Encyclopedia
- For the 2000 indie rock album by The White Stripes, see De Stijl .
De Stijl was a Dutch
artistic movement, founded in 1917. In a narrower sense, the term
De Stijl is used to refer to a body of work created by a group of Dutch artists, from 1917 to 1931.
De Stijl is also the name of a journal which was published by the painter and critic
Theo van Doesburg, propagating the group's theories. Next to Van Doesburg, the group's principal members were the painters
Piet Mondrian and Bart van der Leck, and the architects
Gerrit Rietveld and
J.J.P. Oud. The artistic
philosophy that formed a basis for the group's work is known as
neoplasticism — the new plastic art .
Proponents of De Stijl sought to express a new
utopian ideal of spiritual harmony and order. They advocated pure
abstraction and universality by a reduction to the essentials of form and
colour — they simplified visual compositions to the vertical and horizontal directions, and used only primary colors along with black and
white.
Principles and influences
The name De Stijl is supposedly derived from
Gottfried Semper's
Der Stil in den technischen und tektonischen Künsten oder Praktische Ästhetik which Curlany of the group's three-dimensional works, vertical and horizontal lines are positioned in layers or planes that do not intersect, thereby allowing each element to exist independently and unobstructed by other elements. This feature can be found in the
Rietveld Schröder House and the
Red and blue chair.
De Stijl movement was influenced by
Cubist painting, as well as by the mysticism and the ideas about 'ideal' geometric forms in the neoplatonic philosophy of the
mathematician M. H. J. Schoenmaekers. The works of De Stijl would influence the
Bauhaus style and the international style of architecture, as well as clothing and interior design.
In
music, De Stijl was only an influence on the work of the composer Jakob van Domselaer, a close friend of Mondrian. Between 1913 and 1916 he composed his
Proeven van Stijlkunst ', inspired mainly by Mondrian's painting. This minimalistic and, at the time, revolutionary music defined 'horizontal' and 'vertical' musical elements, and aimed at balancing those two principles. Van Domselaer was relatively unknown in his lifetime, and did not play a significant role within De Stijl group.
History
Early history
From the flurry of new art movements that followed the
Impressionists' revolutionary new perception of painting,
Cubism arose in the early
twentieth century as an important and influential new direction. In the
Netherlands, too, there was great interest in this 'new art'.
However, because the Netherlands remained neutral in
World War I, Dutch artists were not able to leave the country after 1914, and were thus effectively isolated from the international art world, and in particular from Paris, which was at that time its centre.
During that period, the painter
Theo van Doesburg started looking for other artists to set up a journal and start an art movement. Van Doesburg was also a writer, poet and critic, who had been more successful writing about art than working as an independent artist. Quite adept at making new contacts, due to his flamboyant personality and outgoing nature, he had many useful connections in the art world.
Founding of De Stijl
Around 1915, Van Doesburg started meeting the artists that would eventually become the founders of the journal. He first met
Piet Mondrian at an exhibition in the
Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum. Mondrian, who had moved to Paris in 1912 , had been visiting Holland when war broke out. He could not return to Paris, and was staying in the artists community of Laren, where he met Bart van der Leck, and regularly saw M. H. J. Schoenmaekers. In 1915, Schoenmaekers published
Het nieuwe wereldbeeld , followed in 1916 by
Beginselen der beeldende wiskunde . These two publications would greatly influence Mondrian and other members of De Stijl.
Van Doesburg also knew
J.J.P. Oud and the Hungarian artist
Vilmos Huszŕr. In 1917, the cooperation of these artists, together with the poet Anthony Kok, resulted in the founding of De Stijl. The young architect
Gerrit Rietveld joined the group in 1918.
During those first few years, the group was still relatively homogeneous, although Van der Leck left in 1918 due to artistic differences of opinion. 'Manifestos' were being published, signed by all members. The social and economic circumstances of the time formed an important source of inspiration for their theories. Their ideas about architecture were heavily influenced by
Berlage and
Frank Lloyd Wright.
