De StijlBy, Nicole Mercado

Fromtheoutbreakofnewartmovementsthatfollowedthe Impressionists’ revolutionary new perception of painting,Cubism arose in the early twentieth century as an importantandinfluentialnewdirection.IntheNetherlands,too,therewasinterest in this “new art.”However, because theNetherlandsremainedneutral inWorldWar I,Dutchartistswerenot ableto leave the country after 1914 and were isolated from theinternational art world. During that period, painterTheo vanDoesburg started looking for other artists to start a journal/magazine and artmovement influencedby someof the ideasofDada,whichwaslaterfoundedinthelatesummerof1917and called De Stijl, Dutch for “The Style”, also known asneo-plasticism,which took its name fromaDutchmagazine.

The De Stijl Movement, sought to express a newutopian idealof spiritualharmonyandorder.Theyadvocatedpureabstractionanduniversalitybyareductiontotheessentialsof formandcolor; they simplifiedvisual compositions to theverticalandhorizontaldirections,andusedonlyprimarycolorsalongwithblackandwhite.Mondrianhimselfsetsforththeselimitations in his essay ‘Neo-Plasticism in PictorialArt’. Hewrites, “... this new plastic idea will ignore the particularsof appearance, that is to say, natural form and color. On thecontrary,itshouldfinditsexpressionintheabstractionofformand color, that is to say, in the straight line and the clearlydefinedprimarycolor.”DeStijlwasnotlimitedjusttopainting;italsoincludedarchitecture,stagesetsandfurnituredesign.I

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finditveryfascinatingthataworkofartcanbeverybeautifulwith the use of just primary colors, simple shapes such assquares and rectangles andonlyvertical andhorizontal lines.

ThemovementspreadthroughoutEuropeandAmerica,themovementoriginatedformtheNetherlands,forgenerationstheNetherlandshadbeenbuiltupwithindustryandmechanicalstructures. Precision and accuracywere a part of the culture,straight linesandrightanglescouldbeseeneverywhere.TheDeStijl carried quite an influence into the artworld and thedesign of architectural workings. Despite a fairly fleetingexposure,theDeStijlgroupcouldpossiblybeconsideredthemostimportantcontributionmadebytheNetherlandstowardsthe development ofmodern art.TheDe StijlmovementwasfoundedbyTheoVanDoesburgandwasjoinedbyagroupofartists and architects, which include painters: PietMondrian,BartAnthonyVanderLeck,andVilmosHuszar.Thearchitects:Gerrit Rietveld, Jacobus Johannes Pieter Oud, and others.Workinginabstractgeometricstyle.AccordingtoMeggs“DeStijl sought universal laws of equilibrium and harmony forart,whichcould thenbeaprototype foranewsocialorder”.

TheoVanDoesburgaka(Mr.Diagonal)aDutchartist,practicing in painting, writing and poetry, architecture andfounderoftheDeStijlmovementappliedDeStijlprinciplestoarchitecture,sculptureandtypography.Heeditedandpublished

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Theo Van Doesburg

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Composition VII (The Three Graces) 1917

Composition X 1918

Counter Composition V 1924

Counter- Composition VI 1925

Contra-Composition XVI 1925

Simultaneous Counter-Composition

1929

Arithmetic Composition 1930

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the journal De Stijl from 1917 untilhis death in 1931, primarily with hisown limited resources.Healso taughtfor a short period at theBauhaus andcollaboratedonnumerousarchitecturalprojects.TheDe Stijl journal advocated the absorption of pureart by applied art though architectural, product andgraphicdesign.AccordingtoDarwent“VanDoesburgproclaimed diagonals to be better than horizontalsand verticals, which he saw as classicizing, old-fashionedandworstofallbasedonthehumanbody”.His aesthetic of typography and architectural formcanbeseenonhisbookcoverthathedesignedwithcollaborationwithHungarianArtistLaszloMoholy-Nagy.Thereisastructuredcomposition,thepieceisformed with common red, yellow and blue shapesdivided by strong black horizontal and verticallines covered inwhite text.The piece is absolutelyamazing.Thesimplicityofitiswhatmakesthepieceso interesting. Another amazing piece that I verymuch liked was the Counter Composition V. Thepiece is verypowerful because the shapesused arepositioned in adiagonal structuremaking thepiecefeellikeitisthereismovement.Themainfocalpoint

