Examples

Bart van der Leck, Composition, 1918-1920

Piet Mondrian, Square Composition with Red,

Yellow, and Blue, 1921-1925

Theo van Doesburg, Color Construction:

Project for a Private House, 1923
The Basics
The Netherlands, 1917 - 1931

France & Germany, then spread to Poland, Italy, Great

Britain, U.S.

Neoplasticism - aesthetic philosophy

Spread via periodic publication titled De Stijl,

begun by Theo van Doesburg

Based on an ideology of universality

World Timeline
1914-1918, World War I - Mostly Europe

1905-1920, Expressionism - Germany

1915-1919, Suprematism - Russia

1919-1934, Constructivism - Russia

Common goal of post-war artists -

to work through the arts to achieve an ideal
future, when all the walls that separate men
would be broken down and when society would
be truly integrated and capable of constructing a
utopian urban environment of abstract forms.
The Netherlands During WWI
Neutral, although continuous pressure from both sides to join

1917 – universal male suffrage, proportional representation

Long history of trade interdependence

Depression early 1920’s – 1925 due to dependence on

Germany

De Stijl - reaction to chaos and destruction of War

Ideology

Theosophist virtues of Mondrian as platform

Sought to set the stage for a new social order

Pure and good design came from pure abstraction of the visual
- primary colors and straight lines

Hoped that the modern urban environment would one day

be transformed into an abstract, aesthetically balanced
composition refelcting the new social era they envisioned

Insisted on an uncompromisingly severe stylistic purity

- considered their principles to be morally justifiable as
agents of social reform
As a Movement
“De Stijl” chosen for allusion to a single stylistic credo to
which they would all subscribe

Cohesive only in the sense that those involved shared a

common set of ethical and aesthetic principles at one
time or another between 1917 and 1932

Came to the same standard seperately, continued with

varied interests

Characteristically “De Stijl” from collaborative efforts

Piet Mondrian-Before
Dutch, born 1872

First painted still lifes and landscape

1911 - emphasis on composition, full simple

rhythms, 2-3 colors

Interest in Theosophy - synthesizes science,

religion and philosophy in pursuit of ultimate truth

Used abstract visual language to represent

universal harmony

Analytic cubist, replacing real froms with

geometric visualized theosophyic concepts

Eventually moved to full abstraction

 Piet Mondrian, The Red Tree, 1908

Piet Mondrian, Windmill in the Sun, 1908

Piet Mondrian, Apple Tree in Bloom, 1912

Piet Mondrian, Composition #6, 1914

Piet Mondrian of De Stijl
The source of philosophy and visual form

Neoplasticism - primary colors, right angles, straight lines

on white background

Stuck to the rules

Believed true reality was established through balance of

unequal but equivalent oppositions

Continued in the same style after the end of the

movement
Piet Mondrian, Composition III with Colored
Planes, 1917
Piet Mondrian, Composition with lines, 1917

Piet Mondrian, Composition, 1922 Piet Mondrian, Composition with two lines, 1931
After the Movement

Piet Mondrian, New York City I, 1942 Piet Mondrian, Broadway Boogie-Woogie, 1942-43
The Review
Covered all areas – architecture, painting, sculpture,
environmental planning, etc.

Incorporated influences of artist all over – did not have the

same aesthetic limits as neoplasticism

1st issue – Oct 1917, after meeting with Mondrian, Bart

van der Leck, Vilmos Huszar, Georges Vantongerloo,
Jan Wils, Antony Kok, Robert van’t Hoff, Johannes
Pieter Oud, later Gerrit Rietveld.

Many believed foundation of movement to

be Mondrian’s “De Nieuwe Beelding in de
Schiderkunst” (New Plastics in Painting)

Theo van Doesburg, cover for De Stijl, 1923

Manifesto included in intro
1. There is an old and a new consiousness of the age. THe old one is directed
towards the individual. THe new one is directed towards the universal. The
struffle of the individual against the universal may be seen both in the world
war and in modern art.

2. The war is destroying the old world with its content: individual
predominacne in every field.

3. The new art has brought to light that which is contained in the new
consiousness of the age: a relationship of equality between teh univeral and
the individual.

6. Therefore the founders of the new culture call upon all who believe in
reform of art and culture to destroy these obstacles to development, jsut as
in teh plastic arts - by doing away with natural form- they ahve eliminated that
which stood in the way of pure artistic expression, the logical conclusion of
every artistic concept.
Theo van Doesburg
Founder and guiding spirit of movement and magazine

Born Christian Emil Kupper 1883, adopted painter name

from stepfather

Capabilites revealed in publishing activities

Traveled through Europe, interacting with many artists

Involvement in other movements, like Dada

Transfer of principles to 3D environment

Elementarism - dynamic tension via the diagonal

 Theo van Doesburg, Countercomposition
V, 1924

Theo van Doesburg,

Composition IV, 1917, stained
glass

Theo van Doesburg, Simultaneous Theo van Doesburg, Arithmetical

Counter-Composition, 1929 Composition, 1930
Theo van Doesburg, Color Design for Amsterdam Universtity Hall, 1923

Theo van Doesburg, Cinema-Dance Hall, Cafe Aubette, Strasbourg,

1926-28
Bart van der Leck
Left movement after first issue of De Stijl, disagreed with van Doesburg’s
theoretical positions

Van der Leck, Batavier Line Poster, 1916

Van der Leck, Composition 1917-4 known

as Leaving the Factory, 1917

Van der Leck, Mine Triptych, 1916

J.J.P. Oud

Architect, one of the founders

Municipal housing architect for Rotterdam 1918 to 1933

Socially progressive residential projects

J.J.P. Oud, Elevation of the Cafe De Unie, 1925 J.J.P. Oud, Project for a Factory in Purmerend, 1919

J.J.P. Oud, Small, semi-permanent J.J.P. Oud, Workers Housing

house in Rotterdam, 1923 Development Hoek van Holland, 1924
Vilmos Huszar
Architect

Completely abstract by 1917

Like Doesburg, wanted to

transfer color and structure
practice to architecture

Problem of the corner

- used color to compositionally
unite surfaces
Vilmos Huszar, Color Applications,
- to create an uninterrupted Bedroom of Bruynzeel House, Voorburg,
1918-19
visual experience dictated by
color rather than architecture

Vilmos Huszar, Spatial Color

Composition in Gray, Brugman House,
THe Hague, 1924
Vilmos Huszar and Gerrit Rietveld,
Spatial Composition for an Exhibition,
Berlin, 1923
Gerrit Rietveld
Trained as a cabinet maker and jeweler

1919 - joined De Stijl and became an architect

Best realized the ideas of De Stijl

Complete abstraction of a chair - reduced to its

fundamental structure

Schroder House - sliding walls on top floor

Gerrit Rietveld, Red and Blue Chair, 1917

Gerrit Rietveld, Schroder House, Utrecht, 1924
Differences
Mondrian and Doesburg
- use of diagonal, against neoplasticism
- importance of affecting spatial realm

Real image reference vs. total abstraction

Involvement in other movements

Theo van Doesburg and Kurt Schwitters, “Kleine

Dada Soiree” poster, 1922
Relations with other movements
Dada - Manifestation of a desire to join art and life

Expressionism - viewed abstract designs as proposals for

the future

Constructivism - new form of utopian architecture -

projects for the affirmations of the new
Lasting Impression
Huge influence on modern architecture

Asymmetry

Strict use of the grid in graphic design

Ultimate basic representation to initiate mental image

-logo design
Examples Today