Showrooms

Hans van der Laan, church pew from the St. Benedictusberg Abbey,1960s

Creator: Dom Hans van der Laan
Offered by: Corde

Description
Hans van der Laan, church pew from the St. Benedictusberg Abbey, Vaals, the Netherlands, 1960s
Painted wood, galvanized steel, copper hardware.
29 x 89 5/8 x 18 ¾ in. (73.5 x 227.5 x 47.5 cm)
Seat height: 18 ½ in. (47 cm)

Literature:
Egbert Koster, “Dom van der Laan’s Arcadian Architecture,” Architectura & Natura Quarterly 1992/1, Amsterdam, 1992, pp. 32-48
Alberto Ferlenga and Paolo Verde, Dom Hans van der Laan, Works and Words, Amsterdam, 2018, pp. 57, 80, 84

Dom Hans van der Laan (1904 - 1991) was a Dutch Benedictine monk, architect and designer, known for his designs for religious buildings. Before becoming a monk, he studied mathematics and then architecture in Delft from 1923 to 1926, under M.J. Granpré Molière, founder of the Delft School, a traditionalist architectural movement in the Netherlands. Van der Laan went on develop his own theories of architecture, heavily based on numerical principles, and was the leader of what later came to be known as the Bossche School, alongside his brother Nico van der Laan and Jan de Jong.

Van der Laan’s design for the church pews of the St. Benedictusberg Abbey in Vaals is a work of understated architecture and thoughtful detail. The seat appears to float on the steel base, and the complexities of its austere form reveal themselves at every vantage point. The original paint has a soft matte patina, and a depth of pigment that presents differently depending on the light. Other notable aspects of its design: the subtle tapering of the seat in profile, its square-footed legs, and copper hardware.

More Information

Documentation:	Documented elsewhere (exact item)
Origin:	Netherlands
Period:	1950-1979
Materials:	Painted wood, galvanized steel, copper hardware.
Condition:	Good.
Creation Date:	1960s
Styles / Movements:	Modern
Incollect Reference #:	799924