Post-War & Contemporary Art | 31 October & 1 November 2018

98 Gerrit Rietveld (1888-1964) Designed in 1923, Dutch.

‘Divan tafeltje’/divan table, executed by Gerard van de Groenekan around 1980. Brand-marked ‘H.G.M. G.A. v.d. Groenekan, De Bilt, Nederland’, underneath the base. The coloured surfaces of the table serve as visual compositional elements, almost negating their structural function. The weightless quality is further emphasised by the painted white edges, allowing the planes to float in space, thus ‘dematerialising’ the volume. The table, which was originally designed for the Schröder House in Utrecht, is constructed from only five elements, and painted in five colours. It was illustrated twice in 1928 in ‘De Stijl’. 59x50x50 cm Provenance: Acquired directly from G. van de Groenekan by the present owner in 1981. Literature: Marijke Küper, Ida van Zijl, ‘Gerrit Th. Rietveld, The complete works’, Centraal Museum, Utrecht 1992, p. 92, no. 77, (another copy of this divan table is ‘Gerrit Th. Rietveld, A Centenary Exhibition, Craftsman and Visionary’, Barry Friedman, New York 1988, p. 40, no. 22. Daniele Baroni, ‘The Furniture of Gerrit Thomas Rietveld’, Academy Editions, London, 1978. €6,000 - €8,000 reproduced on the cover). Barry Friedman, Reyer Kras,

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Gerrit Rietveld seated in front of the furniture workshop, Van de Groenekan leaning on his chair. From Rietveld portrait album 66, Collection Centraal Museum, Utrecht © Pictoright, CMU

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