Gerrit Rietveld buizenlamp tubular lamp Holland 1950

Gerrit Thomas Rietveld

Gerrit Thomas Rietveld
Utrecht 1888 – 1964
Architect, furniture designer

Very important typical and well known ceiling lamp designed by Gerrit Thomas Rietveld in 1922. This lamp is very typical for how Rietveld designed. What is the minimum of items we need to create light. This was his answer in 1922. This famous a symmetric lamp was made by Gerard van de Groenekan especially for a De Stijl exhibition in Stedelijk Musem, the Biennale in Venice and MOMA New York. This lamp has an unusual light grey ceiling plate where most later models have a black one but because the ceiling was black where this was hung, this was better in contrast. The lamp comes with the original wooden crate where the glass tubes where transported in. This is a museal piece with an amazing history.

Provenance: The lamp was specially made for the De Stijl exhibition in Stedelijk museum in 1951. So its most likely made in ca. 1950. The lamp went to the Biennale in Venice in 1952 and to the MOMA in NY in 1952. When the lamp came back to Holland Rietveld give the lamp as a wedding present to a drawer from his Atelier, Arie de Graaf who has this lamp in his home until the 1970s. Until they moved in the 1970s it got lost on the attic and the son of Arie de Graaf found this lamp when they were selling the house after Arie died in 2015.

Important Literature: Peter Vöge, the complete Rietveld Furniture, page 56/57, number 42.
Gerrit Th. Rietveld 1888-1964 Het volledige werk, Marijke Küper, Ida van Zijl (Utrecht, 1992)
page 87/88, number 63 and page 246, number 431 this is a picture of the exhibition in 1951.