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is the red square in themiddlewhichwas thefirst thing thatmyeyeisdrawntoandI’msureoncepeoplelookatthispiece,thesimplicityandpowerfulnessofitwillcapturetheviewer’sattentionalsoasitdidmine.TherearealsonumerousamountsofotherpaintingsthathehaspaintedthatIwasfascinatedbysuchastheArithmeticComposition,CompositionXandmanymore.Hisinfluencewaswidespreadandheisnowregardedasoneofthemost importantabstractpaintersof theearly20thcentury.

Piet Mondrian also another artist of the De Stijlmovement;hewasaDutchpainterandanimportantcontributortomovement.Despitebeingwellknown,Mondrian’spaintingsexhibitedcomplexitysimplicity.Hispaintingswerebestknowntoconsistof rectangular formsof red,yellow,blue, separatedbythick,black,rectilinearlines,whichbecametheresultofastylisticevolutionthatoccurredoverthecourseofnearlythirtyyears,whichcontinuedbeyondthatpointtotheendofhislife.Heevolvedanon-representationalform,whichhetermedNeo-Plasticism,astyleofabstractpainting,usingonlyverticalandhorizontal lines and rectangular shapes in black, white, gray,andprimarycolors.AccordingtoChilvers“Heclaimedthatartshouldbe‘denaturized’,bywhichhemeantthatitmustbepurelyabstract,withnorepresentationalrelationtothenaturalworld.Tothisendhelimitedtheelementsofpictorialdesigntothestraight

Piet Mondrian

Composition in lines (Black and White) 1916- early 1917

Composition in Red, Blue, and Yellow

1937-42

New York City I 1941-42

Broadway Boogie Woogie 1942-43

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lineandtherectangle(therightanglesinastrictlyhorizontal-vertical relation to the frame) and to theprimary colors—blue,red,andyellow—togetherwithblack,white,andgrey.Inthiswayhethoughtthatonemightescapetheparticularandachieveexpressionofan idealofuniversalharmony”.BeforeMondrian had joined in theDe Stijlmovement heoriginally painted traditional landscapes, symbolic styleinfluenced by Van Gogh paintings expressing nature andlatermoved cubism toward a pure, geometric abstraction.Hisworkwaslaterevolvedtoapuregeometricabstractionthatheiswellknowntodayfor.AccordingtoPietMindrain.orgMondriansays“Iconstructlinesandcolorcombinationsonaflatsurface,inordertoexpressgeneralbeautywiththeutmostawareness.Nature(or,thatwhichIsee)inspiresme,putsme,aswithanypainter,inanemotionalstatesothatanurgecomesabouttomakesomething,butIwanttocomeascloseaspossible to the truthandabstract everything from

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that, until I reach the foundation (still just an externalfoundation!) of things… I believe it is possible that,through horizontal and vertical lines constructed withawareness,butnotwithcalculation,ledbyhighintuition,andbroughttoharmonyandrhythm,thesebasicformsof beauty, supplemented if necessary by other directlinesorcurves,canbecomeaworkofart,asstrongasitistrue”.Mondrian’sarttomeismyfavoritetypeofart;Ilovehowhehasusedsimpleshapestocomposeapiece.Therearesomanydifferentwayshehaspositionedtheyellow,blueandredrectanglesalongwiththeblacklinestocreateavarietyofpieces.Withinhiscollectionsomepieceshavemanylinesandmanycoloredrectanglesandother simply just have one square. My favorite piecethathehas created isTheBroadwayBoogie, abright,lively painting reflecting upbeatmusic.This piece hasnoblacklinesvisible,whichisrarebecausemostofhisotherpaintingscontainthem.Thisworkofartisuniqueanddifferentbecauseallthelinesareyellowandtherearesmall tinycoloredsquaresallover thepiece.Theyareinsidetheyellowlines;alsotherearesquareswithinsquares.Iabsolutelyloveitandwouldliketoownthispiece along with many other works of art I like thathehascreated.Mondrianhadaprofound influenceon

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subsequentartandisnowseenasoneof the greatest of all modern artists.

