Gerrit Rietveld

1 Conviction and Vision An introduction to Rietveld's ideas on life in general and on architecture in particular. 2 The summer of 1919? Rietveld's upbringing and early life, and decision to focus on cabinet-making. 3 The cabinetmaker of De Stijl (1917-1924) The Red-Blue chair and Rietveld's other experiments with furniture, viewed against the backdrop of the cultural climate in the Netherlands at the end of the First World War. 4 The Rietveld Schroder House (1924)? An extensive description of this famous house, as well as an examination of its place within Rietveld's development, its relationship to the De Stijl movement and to Theo Van Doesburg and Bruno Taut's ideas, and its contemporary reception. 5 Rietveld the architect (1925-1935)? The crucial period when Rietveld decided to focus on architecture. His formal vocabulary and use of materials change radically and he develops several fundamental ideas about housing and the industrialization of the design and building process. 6 Functionalist architecture (1935-1941)? During the 1930s, Rietveld built up a fully-fledged architectural practice that was highly important within the Dutch context. In the controversy between the Functionalist architects and the traditionalist Delft School, his work is often the subject of furious debate. 7 World War II and postwar reconstruction (1946-1954)? The Second World War brought these developments to a standstill, and Rietveld's contribution to the enormous post-war reconstruction in the Netherlands was limited, and he builds in other countries, including the Monseigneur Verriet Institute in Curacao. 8 Re-evaluating Rietveld (1954-1964)? With a revival of interest in De Stijl in the early 1950s, Rietveld is given a prominent place within the international exhibition and he is given commissions in the cultural sector and the public housing programme in Utrecht. The most important designs from this final period are the Dutch pavilion for the Venice Biennale, the Ploeg

Ida van Zijl is deputy director of the Centraal Museum in Utrecht, the holder of the main collection of Rietveld's work. Since the late 1970s, she has studied Rietveld and has complete access not only to the museum's collection of documents, but also to those held by his family and friends. She was the editor of Gerrit Rietveld: The Complete Works (published in 1992), a catalogue of his work.