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拍品專文
The present chair is a scarce variant that paralleled Rietveld’s development of the celebrated Beugelstoel model. Whereas this latter design was successfully serial-produced in both lounge and dining versions for retail by Metz & Co during the early 1930s, the present example evolved from a small batch of experimental designs all of which were hand-built in the atelier of Rietveld’s dedicated cabinetmaker, Gerard van de Groenekan.
Technically, the chair evolves the Beugel concept to deliver a highly sculptural structure now realised entirely from timber. Screws are arranged in tight rows to the edges of the seat, and in a circular fashion to the understructure, and represent the sole concession to any type of decoration. The outline and massing of this design represents a departure from Rietveld’s earlier De Stijl -influenced designs, to instead acknowledge Neoplasticism and by turn to anticipate Biomorphic design.
The flanks are each realised from three rounded planks, over-lapping and screwed together to create an illusion of depth whilst reinforcing stability — an effective structural technique Rietveld had pioneered with his Military Chair of 1923. The plywood seat was sourced from a batch originally destined for the production of the steel-framed Beugelstoel, and would have been originally supplied by the Estonian company Luterma. A drawing held in the Rietveld Schröder Archive illustrates diagrams for several variations of the concept, however surviving examples are rare, testifying to the experimental nature of the design. The Centraal Museum Utrecht holds two examples of this form, both being different variations of the present example. Vöge (op. cit., p.80) identifies another example in a private collection, and the present, red-painted example from the Besnyö collection is that published in the Kuper / van Zijl reference (op. cit., cat. No. 220, p.159).
The present chair was acquired directly from the designer by Eva Besnyö (1910-2003), and has remained by descent in her family since the 1930s. Born in Budapest, she worked as a photojournalist in Berlin 1930-1932, where her immediate social and political circle included Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Robert Capa. She re-located to Amsterdam in 1932, where she remained prolific as a photographer and photojournalist until her death. Besnyö was likely first introduced to Rietveld through her mother-in-law, the painter Charley Toorop, herself an enthusiastic patron of Rietveld and his furniture designs. In addition to the present prototypic chair, photographs record that by 1934 Besnyö also owned a grey-and-black -painted example of a ‘Red Blue’ chair. In 2005, two years after Besnyö’s death this ‘Red Blue' chair was was sold at auction in Amsterdam, and is currently preserved in a French private collection.
Simon Andrews
The present chair is a scarce variant that paralleled Rietveld’s development of the celebrated Beugelstoel model. Whereas this latter design was successfully serial-produced in both lounge and dining versions for retail by Metz & Co during the early 1930s, the present example evolved from a small batch of experimental designs all of which were hand-built in the atelier of Rietveld’s dedicated cabinetmaker, Gerard van de Groenekan.
Technically, the chair evolves the Beugel concept to deliver a highly sculptural structure now realised entirely from timber. Screws are arranged in tight rows to the edges of the seat, and in a circular fashion to the understructure, and represent the sole concession to any type of decoration. The outline and massing of this design represents a departure from Rietveld’s earlier De Stijl -influenced designs, to instead acknowledge Neoplasticism and by turn to anticipate Biomorphic design.
The flanks are each realised from three rounded planks, over-lapping and screwed together to create an illusion of depth whilst reinforcing stability — an effective structural technique Rietveld had pioneered with his Military Chair of 1923. The plywood seat was sourced from a batch originally destined for the production of the steel-framed Beugelstoel, and would have been originally supplied by the Estonian company Luterma. A drawing held in the Rietveld Schröder Archive illustrates diagrams for several variations of the concept, however surviving examples are rare, testifying to the experimental nature of the design. The Centraal Museum Utrecht holds two examples of this form, both being different variations of the present example. Vöge (op. cit., p.80) identifies another example in a private collection, and the present, red-painted example from the Besnyö collection is that published in the Kuper / van Zijl reference (op. cit., cat. No. 220, p.159).
The present chair was acquired directly from the designer by Eva Besnyö (1910-2003), and has remained by descent in her family since the 1930s. Born in Budapest, she worked as a photojournalist in Berlin 1930-1932, where her immediate social and political circle included Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Robert Capa. She re-located to Amsterdam in 1932, where she remained prolific as a photographer and photojournalist until her death. Besnyö was likely first introduced to Rietveld through her mother-in-law, the painter Charley Toorop, herself an enthusiastic patron of Rietveld and his furniture designs. In addition to the present prototypic chair, photographs record that by 1934 Besnyö also owned a grey-and-black -painted example of a ‘Red Blue’ chair. In 2005, two years after Besnyö’s death this ‘Red Blue' chair was was sold at auction in Amsterdam, and is currently preserved in a French private collection.
