Chairs, Chair Design and Chair Designers
Originally this was the third part of our mini series about Theo van Doesburg (click for part 1 and part 2).
However there is doubt that these chairs were designed by Theo van Doesburg himself. One of our readers pointed out the threesome was designed by Thijs Rinsema, a friend of Van Doesburg.
As we have the habit of publishing one type of chair per post and I had 3 photos of a chair designed by Theo van Doesburg I rather share my second photo immediately after the first post about him.
Theo van Doesburg is probably, like the Guardian said last year at the occasion of a Van Doesburg Overview in London’s Tate, ” The Forgotten artist of the avant garde“.
He was born as Christian Emil Marie Küpper in 1883.
Together with Piet Mondriaan (or Mondrian) who he met in 1915, he was one of the founders of De Stijl in 1917, both a magazine and an art movement.
He worked 2 years in Weimar at the Bauhaus under Walter Gropius and with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Also clear is that he influenced (and got influenced by) both Piet Mondiaan (or Mondrian) and Gerrit Rietveld who were members of De Stijl as well.
I took this photo in December 2007 when I visited Museum Belvédère near Heereveen, about 1.5 hr driving north east of Amsterdam.
This elegant mahogony prototype chair that Jacobus Johannes Pieter Oud (1890-1963) designed for a meeting room of Royal Dutch Shell in 1947 was manufacured by the former Mutters factory here in The Hague. It was recently on display in the Gemeente Mueum of The Hague and got me inspired to look out for more of Oud’s work.
Piet Mondrian on a chair in his studio in Paris. Piet was a painter. Not so much a chair designer. However he was a highly influential member of the Dutch De Stijl group of architects, artists and designers. Another prominent member of the movement was Gerrit Rietveld. So Piet Mondrian (who was born as Piet Mondriaan) is a welcome addition to my Chairchez L’Homme – or Search the man with a chair – category.
ANDRE KERTESZ
Piet Mondrian in his studio, Paris, 1926
Gelatin silver print, printed later. 9 3/4 x 7 3/4 in. (24.8 x 19.7 cm). Signed, titled and dated in pencil on the verso.
ESTIMATE $3,000-5,000