Lithuania, Austria,Hungary, Finland, Luxembourg, Montenegroand Wales.Surprisingly, despite the marginal position ofthis genre (and even when my work was stillsmall-scale), there has been no shortage ofinterest in my work. In 1982, my Opus 1 hOldalready appeared in the Yearbook of theDeutsche Exlibris Gesellschaft. In 1985 therefollowed a limited edition publicationthrough Exlibristen, Klaus Rödel'spublishing house in Oenmark. A set of plateswas induded In "Oe Kleine Prentkunst inNederland in de ZOste Eeuw'" (1986). Afterthis(in 1987), 01 set made it into "The Art ofHeraldry", an important standard work bythe welJ-known heraldic author CarlAlexander von Volborth, followed by Iheartide in this "Encydopaedia" in 1988.Since the 1990s my bookplates have alsoappeared in publications from theinternational bookplate biennales and also ina large number of catalogues of bookplateexhibitions and well-known contests such asMalbork, Sint-Niklaas, Barcelona, Ankaraand Chrudim.Various of my heraldic drawings haveappeared in heraldie periodkals and books inthe Netherlands, Belgium, England, theUnited States and others countries. One ofthese publications was Stephen Slater'sbeautiful "The Compiete Book of Heraldry" in2002. In 2006 a main artide with manyillustrations was published in the BookplateJournal of the English Bookplate Society,under the title "Constructing modernannorials".As 01 dear statement abaut the heraldicbookplate, I have abided by the motto "Dare ToBe Different" for years and have slriven toexplore the boundaries of the armorial, withits firmly fixed mies. The personal direction Itook is symbolically represented by the choiceofthe ermine and the signingofmy work withthe ermine spot. The story goes thai thisanimal, at 01 crossroads in flight fromapproachingdanger, chose fire rather dirtyingits white paws in mud.All my bookplate work is drawn by hand andreproduced in modern offset technologies.These modem methods give me none of the\imitations traditional graphie arts incoiourprinting. Remarkably, 0111 my clients aremore interested in the heraldic message in 01modern state-of-the-art printing, than in 01graphie art object. They put the utilitarianfuncHon of the bookplate in first place and donot want to get involved in any exchange orcollectoractivity.Based on my many years' experience Ican saythat in 01 visually-focused sodety and in themidst of an advancing mass culture, theheraldic pictorial language IS stillmeaningful. My modest mission is to depklcontemporary fonns in this glittering, almostlost, pictorial language - the heraldicbookplate.13

Daniel de BruinLisl2t-jl!ustptions UVesH! Heraldictradition2002 Dr.JohnJ. FltzpatrickKennedy Canada ImhDarius von GuttnerSporzynski Australia PolishNicholas Milissis U.$.A. CreekJohan Deboutte Belgium Flemish2003 Familiae Kelisli Morali V.5.""'. Turldsh2004 Rosanna Buenode Mesquita England Portuguese2005 David Alejandrode Olvera- Ayes M"",,, 5panishMr. Aurelio Valarezo-Duenas U.S.A. ItoillianRobert AUen Cromartie. Baron ofUrquhart U. S. A. Sroofuh2006 KarlJohann Vessler Gennony 5wissReverend Father Peter Walters CoIombia English2007 C1aude Philippe, Duc et Cornle d'Estrees V.5.A. FreochProf. SirJohn ßaker England Englishearl Pritchett U.S.A. AmericanMartin Kinkel Gennony c..~nDrs. Amoldus Hendrik Malthijs Vredenbregt Netherlands Dut';'14