Simon Andrews
Technically, the chair evolves the Beugel concept to deliver a highly sculptural structure now realised entirely from timber. Screws are arranged in tight rows to the edges of the seat, and in a circular fashion to the understructure, and represent the sole concession to any type of decoration. The outline and massing of this design represents a departure from Rietveld’s earlier De Stijl -influenced designs, to instead acknowledge Neoplasticism and by turn to anticipate Biomorphic design.
The flanks are each realised from three rounded planks, over-lapping and screwed together to create an illusion of depth whilst reinforcing stability — an effective structural technique Rietveld had pioneered with his Military Chair of 1923. The plywood seat was sourced from a batch originally destined for the production of the steel-framed Beugelstoel, and would have been originally supplied by the Estonian company Luterma. A drawing held in the Rietveld Schröder Archive illustrates diagrams for several variations of the concept, however surviving examples are rare, testifying to the experimental nature of the design. The Centraal Museum Utrecht holds two examples of this form, both being different variations of the present example. Vöge (op. cit., p.80) identifies another example in a private collection, and the present, red-painted example from the Besnyö collection is that published in the Kuper / van Zijl reference (op. cit., cat. No. 220, p.159).
The present chair was acquired directly from the designer by Eva Besnyö (1910-2003), and has remained by descent in her family since the 1930s. Born in Budapest, she worked as a photojournalist in Berlin 1930-1932, where her immediate social and political circle included Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Robert Capa. She re-located to Amsterdam in 1932, where she remained prolific as a photographer and photojournalist until her death. Besnyö was likely first introduced to Rietveld through her mother-in-law, the painter Charley Toorop, herself an enthusiastic patron of Rietveld and his furniture designs. In addition to the present prototypic chair, photographs record that by 1934 Besnyö also owned a grey-and-black -painted example of a ‘Red Blue’ chair. In 2005, two years after Besnyö’s death this ‘Red Blue' chair was was sold at auction in Amsterdam, and is currently preserved in a French private collection.
Simon Andrews
The present chair is a scarce variant that paralleled Rietveld’s development of the celebrated Beugelstoel model. Whereas this latter design was successfully serial-produced in both lounge and dining versions for retail by Metz & Co during the early 1930s, the present example evolved from a small batch of experimental designs all of which were hand-built in the atelier of Rietveld’s dedicated cabinetmaker, Gerard van de Groenekan.
Technically, the chair evolves the Beugel concept to deliver a highly sculptural structure now realised entirely from timber. Screws are arranged in tight rows to the edges of the seat, and in a circular fashion to the understructure, and represent the sole concession to any type of decoration. The outline and massing of this design represents a departure from Rietveld’s earlier De Stijl -influenced designs, to instead acknowledge Neoplasticism and by turn to anticipate Biomorphic design.
The flanks are each realised from three rounded planks, over-lapping and screwed together to create an illusion of depth whilst reinforcing stability — an effective structural technique Rietveld had pioneered with his Military Chair of 1923. The plywood seat was sourced from a batch originally destined for the production of the steel-framed Beugelstoel, and would have been originally supplied by the Estonian company Luterma. A drawing held in the Rietveld Schröder Archive illustrates diagrams for several variations of the concept, however surviving examples are rare, testifying to the experimental nature of the design. The Centraal Museum Utrecht holds two examples of this form, both being different variations of the present example. Vöge (op. cit., p.80) identifies another example in a private collection, and the present, red-painted example from the Besnyö collection is that published in the Kuper / van Zijl reference (op. cit., cat. No. 220, p.159).
The present chair was acquired directly from the designer by Eva Besnyö (1910-2003), and has remained by descent in her family since the 1930s. Born in Budapest, she worked as a photojournalist in Berlin 1930-1932, where her immediate social and political circle included Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Robert Capa. She re-located to Amsterdam in 1932, where she remained prolific as a photographer and photojournalist until her death. Besnyö was likely first introduced to Rietveld through her mother-in-law, the painter Charley Toorop, herself an enthusiastic patron of Rietveld and his furniture designs. In addition to the present prototypic chair, photographs record that by 1934 Besnyö also owned a grey-and-black -painted example of a ‘Red Blue’ chair. In 2005, two years after Besnyö’s death this ‘Red Blue' chair was was sold at auction in Amsterdam, and is currently preserved in a French private collection.
Simon Andrews