COPYRIGHT BOOKSHOP / beople

Armand Billestraet
Retired gardener, °1938

Antwerp

Armand is one of our most loyal customers in Antwerp. On Sunday afternoons he often brings us a piece of cake made by his wife Greta, and talks about his former contact with artists like Dan Van Severen and Jef Verheyen. In the 1960s and 70s Armand was given works by the artists in return for looking after their gardens.
He is a passionate bibliophile and is particularly keen on books about abstract, fundamental painting. Robert Ryman, Agnes Martin, Brice Marden, Blinky Palermo are his absolute favourites, but he is also very fond of Richard Serra and Cy Twombly. And he is impatient: when he knows a new book he covets is coming out, he phones us almost every day to ask if it has arrived!
As well as art, he is also very interested in interior design. Christian Liaigre, Vincent Van Duysen, Pascal Van der Keelen, the books of Axel Vervoordt: he wants them all!

June 2008