Page 50 - Studio International - April 1972
P. 50

Le Corbusier, was most concerned with human   the frame of the cube. And a great generosity of   significance of a lonely and freakish forerunner.
    comfort—look at his deep settees, his luxurious   spirit is a manifestation of this simplicity of   But it is only in the last two or three years, with
    seats, his generous sit-in fireplaces. Compare   outlook.                           the renewal of interest in material-as-structure
    such things with Rietveld's zig-zag chairs.   Such a spirit is rare to find in Rietveld's   rather than abstract gestalt, as the framework
    Furniture should presuppose comfort; so should   work. Look at the extraordinary Szekely   for advanced sculpture, that the full extent,
    buildings.                                House, for example. How did it get that   variety and quality of Rietveld's oeuvre could
      In Rietveld's architecture, though, this sense   peculiar roof ? The onlooker would be entitled   come to assume its present importance. What
    of discomfort prevails. The same awkwardness   to believe that the original design had been   has served to bury Rietveld until this moment,
    that is evident in the zig-zag chair (at any   altered later in a conversion by some local   namely his reputation as designer and architect,
    minute it might collapse) is evident in the   builder. One can hardly believe one's eyes. The   as a relatively minor figure in a particular aspect
    complications of the façades to the Schroder   Smit House (a project 1949) is every bit as   of the modern movement, and, it would seem,
    House, in the odd bits of balconies that are too   strange and certainly quite unnecessarily   Rietveld's own acceptance of this designated
    narrow and enclosed to enjoy (thus meeting   complicated and confused—a hotchpotch of   role, now gives the work an accumulated purity,
    the abstractionist's aims and decorative ends);   different roof shapes and materials. A good   integrity and force. For modern sculpture was
    and in the fussiness of the window design—  architect avoids problems; and a good building   (and still is) making: and Rietveld was primarily
    Rietveld doesn't appear to have known where   is like an argument that has been properly   and continuously a maker, concerned with the
    to stop. Study the plan. On the first floor the   considered—the meaning must be clear, the   simultaneous aesthetic and structural ordering
    traditional divisions have gone and this gives an   method of expression exact. But it is not essential   of particular materials (and from this point in
    openness which one associates with the planning   to look at the work of men like Wright and   time, the de Stijl aesthetic seems only to have
    of the time. But again there is a mixture of   Le Corbusier to seek reassurance; nor, for that   been one possibility among many, relevant
    interests at work, all of which are crammed into   matter, at the work of architects like Jacobsen   mainly, in the construction of furniture, to the
    a single space, all of which in some way conflict :   and Utzon —yet how refreshingly direct their   use of rectangular wooden sections).
    beds, a piano, cooking, eating, a lavatory, a   designs are. It is quite enough, for instance, to   `The chair', which might at first glance seem
    bathroom : all the appearances of a modern look   look at the kind of buildings the Danes are   such a constraint, in fact operates as the agent
    at living. The Schröders, of course, clearly   turning out month by month. For what is it   of abstract invention. Instead of working within
    asked for some form of open planning. If they   about Danish architecture in particular that   the sculpture idea, the figure idea, Rietveld
    did, one suspects that the architect's scheme   makes someone like Rietveld seem so   freely and unselfconsciously works within the
    forced them into a situation for which they   outrageously contrary, so self-conscious—and   chair idea. What a contrast with the past-
    hadn't bargained. The plan strikes one as a too   English architects so frankly bad ?   haunted contemporary sculpture of, for example,
    literal interpretation of clients' requirements,   It may all boil down to matters concerning   Laurens, Giacometti, Gonzalez. The chair has
    as a form of circulation diagram that never   proportion—the size of windows and doors, the   all the abstract components of an abstract and
    reached a further and more profound stage.   dimensions of panes of glass; or an unerring   natural sculpture far beyond their reach—
    Every part of the twenty-four hour cycle of   sense of scale—the scale of the place into which   qualities of core, axis and direction: the self-
    existence is piled into one space : there is no   the building will be set, and the relationship   evident relation of structure to material:
    privacy; no escape from the washing-up of the   established between the scale of the building   proportion, level, inside/outside, gravity, size,
    night before; no chance to relax over breakfast   and that of the human being. These two—  actual strength—all those properties which
    without first making the beds. Compare this   proportion and scale—are then supported by   derive from its function as bearer, supporter,
    arrangement with Le Corbusier's for Ozenfant.   great economy of materials, of shape, of detail :   container, reflector of the human figure. If
    There, again, all the movements of day and   little else. Nature grows up naturally round   Rietveld had merely called our attention to
    night life occur in one space, in one cube. But   Danish buildings, and those qualities of comfort   these properties it would have been enough.
