Expressionist Amsterdamse School Bench, in Pine, 1920s

This pine bench in Amsterdamse School style was created in the Netherlands in the 1920s. A rare piece that is a true survivor of its era. The bench is not made of imported colonial exotic woods, but locally sourced pine wood. In the middle of the top part, you find an elephant sculpture, the international symbol for good luck.

The Amsterdam School movement is part of the larger international Expressionist architecture movement. Traditional masonry is reinvented through the use of more rounded and organic shapes and structures. The architects in this movement employed the integration of an elaborate scheme of building elements inside and out: decorative masonry, art glass, wrought ironwork, spires or “ladder” windows (with horizontal bars), and integrated architectural sculpture.
Two variants of the Amsterdam School emerged: the more expressive style with exuberant shapes, deep, contrasting colors, distinct contour lines, and the crisper, more geometric style influenced by the journal Wendingen, the platform of the Amsterdam School. Not only architects like Michel De Klerk, sculptors like Hildo Krop, and furniture designers such as Harry Dreesen and Louis Deen worked in the Amsterdam School style; the movement also inspired companies like Metz & Co. This led to the movement’s aesthetics extending far wider than one might initially have thought, its influence not only spread throughout the Netherlands but also reached the Dutch East Indies.