Rietveld Schröder House - a biography of the house” will be published on November 27

On November 27, 2024, the international publication “Rietveld Schröder House — A Biography of the House” will be published.

The richly illustrated 896-page book shows the history of the house and its famous residents in a chronological way. The publication contains new insights into Truus Schröder's role, which appears to be larger than initially thought, supplemented with many newly discovered and previously unpublished photos and letters from her archive. The book was written by Rietveld expert and Centraal Museum curator Natalie Dubois and writer and historian Jessica van Geel. The internationally renowned graphic designer Irma Boom provided the extraordinary design and Hannibal Books is the publisher. The book is published in two languages: in English and Dutch.

Role of Truus Schröder

Rietveld Schröder House — A Biography of the House tells the story of the Rietveld Schröder House and its namesakes: Gerrit Rietveld and Truus Schröder. The two were radical innovators in modern architecture and lovers. Because the Centraal Museum has recently received important donations and loans, Dubois and Van Geel have been able to research a lot of new archival material. In addition to a fuller picture of the life that took place inside and around the world-famous house, their research also shows that Truus Schröder's role is much greater than art historians have assumed so far. In almost all publications from the 1920s, they are both mentioned as architects of the house — since the 1980s, Schröder's name has been disappearing more and more often. Moreover, this book clearly shows that Schröder and Rietveld have worked together on multiple projects for decades. Schröder's creative vision appears to be very important for their joint projects.

Jessica van Geel, writer, historian and co-author of the book: “The research for this book shows us that the name Schröder can be associated with many more Rietveld designs than initially assumed — including by myself. Schröder writes in letters that she participates in projects, she corresponds with clients and her name is often on drawings. So we can see that she was much more than Rietveld's' mistress' or 'muse', as she has been portrayed so many times.”

Newly discovered archival footage

In addition to new insights about Schröder, the publication includes several hundred previously unpublished images. For example, there are photos of the facade of the house with the company name “Schröder & Rietveld Architect”, photos of grandchildren in the house (one grandchild was also born there), images of parties and renovations, photos of a Montessori class that was in the house and images of a “roof room” that temporarily stood on top of the house. In addition, the book contains prints of previously unpublished letters from Schröder to her daughter Han. The research has also led to donations of hundreds of letters and photographs from the family that further enrich the museum's archive.

Rietveld Schröder House — A Biography of the House is organized chronologically: the book begins with the births of Truus Schröder and Gerrit Rietveld and ends almost a hundred years later in 1987, with the opening of the house as a museum home. The chapters always start with a written introduction, followed by hundreds of archival images and letters with explanations that together paint a picture of each period of time. The publication contains a total of approximately 860 images.

About the Authors

Jessica van Geel is a writer, journalist and historian. Published in 2018 I Love You, Rietveld, Truus Schröder's highly acclaimed biography. As a journalist, she worked for NRC Handelsblad for years and wrote for the magazine Vrij Nederland, among others. Especially for the Rietveld Schröder House, Van Geel developed neighborhood walks through Utrecht East, following the tracks of Gerrit Rietveld and Truus Schröder.

Natalie Dubois is curator Rietveld Schröderhuis and curator of applied arts and design at the Centraal Museum. For the Centraal Museum, she curated several exhibitions, such as Rietveld's Masterpiece (2017) and Dreaming in Concrete (2019). The exhibition Chair takes a stand (2023) was nominated for the Museum Magazine Exhibition Award. Dubois also curated exhibitions with works by Rietveld and Schröder in Japan (Tokyo and Oita), Germany (Herford) and Indonesia (Jakarta).

Book design

Rietveld Schröder House — A Biography of the House was designed by internationally renowned graphic designer Irma Boom. Both the book cover and the 896 pages of text and images were designed by Boom. In doing so, she worked closely with authors Dubois and Van Geel.

“The idea to make the book this way basically came from me.” — Irma Boom: free to Truus Schröder

Practical details

Title: Rietveld Schröder House — A Biography of the House
Language: bilingual (Dutch and English)
Amount of pages: 896
Authors: Jessica van Geel and Natalie Dubois
Publisher: Hannibal Books
Design: Irma Boom
Price: €79.95
Dimensions: 22 x 15 cm

In addition, a paperback version of the book will also be published at a discounted rate of €55. This edition is only available in museum shops and the Centraal Museum and the Rietveld Schröder House.

About the Rietveld Schröder House

The Rietveld Schröder House was designed in 1924, a century ago, by Gerrit Rietveld and Truus Schröder. The house is considered the architectural highlight of the De Stijl art movement. Gerrit Rietveld designed the house for and with Truus Schröder as an exuberant experiment with a radical use of space. Since 2000, the house has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Rietveld Schröder House — A Biography of the House appears as a festive end to the famous house's 100th anniversary, which has been extensively discussed in recent months.

Natalie Dubois, curator Rietveld Schröder House and Centraal Museum and co-author Rietveld Schröderhuis — A Biography of the House: “To build the Rietveld Schröder House, two very progressive and free-spirited people were needed: Truus Schröder-Schräder and Gerrit Rietveld. They built their home on the Prins Hendriklaan in Utrecht, the edge of the city at the time. What a nerve! Building such a house at that time, out of the blue, without an example, is an exceptional achievement. Schröder and Rietveld found each other in the other, in the new and the unknown.”

Truus Schroeder

In 1924, Truus Schröder-Schräder (1889-1985) asked Utrecht furniture maker Gerrit Rietveld if he wanted to design her new home. Schröder, a mother of three, had just become a widow and wanted a fresh start in a home that met her quirky home ideas. Together with Rietveld, she designed the house, where she would live from 1924 until her death in 1985 — for more than sixty years.

Gerrit Rietveld

Gerrit Rietveld (1888-1964) is a world-renowned furniture designer and architect. He is best known for the chairs he designed, such as the red and blue slatted chair (1919). Inspired by De Stijl, among others, he designed the Rietveld Schröder House with Truus Schröder in 1924. This is the first house that Rietveld designed. Later, several other houses, as well as the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, would follow.