Gerrit Thomas Rietveld

De Stijl, September 1919, p. 133
Gio Ponti, "In Margine alla Triennale," Domus, September 1951, p. 7
Thomas B. Hess, "The Dutch:  This Century," Art News, January 1953, p. 25
Alfred A. Barr, Jr., ed., Masters of Modern Arts, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1954, p. 217
Alexander von Vegesack, Peter Dunas, and Mathias Schwartz-Theodore M. Brown, The Work of Gerrit Rietveld:  Architect, Utrecht, 1958, pp. 18-20, 79 and 164
Daniele Baroni, The Furniture of Gerrit Thomas Rietveld, Woodbury, NY, 1977, pp. 50-51
Gerrit Rietveld:  A Centenary Exhibition, Craftsman and Visionary, exh. cat., Barry Friedman Gallery, New York, 1988, pp. 24-28
Marijke Küper and Ida van Zijl, Gerrit Th. Rietveld, Utrecht, 1992, pp. 74-75 and 79
Peter Vöge, The Complete Rietveld Furniture, Rotterdam, 1993, pp. 58-59
Clauss, eds. 100 Masterpieces from the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, 1996, pp. 210-211
Titus M. Eliëns, Marjan Groot, and Frans Leidelmeijer, Dutch Decorative Arts 1880-1940, Kingston, NY, 1997, pp. 165-167
Paola Antonelli, ed., Sitting on the Edge:  Modernist Design from the Collection of Michael and Gabrielle Boyd, San Francisco, 1998, pl. 8
Charlotte and Peter Fiell, eds., 1000 Chairs, Cologne, 2000, p. 153
Luca Dosi Delfini, The Furniture Collection, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 2004, p. 295
Ida van Zijl, Gerrit Rietveld, London, 2010, pp. 34-35

Overall in excellent condition. With a few very shallow surface scratches and very minor edge nicks to the chair. The top surface of the seat with two nicks with minute paint losses. The top surfaces of the arms with some possible very minor rubbing to the finish. The chair remains in very good condition and appears to have been very sensitively cared for over the years. This example of the model demonstrates the particular fabrication details consistent with the 1960s production date. The chair bears no brand, which is consistent with the 1960s productions by van der Groenekan. Secondly, the backrest is screwed onto the back rail directly, without using aluminum brackets that are characteristic of Groenekan's later versions.
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.

GERARD VAN DE GROENEKAN

G.A. van de Groenekan (1904-1994) was Gerrit Rietveld's assistant for more than 45 years and the only person authorized to execute his furniture. In December 1917, at only thirteen years of age, Van de Groenekan started as an apprentice in the newly founded  workshop of Rietveld. His young employer had already started his first experiments which would soon lead to an entirely new approach towards furniture. For Gerard, it must have come as quite a shock when around 1918 Rietveld introduced the first version of the armchair which would later become world famous as the red-blue chair. Part of his job was to deliver finished pieces to the customers and he later recalled that, as soon as he was spotted in the street carrying another one of his employer's strange chairs, his peers would call him names and throw stones at him: 'They probably thought I was crazy.'

However, young Gerard was not discouraged and soon became Rietveld's trusted right-hand. By 1924, when Rietveld won acclaim and became more and more involved in avant-garde architecture, he handed over the furniture workshop to his assistant. From that day onwards Van de Groenekan would execute most of Rietveld's furniture designs, although he would never care much for his master's flirtations with fibre, metal and other industrial materials and played a minor part in the realisation of Rietveld's more experimental prototypes. Proud of his craft, Van de Groenekan would always prefer old-fashioned woodwork. A whole new chapter started in the 1950's, when the international interest in De Stijl and Rietveld's early furniture designs led to an increasing demand for replica's of famous designs. Starting with the red-blue chair and the Elling sideboard for the De Stijl retrospectives at Stedelijk Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, soon Van de Groenekan received commissions for a wide range of 'Rietveld classics'.

In the early 1960's Van de Groenekan founded his own business 'Het goede Meubel' (the good furniture) in a ramshackle annex of a country-house in De Bilt near Utrecht. He started marking his products with his own name and address, at first with a printed paper tag and later with the well-known HGM braised mark. After Rietveld's death in 1964, Van de Groenekan continued to make his furniture until the Rietveld heirs in 1971 sold the rights of the red-blue chair, the zigzag chair and the end table to the Italian firm of Cassina. However, Van de Groenekan was permitted to continue making replica's for museums and he rarely declined a request from a private admirer of Rietveld's work who preferred his experience and personal approach over the cold perfection of the Cassina pieces. Gradually, Van de Groenekan became somewhat of a legend himself, being the man who worked so closely together with the great Rietveld. More and more scholars and collectors looked him up in his cozy workshop where the hospitable Van de Groenekan, flattered by all the attention, delivered verbal statements and written certificates which in some cases later proved to be erroneous -or at least doubtful.

Van de Groenekan took on numerous restoration jobs as well, to which he had a matter-of-fact approach that he probably picked up from Rietveld. Original paint layers were often simply overpainted and constructional damages were handled in an equally pragmatic manner. Even worse, Van de Groenekan sometimes put his braise mark underneath prewar Rietveld chairs –often at the request of the owner who presumed an anachronistic mark would be preferable over no mark at all. But on the whole, Van de Groenekan always remained faithful to his old master, fiercely turning down requests for alterations in model, material, size or colour and downplaying his own role in Rietveld's history, stating: 'if I have been useful making his chairs, I am happy with that, I have not lived in vain.'

Rob Driessen, Amsterdam.