BartAnthonyVanderLeckalsoanotherartistoftheDeStijlmovement;hewasaDutchpainter, designer, andceramicist.AfterhavingmetMondrianandvanDoesburghisstylebecamecompletelyabstract,asdidMondrian’s.ButafterdisagreementswithMondrianhisabstract style became based on representational images,which could be seen on the layout of the Batavier Lineposters.Thetwopostersaresodifferentfromthecommonred,blueandyellowrectanglecoloredschemeI’musedtoseeing.Ononeposterthereisnocolorusedatall,theonlythingthatkeepsthisworkofartasaDeStijlartpieceistheblackhorizontallinesthatarestructuredtoholdtheimagesonthepiece.TheotherpicturehascolorbutthecolorschemeisverydifferentfromthenormalDeStijlcolors,liketheotherpiece,theonlythingthatkeepsthisworkofartasaDeStijlartpieceistheblackhorizontallinesthatarestructuredtoholdtheimagesonthepiecebutinthispieceverticalblacklinesareused.HealsodesignedtheDeStijljournallogobyhavingthelettersconstructedfromanopengridofsquaresandrectanglesthatcanbeseenonthecoveroftheDeStijl.

Inhisstudieshecontinuedtorenderhissubjectsinblocksofeven,primarycolorsagainstawhitebackground,

Bart Anthony Van der Leck

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Layout for a Batavier Line Poster

1915-16

Batavier Line Poster 1916

Compositie 18 no. 1

1918

Composition with one grey stripe 1958

Composition 1918

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buthewould subsequently reduce the imagesby applyingmoreandmorewhiteovertheedges,‘paintingthemaway’,untilall that remainedweregeometricalshapessetagainstawhitebackground.LikeMondrian,hestoppedgivinghisworks titles.He only signed, dated and - for some time -numberedthemontheback.Hispaintingslookedratherlike

tangrampuzzles,withthefundamentaldifferencethatVanderLeek’sblocksofcolorwereneverallowedtotouch, let alone overlap, one another.His paintingsusually had a white background against which hehadimagesthatweresettomergeintoafairlywidewhite frame. In some cases, he painted a series ofunconnectedsquaresorrectanglesonthebordersofthe scene,which joined up in the observer’smind.Neverwasthisframetobeclosed,heevenpreferrednot to have black lines printed around illustrationsofhiswork,becausehefeltitwoulddisconnectthepainting from its surroundings. According to Vander Leek’s rather metaphysical theory, ‘open’, orunconnected,shapessetagainstawhitebackgroundgave the work itself an ‘openness’ and allowed itssurroundings tokeep influencing it. Inotherwords,that‘openness’preventedthepaintingfrombecomingstultified and ultimately futile. Initially it was

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possible,with a little determination, to identify the originalobjects,buttheygrewincreasinglyindistinctinthecourseof1917,asVanderLeekbecamemorefocusedonthestructureofhiscompositions.Hedistributedhisblocksofcoloroverthepictureplaneaccordingtoanimaginaryschemeofhorizontal,verticalanddiagonallines,withrotationplayinganincreasingrole. Van der Leek’s paintings no longer had anything todo with his original starting points in the visible world.