    the business of the day happened on one floor   and calm that are essential to the pleasure and   But each chair is for him a new beginning, an
    and the business of the night happened on a   enjoyment of a place follow on. Nothing of this   adventure with material, form, space,
    triangle that bisected the cube—on a balcony   is evident in Rietveld's work—this must be said.   proportion, structure and, finally, expression,
    bedroom. The needs of sleep and work were   But then his ambitions were larger than his   that far out-distances the original concept.
    separated, and the muddle of the day could, if   intellectual and imaginative means. In such   Each attempt is utterly different, wholly
    only for a few hours, be left behind.     circumstances, it is impossible to produce an   autonomous, a chair only and necessarily for
       The combination of separation of use and   integrated work, a simple work of happiness.   the purpose of recognition; it may function as
    the triangular form inside the cube emphasized   Rietveld seems too distracted by his own   such, be comfortable even (the wear on several
    the extent of the space. But important, too, was   dilemmas and inner conflicts to achieve such a   pieces gives evidence of long and happy use);
    the simplicity with which the elements were   thing. What was architecture ? Was it painting ?   it may be easily and cheaply reproduced in
    handled. Complications in planning, as in detail,   Was it furniture ? Was it symbolism ? Was it   quantity : but these are incidental virtues,
    reduce one's appreciation of space. A room   sculpture—or Cubism ? Surely it wasn't merely   insistence on which withdraws
     which is cluttered with furniture, objects,   making buildings ? What we see reflected in his   acknowledgement of each piece as not only
    curtains, rugs and so on contracts in size—shape   designs is the frustration and unhappiness of   `hand-made', but eye-made, mind-made by
    and form become submerged by an overlay of   plain indecision. q                     an artist whose modesty of purpose was the
     possessions. In the sphere of design, this matters.   STEPHEN GARDINER              essential component of a uniquely liberated
     And in Rietveld's work just such complications                                      imagination. The exhibition at the Hayward
     show on the outside as well, as the Schroder   A note on Rietveld as a sculptor     should enable a few of us to repay with interest a
     House demonstrates. A typical Wright house   The Rietveld exhibition at the Hayward Gallery   debt compounded over fifty years' neglect; the
     like Taliesin I (191o) was made of extremely   is reviewed above, but I would like to remark   comparison with the adjacent artiness of Miró
     simple elements—a huge roof that was      the timeliness of the show, and the revelation of   and Rothko might lead a few open-minded
     protective, a podium that stressed the ground   Rietveld as one of the handful of great masters   visitors to question the stratification and
     plane, glass that melted into the shadows   of modern sculpture.                    hardening of reputation in the tree of modern
     between these strong horizontals. A typical   Rietveld has long and generally been known   art. More than a few dead branches, strapped
     Le Corbusier house like the Villa Savoye (193o)   here as the designer of THE (`Red-Blue') chair,   and propped by heavy investment, are obscuring
     was similarly conceived from simple elements—  which, with the advent of the ground-based   the view of the distant but lively green. q
     the discovery, release and control of space within    sculpture of the early sixties, assumed the    WILLIAM TUCKER
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