designed by Gerrit Rietveld in 1918, manufactured by G. van de Groenekan between 1919 and 1921, made up of thirteen square-section wooden slats, solid wood seat and backrest, with painted decoration in red, blue, black, and yellow, height 89 cm, width 60 cm, depth 80 cm, height of seat 32 cm. (DR)
Restored in 1970 by G. van de Groenekan.
Gerrit Rietveld designed the Red/Blue chair to be made up of thirteen square- section slats, two armrests, a seat, and a backrest. The slats are connected by sixteen covered wooden bolts, as well as eight pierced wooden bolts. The seat and the backrest are visibly nailed to the slats, and the seat and backrest slightly overlap with the support. The seat and backrest consist of several layers of plywood. The slats are "tenderly" stained black, so that the grain of the wood is still visible, whereas their end-grain parts are painted yellow. The face of the seat is ultramarine and that of the seat, vermilion. The undersides are unpainted. The present model was examined within the project "Rietveld Stuhl Rot-Blau" conducted by the Neue Sammlung in Munich and the Department of Restoration, Art Technology, and Conservation of the Munich University of Technology. Analysis supplied the following findings: In terms of the material, the chair complies with Rietveld"™s scheme (the seat and backrest are made of solid wood). The seat and backrest are nailed to the support on the front side; the nail holes have meanwhile been puttied, and the parts are currently joined by small aluminium brackets. The woodwork has been finished relatively roughly. The undersides show traces of sawing, and the faces reveal characteristic marks from machine working, as well as parallel strokes from planing. Bolting is executed crudely. The treatment of the faces corresponds to Rietveld"™s scheme as well. The undersides, which are not visible, are unpainted. The painted decoration of Model No. 1 is composed of two layers and is made up of a priming layer and a paint layer. The chair has been overpainted only once. Besides the original layer of red paint mentioned above, the red backrest has a second layer of red lacquer on white priming. As to the painted decoration, Model No. 1 shows an unusual peculiarity. Partially, there are traces of original red paint, which can be found both on the frame and the red backrest. In the area of the frame, there are traces of white priming underneath the coat of red paint. As to the blue seat, this only holds true for the area around the lower edge. It can therefore be concluded that the chair, which today is painted red and blue, was originally painted purely red.
Provenance: Steph Ultervaal, Netherlands, a sculptor and assistant of Rietveld; Untervaal family property until 1987; Christie"™s, Amsterdam, 21 May 1987, lot 421; ever since private property, Germany
The following documents are available as photocopies: a letter from Ultervaal"™s son in which he confirms the dating, and an analytical report by Stefan Demeler, Munich 2005.

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