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The Brooklyn Museum

Collections: Decorative Arts




Gerrit Thomas Rietveld: Armchair

Gerrit Thomas Rietveld (Dutch, 1888–1964). Armchair, designed 1917. Made by Gerard van de Groenekan (Dutch, 1904–1994). The Netherlands. Beechwood, pigment, 33 1/2 x 26 x 26 in. (85.1 x 66 x 66 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Purchase Restricted Income Fund, 71.73

It is rare for decorative arts objects to evoke an artistic movement, but this armchair, formerly owned by J. J. P. Oud (Dutch, 1890–1963), another De Stijl architect, has become an icon of the style; it expresses De Stijl ideology through balanced application of color and the arrangement of geometric elements. De Stijl artists shunned historicism and naturalism and sought new, abstract forms to express the ideals of the future.

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