Side table
This table embodies Gerrit Rietveld’s approach to "spatial creations" within his furniture, incorporating as it does floating planes, and seemingly weightless, interconnected elements—all rendered in Rietveld’s trademark black, white and primary color scheme, most commonly associated with his work for the Dutch art and design group, De Stijl, during the 1920s. The table was designed specifically for The Schröder House in Utrecht, a project regarded as the architectural embodiment of the ideals of De Stijl, and now considered by many to be Rietveld’s most important work.
Originally trained as a carpenter, Rietveld transformed objects and buildings into abstract compositions of lines and planes—and the somewhat utilitarian approach to interlocking geometric, wooden elements in this table anticipates Rietveld’s later interests in experimental self-assembly furniture, and even prefabricated and standardized housing design.
Although made in 1981 (based on Rietveld’s 1923 design) this table was fabricated and commissioned directly from Rietveld’s original studio assistant and furniture fabricator, G. A. van de Groenekan, who was responsible for much of Rietveld’s furniture output from the 1920s onwards, and who continued to produce limited examples of Rietveld’s furniture, through until the 1980s and 1990s.
Originally trained as a carpenter, Rietveld transformed objects and buildings into abstract compositions of lines and planes—and the somewhat utilitarian approach to interlocking geometric, wooden elements in this table anticipates Rietveld’s later interests in experimental self-assembly furniture, and even prefabricated and standardized housing design.
Although made in 1981 (based on Rietveld’s 1923 design) this table was fabricated and commissioned directly from Rietveld’s original studio assistant and furniture fabricator, G. A. van de Groenekan, who was responsible for much of Rietveld’s furniture output from the 1920s onwards, and who continued to produce limited examples of Rietveld’s furniture, through until the 1980s and 1990s.
Artwork Details
- Title: Side table
- Artist: Gerrit Rietveld (Dutch, Utrecht 1888–1964 Utrecht)
- Manufacturer: G. A. van de Groenekan (Dutch, 1904–1994)
- Date: 1923 (designed), 1981 (made)
- Medium: Painted beech, painted beech-veneered plywood
- Dimensions: 23 3/4 × 20 1/4 × 19 5/8 in., 11 lb. (60.3 × 51.4 × 49.8 cm, 5 kg)
- Classification: Furniture
- Credit Line: Gift of Nancy Troy de Wit and Wim de Wit, 2021
- Object Number: 2021.142
- Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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