Page 28 - Studio International - September October 1975

The one exception is Rietveld, who
joined De Stijl in 1918, one year after its
inauguration, and who remained a
faithful member of the movement until
it was dissolved in 1931 at Van Doesburg's
death. Rietveld's achievements remain
enigmatic, however, partly because of his
reticence (he was one of the few members
of the group who seemed to prefer
designing to describing his ideas), and
partly because the remarkable creative
impulse which characterizes his work in
the twenties was not maintained : after
1928 his designs become for the most
part efficient rather than exhilarating.
His designs of the twenties, on the other
hand, are a unique demonstration of
De Stijl spatial concepts in three-
dimensional form, and apart from Van
Doesburg himself no other architect
within the group had his instinct for
giving shape and substance to abstract
concepts. For Rietveld seems to have
acted as a catalyst or interpreter to his
colleagues and collaborators, Gerrit Rietveld
understanding, absorbing and Schroeder House, Utrecht 1923-24
conceptualizing their theories almost as (Photograph taken in 1924)
soon as they were formulated; and since
he seems to have had little taste for the study and the tiny jewellery shop in the situation of the Schroeder house
cosmopolitan experiences of Van Amsterdam, which he designed in 1920, today symbolizes that bankruptcy. When
Doesburg or Mondrian, the sources of this early work was a remarkably mature it was built it turned its back on a
this achievement lie within the Dutch and sophisticated realization of Neo- suburban street of red brick houses to
tradition of competence and Plastic concepts in three-dimensional face the open countryside; now it faces a
craftsmanship. form. motorway which is level with its upper
Rietveld's training and experience as a These two early commissions have windows, and its garden is trampled by
carpenter (he only studied architecture disappeared, but the Schroeder house latter-day pilgrims - architects who come
for three years, and in evening classes) survives as a memorial to De Stijl's to photograph a work of art which
obviously gave him the confidence and spatial aspirations and as a tribute to a rejected the past and was betrayed by the
competence to explore as a sculptor total design concept. Planning the house future.
might the structural and spatial qualities involved the practical organization as well
of the material he was working with, and as the metaphysical expression of space.
he had a long apprenticeship designing The interior is as economically designed
and making furniture in the Dutch Arts as a ship's cabin; every inch of space is
and Craft tradition before he began his used to meet the needs of a growing
experimental work. Although this was family; the upper floor is partitioned to
obviously inspired by conceptual convert communal into private space;
innovations in painting and architecture and Rietveld's furniture complements
(Rietveld had met Bart Van der Leck and the overall design. The exterior, however, Doesburg, The Will to Style' (lecture held
had also made copies of Frank Lloyd is a variation of the theme rather than an in Jena, Weimar and Berlin), De Stijl,
Wright furniture for the Huis ter Heide expression of it and, like the Rosenberg vols. 2 & 3. Quoted from Joost Baljeu,
Theo Van Doesburg, Studio Vista, 1974,
in the seminal period around 1917) he models, emphasizes planes rather than p.124.
produced his first design in a spirit of volumes, their relationships seemingly 2 Berlage, 'The Human Habitation',
personal experiment rather than as a determined intuitively, as on a unpublished lecture. Quoted from Peter
demonstration of ideal form: Mondrian canvas. The Schroeder house Singeenberg, H. P. Berlage, Meulenhoff,
`The so-called red/blue chair', he is the only surviving icon of De Stijl Amsterdam, 1968, p.11.
recalled, 'the chair made of two boards architecture, and Rietveld never again 3 Doesburg, 'The Will to Style', op.cit., p.126.
and a number of laths, that chair was made equalled this tour de force, which remains 4 Doesburg, 'The New Aesthetics and its
realization', De Stijl, vol. 6, No. I. Quoted
to the end of showing that a thing of as a tribute to the ideals of the twenties from Joost Baljeu, op.cit., p.129.
beauty, eg a spatial object, could be rather than the realities of the thirties. 5Van der Leck, 'The Place of Modern
made of nothing but straightened For the De Stijl vision of painters, Painting in Architecture', De Stijl, vol.
machined materials. So I had a plank architects and engineers all collaborating No. 2. Quoted from H. L. C. Jaffé,
sawn into strips and laths; the centre to produce the total work of art whose De Stijl, Thames & Hudson, 1970, P. 94.
part I sawed in two halves, so I had a forms, laws and harmonies would first 6Doesburg, 'Manifesto V : - q+ = R4',
seat and back and then, with the laths of be demonstrated by painting shone with De Stijl, 1923. Quoted from Baljeu, op.cit.,
various lengths, I constructed the chair. the delusive clarity of a mirage. Every p.148.
`When making that thing, it never step towards its achievement either 7Doesburg, 'Towards a plastic architecture',
De Stijl, vol. 6, No. 6/7. Quoted from Jaffe,
occurred to me that it would prove all compromised or diminished the ideal, op.cit., p.186.
that meaningful for myself and possibly which by its very nature defied 8Mondrian, 'Is Painting Secondary to
for others too; that it would even have an translation into three-dimensional form. Architecture ?', De Stijl, vol. 6, No. 5.
impact on architecture.'' Transcendental harmonies dissolve with Quoted from Jaffe, op.cit., p. 184.
This was followed by the now iconic definition, and attempts to conceptualize 9 Doesburg, 'Painting and Sculpture',
series of designs for furniture - some for them, at least in this century, have been De Stijl, vol. 7, No. 78. Quoted from Jaffe,
private commissions, others purely at best quixotic and at worst disastrous. op.cit., p.215.
self-indulgent - all made up of geometric The Style, with its stress on impersonality 10 Doesburg, 'Space-Time and Colour',
elements that explore, defy and define and abstraction, was all too easy to De Stijl Aubette issue, series XV. Quoted
space rather like Vantongerloo's bastardize, and the concern for space from Baljeu, op.cit., p.180.
11 Oud, Holländische Architectur'
sculpture and the designs for Léonce rather than enclosure, technique rather (Bauhausbuch to), Munich 1926.
Rosenberg. At the same time he began than texture and efficiency rather than 12 G. Rietveld Architect, catalogue of Arts
to work as an interior designer, and emotion resulted, in an age of Council exhibition, Hayward Gallery,
judging from photographs of Dr Hartog's expediency, in spiritual bankruptcy. And London 1972.

102