Gerrit Thomas Rietveld

Collection of Jan Rietveld, son of the artist, circa 1964-1986
Thence by descent to his niece, Paula Rietveld, 1986-1987
Collection of Frans Leidelmeijer, Amsterdam, 1987
Acquired from the above by the present owner, 1987

Gio Ponti, "In Margine alla Triennale," Domus, September 1951, p. 7 (for the 1942 prototype shown at the 1951 Triennale, Milan)
Theodore M. Brown, The Work of Gerrit Rietveld:  Architect, Utrecht, 1958, p. 121 (for the 1942 prototype in the collection of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam)
Daniele Baroni, The Furniture of Gerrit Thomas Rietveld, Woodbury, NY, 1977, pp. 130-131 (for the 1942 prototype in the collection of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam)
Marijke Küper and Ida van Zijl, Gerrit Th. Rietveld, Utrecht, 1992, p. 209 (for the 1942 prototype in the collection of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam)
Peter Vöge, The Complete Rietveld Furniture, Rotterdam, 1993, p. 119 (for the example of the model in the collection of the Delft University, the Netherlands)
Alexander von Vegesack, Peter Dunas, and Mathias Schwartz-Clauss, eds. 100 Masterpieces from the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, 1996, pp. 82-83 (for the example of the model in the collection of the Vitra Design Museum)
Sarah Nichols, Aluminum by Design, New York, 2000, p. 39 (for the 1942 prototype in the collection of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam)
Luca Dosi Delfini, The Furniture Collection, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 2004, p. 317 (for the 1942 prototype in the collection of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam)
Macel, O. a.o., Stoelen, Catalogus van de verzameling van de Faculteit Bouwkunde in Delft, Rotterdam 2008, pp. 74-75 (for the example of the model in the collection of the Delft Technical University Museum)
Ida van Zijl, Gerrit Rietveld, London, 2010, pp. 111 and 163 (for the 1942 prototype in the collection of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam)

Overall in very good original condition. Because of the complexity in creating this form in aluminum, the chair was hand built and hand hammered, possibly accounting for some of the unevenness in the surfaces and in the rounding of the outer edges. There is also some unevenness to the metal adjacent to the fastening hardware that is inherent in the production of the work. The surfaces of the chair throughout with some minor surface scratches, some minor dents, scattered abrasions and some isolated areas of discoloration. With some minor unevenness and possible dings to the rounded crest of the backrest. One surface scratch, extending approximately four inches to the inside surface of the proper left arm, with a few minor associated scratches. The aluminum material with minor rubbing and discoloration from age. This chair was created by Rietveld with the assistance of his sons in the 1960s. Because of the complexities of the form and material, a large scale fabrication of the model was not undertaken in the 1940s at the time of the original design. This chair displays clear evidence throughout of being handmade. The present lot, of which there are four extant examples of the model, is the only example not in the collection of major museum. This masterwork chair remains in very good original condition, and shows decades of sensitive care.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Rietveld's fascination with the concept of a chair made out of a single sheet of material became apparent as early as 1927, when he introduced his groundbreaking Birza chair, cut out of a single piece of fibreboard. In a letter to J.J.P. Oud, Rietveld wrote: "I'm working on a chair made out of fibre (...), not particularly beautiful, but at least something has been achieved." In the same year, Rietveld conceived the Beugelstoel with a seating shell from the same material (lot 77).  Whereas the Birza chair never made it beyond a single prototype, the Beugelstoel proved to be more suitable for production. However, Rietveld was not satisfied and continued his quest for the one-piece chair. Frustrated, in 1930 he wrote: 'how can it be that a construction as simple as a chair has not yet been solved  as effectively as a bicycle or even better: a spoon?' Soon after, he made his first prototypes of the zigzag chair in fibre, steel and multiplex. While the undulating form was more satisfactory, once again Rietveld stumbled upon technical and material limitations and had to rely on his cabinetmaker's skills to realize the chair in its final form consisting of four wooden segments.

Several years later, during the war, Rietveld's firm was at a standstill, which gave him the opportunity to once again revisit the idea of the one-piece chair. Sketching and folding scale models from scraps of paper, Rietveld conceived a variation on the Birza chair which was also intended to be executed in fiber. As this material was unavailable, Rietveld somehow managed to get hold of a sheet of aluminum. Rietveld made the chair together with his youngest son Wim (1924-1985), who later recalled that he and his father worked intensely together on this project, hammering and bending the metal on the family's sturdy wooden dinner table. Wim even made a special device to pierce the thin metal sheet with circular holes which served to strengthen the construction. Apart from its functional necessity, the pattern of holes enhanced the chair's dramatically modern and industrial appearance. Not surprisingly, commenting on the various production methods possible to make the chair, Rietveld later wrote: "the best [method] would be the one that, apart from economic value, has an expressive quality in which function, construction and production method make the same gesture." In the years immediately after the war, Rietveld made unsuccesful attempts to put the chair into production and eventually sold the prototype to the Stedelijk Museum.

By 1960, Rietveld's fame as an architect and designer was widespread and his early furniture designs had become sought after by museums and institutions. Delft Technical University, which granted Rietveld an honory doctorate in architecture shortly before his death in 1964, approached Rietveld circa 1960 to acquire a representative collection of his chairs for their reference collection. Since the only prototype of the aluminium chair was in the Stedelijk, Rietveld offered to make another example for the Delft collection. In co-operation with his sons Wim and Egbert (1915-1981), three new aluminum chairs were made at Egbert's instrument factory in Epe. This was recently confirmed by Egbert's son as well as by his former manager, who recalled it being "a difficult job'" since the chairs were made mainly by hand just like the first prototype. Upon completion, one chair went to the Delft Technical University where it  remains in the collection today. The two other examples were retained by Gerrit's second son, Jan (1919-1986), who was an avid collector of his father's furniture. When Jan died in 1986, he bequeathed most of his collection to his niece, Paula Rietveld. Assuming both aluminum chairs were prototypes from the 1940's, Paula sold one at Christie's Amsterdam in 1987, which is currently in the collection of Vitra Design Museum in Germany. The other chair, the present lot, was purchased directly from Paula Rietveld by the Dutch art dealer Frans Leidelmeijer.  In 1987 it was acquired by the present owner, and has remained in his collection since that date.

-Rob Driessen, Amsterdam

Art historian, Rob Driessen, and furniture restorer, Jurjen Creman, did extensive research on Rietveld's aluminum chair culminating in a presentation at Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in October 2010. Beginning in 2008, the two quickly discovered that the history of this chair had been obscured by erroneous assumptions. The first disproven theory was that the aluminum sheet from which the chair was made was taken from the wreck of an airplane that had crashed near Utrecht.  Research and technical analysis proved it to be customary industrial aluminum.   Further research revealed only a single prototype existed, currently in the Stedelijk Museum, as well as the three later examples made circa 1960.  The present lot offered here is the only chair remaining in private hands.