Gerrit Thomas Rietveld

Studio Job Gallery
Begijnenvest 8
2000 Antwerp
Belgium

11 october 2012 - 11 januari 2013
Open by appointment

Studio Job is the Antwerp-based design studio and art gallery by dutch designers job smeets and nynke tynagel. Quite amazingly, it was almost 25 years ago that the work of renowned architect and designer Gerrit Thomas Rietveld (1888-1964) has been showcased in a gallery space, and we seized the opportunity to set the record straight with an exhibition that has been lovingly dubbed 'Gerrit Thomas Rietveld'. There may have been practical reasons for this scarce exposure. rietveld's work has its own mystique, and the doors to the closed circle of surviving acquaintances, experts, restorers, collectors and museums are rarely opened.

Designer Job Smeets' fascination with modernist design and its symbiosis with contemporary artists and designers became evident during last year's reconstruction show at Studio Job. the event put him in touch with graphic designer Wim Crouwel who shared his compelling stories about the master and eventually lend his red-and-blue chair for the exhibition. A budding friendship with collector and gallery owner Etienne Feijns proved to be another catalyst for the current show. Last but not least Utrecht's Centraal Museum, the planet's largest depository of Rietveld design, was approached to lend exemplary Rietveld designs. The exhibition opens thu - oct 11 [6pm-9pm] with speeches by the dutch museum's curator Ida van Zijl and Jop Ubbens, chairman of Christie's Amsterdam.

Exhibited Items

Exhibition Photos