Live Auction 3010The Decorative Arts Sale
A PAIR OF WHITE AND BLACK PAINTED WHITEWOOD AND HARDBOARD CUPBOARDS
Lot 457

A PAIR OF WHITE AND BLACK PAINTED WHITEWOOD AND HARDBOARD CUPBOARDS

DESIGNED BY GERRIT TH. RIETVELD, PROBABLY EXECUTED IN RIETVELD'S WORKSHOP BETWEEN 1937 AND 1958

Closed3 October 2012

Price Realised

EUR 6,875

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A PAIR OF WHITE AND BLACK PAINTED WHITEWOOD AND HARDBOARD CUPBOARDS
Designed by Gerrit Th. Rietveld, probably executed in Rietveld's workshop between 1937 and 1958
Each with plain top above two panelled doors, on plinth base, one interior fitted with three (later) shelves, the other interior with iron rod and slats to the sides
200 cm. high x 100.5 cm. wide x 55 cm. deep (2)

Gerrit Th. Rietveld, until 1961;
Bertus Mulder, Utrecht.

Specialist note

"In Rietveld's home at Vredenburg 8bis, one of these cabinets was used as a wardrobe and the other as a cupboard. They will have been in his workshop. The design is by Rietveld and is very special. It is an attempt to construct large wardrobes using a minimum of material. The surfaces of the cabinets and doors are composed of horizontal and vertical whitewood slats interspersed with hardboard. The slats are nailed together with the hardboard in between. By using this particular construction the doors get a sufficient stiffness.
In Rietveld's home the cabinets were unpainted. I have painted them in white and black, inspired by the colour scheme Rietveld used for the Schelling cupboard (Centraal Museum, catalogue nr 26). One of the cupboards is visible on the interior of Vredenburg at the time we lived there."