The name
Nieuwe Beelding was a term first coined in 1917 by Mondrian, who wrote a series of twelve articles called
De Nieuwe Beelding in de schilderkunst ', that were published in the journal
De Stijl. In 1920 he published a book titled
Le Neo-Plasticisme.
After 1920
Around 1921, the group's character started to change. From the time of Van Doesburg's association with
Bauhaus, other influences started playing a role. These influences were mainly
Malevich and Russian Constructivism, to which not all members agreed. In 1923 Mondrian and Van Doesburg had a falling-out. In addition, De Stijl group acquired many new 'members'.
Dadaist influences, such as
I.K.Bonset's poetry and
Aldo Camini's 'anti-philosophy' generated controversy as well. Only after Van Doesburg's death it was revealed that Bonset and Camini were two of his pseudonyms.
After Van Doesburg's death
Theo van Doesburg died in
Davos in 1931. His wife Nelly administered his estate.
Because of Van Doesburg's pivotal role within De Stijl, the group did not survive. Individual members remained in contact, but De Stijl could not exist without a strong central character. Thus it may be wrong to think of De Stijl as a close-knit group of artists. The members knew each other, but most communication took place by
letter. For example, Mondrian and Rietveld never met in person.
Many, though not all, artists did stay true to the movement's basic ideas, even after 1931. Rietveld, for instance, continued designing furniture according to De Stijl principles, while Mondrian continued working in the style he had initiated around 1920. Van der Leck, on the other hand, went back to figurative compositions after his departure from the group.
Influence on architecture
The De Stijl influence on architecture remained considerable, long after 1931.
Mies van der Rohe was among the most important proponents of its ideas. Between 1923 and 1924,
Rietveld designed the
Rietveld Schröder House, the only building to have been created completely according to De Stijl principles. Examples of Stijl-influenced works by
J.J.P. Oud can be found in
Rotterdam and
Hoek van Holland.
Present day
De Stijl is still considered to be one of the most important Dutch contributions to art. Ironically, while its proponents' aim was to create an 'international' style, De Stijl is often seen as typically Dutch.
Works of De Stijl members are scattered all over the world, but De Stijl-themed exhibitions are organised regularly. Museums with large De Stijl collections include the Gemeentemuseum at
The Hague, which owns the world's most extensive ) Mondrian collection, and the
Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum, where many works by Rietveld and Van Doesburg are on display. The Centraal Museum of Utrecht has the largest Rietveld collection worldwide. It also owns the
Rietveld Schröder House, Rietveld's adjacent 'show house', and the Rietveld Schröder Archives.
List of neoplasticists
This list is not exhaustive. Because of the loose associations many artists had with De Stijl, it is difficult to get a complete overview of contributors.
...
architect and designer
- Ilya Bolotowsky painter
- Burgoyne Diller painter
- Theo van Doesburg painter, designer and writer, published "De Stijl " 1917 – 1931
- Cornelis van Eesteren architect
- Jean Gorin painter
- Robert van't Hoff architect
- Vilmos Huszŕr painter
- Anthony Kok poet
- Bart van der Leck painter
- Piet Mondrian
...
painter
...
painter
, was a Dutch [i] design [i]er, architect [i] and cabinet maker.
...
architect and designer
Trivia
...
and
Meg White are admirers of the movement.
- Musician, producer, and promoter Clint Simonson's Minneapolis
- Minnesota State Highway 65 [i] follows Central Avenue through Northeast Minneapolis, and ...
-based record label is known as De Stijl Records. - The third act of Dutch composer Louis Andriessen's opera De Materie is named De Stijl, and has Mondrian and the movement as its subject matter. The piece is structured around a 'reading' of Mondrian's painting Compositie met rood, geel en blauw .
References
Further reading
External links
- Scans of the complete first volume of the journal
- Essay about
- Rare recording of Jakob van Domselaer's .
