Gerrit Rietveld, "Red and Blue Chair" armchair for Cassina

GERRIT RIETVELD (Netherlands, 1888 -1964).
"Red and Blue" Chair, design 1918.
Seat/Backrest in Birch plywood with edges and top in beech veneer.
Marked Cassina, engraved with identification number.
Chair with signs of wear and patina.
Produced by Cassina.
Measurements: 88 x 65 x 83 cm. 33 cm. (seat height).

"Rood-blauwe stoel" (The Red Blue Chair) is an icon of international design, designed in 1917 by Gerrit Rietveld. It represents one of the first explorations of the De Stijl art movement in three dimensions. The original chair had a natural finish and was later painted in the De Stijl primary color palette of black, gray and white. However, it was later changed to resemble Piet Mondrian's paintings when Rietveld came into contact with the artist's work in 1918. Rietveld eventually joined the De Stijl movement in 1919. Because of its extremely simplified conception, this model was conceived to be mass-produced. The chair is currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The son of a cabinetmaker, Rietveld learned his trade in his father's workshop. In 1918, Rietveld started his own furniture factory while studying architecture. In the summer of 1918 he designed the Red and Blue Chair, initially with a natural wood finish, although in 1924, after joining De Stijl, he changed its finish to the colors that gave it its name. In 1919 he begins to collaborate with Truus Schröder - Schräder. In 1923 he participates in the exhibition of Stiljian architecture at L'Effort Moderne in Paris, and collaborates with Vilmos Huzar in the design for the Berlin art exhibition. In 1924, together with Schröder, he designed his best-known architectural work: the Rietveld Schröder House in Utrecht. The house has a conventional ground floor, the upper part being radical, in which the walls are sliding, so that the space can be modified. The design looks like a three-dimensional realization of a Mondrian painting. Rietveld broke with the De Stijl movement in 1928 and joined the Nieuwe Zakelijkheid. That same year he joined the International Congress of Modern Architecture (CIAM). In 1934 he designed the Zig-Zag chair and began the project for the van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, for which he only made sketches. He begins a very socially involved period, especially with his social architecture and with the design of cheap and easy-to-make furniture (Krat series). In 1951 he designs a retrospective exhibition on the De Stijl movement in Amsterdam, Venice and New York. In 1954 his first retrospective exhibition is held at the Centraal Museum dedicated to his architecture. He is considered one of the most important architects of Holland.