Red and Blue Chair

The Red and Blue Chair is a chair designed in 1917 by Gerrit Rietveld. It represents one of the first explorations by the De Stijl art movement in three dimensions.

Red and Blue Chair
DesignerGerrit Rietveld
Date1918
MaterialsLacquered wood
Style / traditionDe Stijl
Height88 cm (35 in)
Width66 cm (26 in)
Depth83 cm (33 in)

History

The original chair was constructed of unstained beech wood and was not painted until the early 1920s.[1] Fellow member of De Stijl and architect, Bart van der Leck, saw his original model and suggested that he add bright colours.[2] He built the new model of thinner wood and painted it entirely black with areas of primary colors attributed to De Stijl movement. The effect of this color scheme made the chair seem to almost disappear against the black walls and floor of the Rietveld Schröder House, where it was later placed.[3] The areas of color appeared to float, giving it an almost transparent structure.[4] An original example is on display at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City.[5][6]

In Rietveld's instructions on how to build the chair, he informs the craftsperson to print the following verse from Der Aesthet by Christian Morgenstern underneath the seat:

Wenn Ich sitze, möchte Ich nicht
sitzen, wie Mein Sitzfleisch möchte
sondern wie Mein Sitzgeist sich,
säße er, den Stuhl sich flöchte.[7]
"When I sit, I do not want / to sit like my seat-flesh likes / but rather like my seat-mind would, / if he were sitting, weave the chair for himself."

The Museum of Modern Art, which houses the chair in its permanent collection, a gift from Philip Johnson, states that the red, blue, and yellow colors were added around 1923.[8] A version of the chair also resides at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta.[9] It features several Rietveld joints.

The Red and Blue Chair was reported to be on loan to the Delft University of Technology Faculty of Architecture as part of an exhibition. On May 13, 2008, a fire destroyed the entire building, but the Red and Blue Chair was saved by firefighters.[10] A version of the chair was sold by Christies in 2011 for €10,625.[11]

See also

References
  1. Victoria and Albert Museum. Modern Chairs, 1918–1970: an international exhibition presented by the Whitechapel Art Gallery in association with the Observer, arranged by the Circulation Department, Victoria and Albert Museum, 22 July–30 August 1970 (London: Whitechapel Gallery, 1970), 8.
  2. Klaus-Jürgen Sembach, Twentieth Century Furniture Design (Köln : Taschen, c2002), 93.
  3. Victoria and Albert Museum. Modern Chairs, 1918–1970: an international exhibition presented by the Whitechapel Art Gallery in association with the Observer, arranged by the Circulation Department, Victoria and Albert Museum, 22 July–30 August 1970 (London: Whitechapel Gallery, 1970), 8.
  4. Klaus-Jürgen Sembach, Twentieth Century Furniture Design (Köln : Taschen, c2002), 92. Victoria and Albert Museum. Modern Chairs, 1918–1970: an international exhibition presented by the Whitechapel Art Gallery in association with the Observer, arranged by the Circulation Department, Victoria and Albert Museum, 22 July–30 August 1970 (London: Whitechapel Gallery, 1970), 8.
  5. https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/97327
  6. "Luxury Dining Chair". Wednesday, June 24, 2020
  7. Peter Drijver, Johannes Miemeijer, Rietveld meubels om zelf te maken (Bussum: Colophon, 2001), 28.
  9. "Press Release". High Museum of Art. Archived from the original on 2011-01-01. Retrieved 2009-11-20.
  10. TU Delft fire news story
  11. http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/the-red-blue-chair-designed-by-g-5415031-details.aspx/
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