Gerrit Rietveld

Gerrit Rietveld
Rietveld in 1962
Born	Gerrit Thomas Rietveld 24 June 1888 Utrecht,Netherlands
Died	25 June 1964(1964-06-25)(aged 76) Utrecht, Netherlands
Occupation(s)	Furniture designer and architect

Gerrit Rietveld(24 June 1888 – 25 June 1964) was a Dutch furniture designer and architect.

Early life

Rietveld was born inUtrechton 24 June 1888 as the son of ajoiner.He left school at 11 to be apprenticed to his father and enrolled at night schoolbefore working as adraughtsmanfor C. J. Begeer, a jeweller in Utrecht, from 1906 to 1911.

De Stijl

By the time he opened his own furniture workshop in 1917, Rietveld had taught himself drawing, painting and model-making. He afterwards set up in business as a cabinet-maker.

Red and Blue Chairin theMuseum für Angewandte Kunstin Cologne

Rietveld designed hisRed and Blue Chairin 1917 which has become an iconic piece of modern furniture. Hoping that much of his furniture would eventually be mass-produced rather than handcrafted, Rietveld aimed for simplicity in construction.In 1918, he started his own furniture factory, and changed the chair's colours after becoming influenced by theDe Stijlmovement, of which he became a member in 1919, the same year in which he became an architect. The contacts that he made atDe Stijlgave him the opportunity to exhibit abroad as well. In 1923,Walter Gropiusinvited Rietveld to exhibit at theBauhaus.

Rietveld Schröder Housein Utrecht in 2010

He built theRietveld Schröder House,in 1924, in close collaboration with the ownerTruus Schröder-Schräder.Built inUtrechton the Prins Hendriklaan 50, the house has a conventional ground floor, but is radical on the top floor, lacking fixed walls but instead relying on sliding walls to create and change living spaces. The house has been aUNESCOWorld Heritage Sitesince 2000. His involvement in the Schröder House exerted a strong influence on Truus' daughter,Han Schröder,who became one of the first female architects in the Netherlands.

Nieuwe Zakelijkheid

Interior of theVan Gogh Museumin Amsterdam in 2009

Rietveld broke withDe Stijlin 1928 and became associated with a more functionalist style of architecture, known as eitherNieuwe ZakelijkheidorNieuwe Bouwen.The same year he joined theCongrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne.From the late 1920s he was concerned with social housing, inexpensive production methods, new materials, prefabrication and standardisation. In 1927 he was already experimenting with prefabricated concrete slabs, a very unusual material at that time. In the 1920s and 1930s, however, all his commissions came from private individuals, and it was not until the 1950s that he was able to put his progressive ideas about social housing into practice, in projects in Utrecht and Reeuwijk.

Zig-Zag Chairin theCarnegie Museum of ArtinPittsburgh

Rietveld designed theZig-Zag Chairin 1934 and started the design of theVan Gogh MuseuminAmsterdam,which was finished after his death.

De Stijl revival

Dutch pavilion for the 1953Venice Biennalein 2019

In 1951 Rietveld designed a retrospective exhibition aboutDe Stijlwhich was held in Amsterdam, Venice and New York. Interest in his work revived as a result. In subsequent years he was given many commissions, including the Dutch pavilion for theVenice Biennale(1953), the art academies in Amsterdam and Arnhem, and the press room for theUNESCObuilding in Paris. Designed for the display of small sculptures at the Third International Sculpture Exhibition in Arnhem's Sonsbeek Park in 1955, Rietveld's 'Sonsbeek Pavilion' was rebuilt at theKröller-Müller Museumin 1965.Due to irreparable damages caused by regular decay, it was once again rebuilt, this time with new materials, in 2010. In order to handle all these projects, in 1961 Rietveld set up a partnership with the architects Johan van Dillen and J. van Tricht built hundreds of homes, many of them in the city of Utrecht.

His work was neglected when rationalism came into vogue, but he later benefited from a revival of the style of the 1920s thirty years later.

Death

Grave of Gerrit Rietveld

Rietveld died on 25 June 1964 in Utrecht.

His sonWim Rietveldalso became a renowned industrial designer.

Recognition

Rietveld had his first retrospective exhibition devoted to his architectural work at the Central Museum, Utrecht, in 1958. When the art academy in Amsterdam became part of the higher professional education system in 1968 and was given the status of an Academy for Fine Arts and Design, the name was changed to the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in honour of Rietveld."Gerrit Rietveld: A Centenary Exhibition" at the Barry Friedman Gallery, New York, in 1988 was the first comprehensive presentation of the Dutch architect's original works ever held in the U.S. The highlight of a celebratory "Rietveld Year" in Utrecht, the exhibition "Rietveld's Universe" opened at the Centraal Museum and compared him and his work with famous contemporaries like Wright, Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe.

Two software tools, both forcode review,have been named after Gerrit Rietveld:GerritandRietveld.

External links

• Rietveld Schröder Archiveon delpher.nl
• "Buildings of Gerrit Rietveld"on architectureguide.nl
• Rietveld Originals,Rietveld's furniture designs that are still in production