Vilmos Huszár also another artist of the De Stijlmovement; was a Hungarian painter and designer. Hedesigned the cover for the first issue. In 1918 he designedinteriorcolorschemesforthebedroomofBruynzeelhouseinVoorburg.From1920to1921hecollaboratedwithPietZwartonfurnituredesigns.Heleft theDeStijlgroupin1923andcollaborated with Gerrit Rietveld on an exhibition interiorfor the Greater Berlin Art Exhibition. From 1925, Huszárconcentrated on graphic design and painting. In 1926 hecreatedacompletevisualidentityforMissBlancheVirginiacigarettes,whichincludedpackaging,advertising,andpoint-of-saledisplays.Theconceptdrewontheimageryassociatedwiththe“NewWomen”,orFlappers,thatwereemerginginthe1920s.TheFlapperswereperceivedasyoung,single,urban,andemployed,with independent ideasandacertaindisdainfor authority and social norms. The smoking of cigaretteswascloselyassociatedwith thisnewlyfoundindependence.

Hisworks of art are a bit different from the normal

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Vilmos Huszár

Cover design for De Stijl journal/magazine

1917

Komposition 1918

Packaging for Miss Blanche Virginia cigarettes

1926 Composition 1955-1960

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De Stijl art pieces. For example in his painting titledKomposition, he has used different colors, not the averageyellow,redandblue,heswitchedouttheredandaddedgreen.The piece looks completely different from all the otherDeStijlpiecesbecausethewholecolorschemehaschangedfromabrightwarmcolorschemetoadarkcoolcolorschemebutin his painting tiled Composition he has used the De Stijlcolorschemebut theonlythingdifferentabout thispieceisthat the shapes aren’t the average squares, they have beendistortedinawaythatsomelookliketriangleswhichisn’tabadthingatall,Ilikeitbecauseitisdifferent.AlsoHuszarcombinedhisblackandwhitecompositionwithtypeandVanDoesburg’slogotocreatearectangleinthecenterofthepage.

Gerrit Rietveld also another artist of the De Stijlmovement; was a Dutch furniture designer and architect.RietveldisfamousforhisRedandBluechair,builtin1917isoneofmyabsolutefavorites.ThischairembodieseverythingabouttheDeStijlmovement,theuseofcolorsisspotonandtheusedofshapesonthebackrestandseatonthechairarejustsimplyperfect.Thechairinawaylookslikea3Deffect.Thechairwasdesigned for theRietveldSchröderHouse,whichis aUNESCOWorldHeritage Site. In 1918, he started hisown furniture factory, and changed the chair’s colors afterbecominginfluencedbythe‘DeStijl’movement,ofwhichhebecameamemberin1919,thesameyearinwhichhebecamean architect. He designed his first building, the Rietveld

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Gerrit Rietveld

Red and Blue Chair1917

Rietveld Schröder House

(Exterior) Built in 1924,located

in Utrecht, Netherlands

Rietveld Schröder House

(Interior) Built in 1924,located

in Utrecht, Netherlands

Schröder House, in 1924, in close collaborationwith the ownerTruus Schröder-Schräder.Built inUtrechtonthePrinsHendriklaan50,thehousehasa conventional ground floor, but is radical on thetopfloor,lackingfixedwallsbutinsteadrelyingonslidingwallstocreateandchangelivingspaces.Thedesign seems like a three-dimensional realizationof a Mondrian painting. The house has been aUNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000. TheRietveldSchröderHouseconstitutesbothinsideandoutsidearadicalbreakwithallarchitecturebeforeit.

According to theRietveldSchröderHousewebsite. “The house is literally a machine forlivingin.AfterthedeathofTruusSchröderin1985the house became the property of the RietveldSchröderhuisFoundationthatinturnentrustedittotheCentraalMuseumtoadministeronceithadbeenrestored.Ithasbeenopentothepublicsince1987.Attheendof2000UNESCOplaceditontheWorldHeritageList as ‘an important andunique icon inWesternarchitecturalhistoryandamasterpieceofhumancreativity.’TheSchröderHouseoccupiesakeypositioninRietveld’swork.Manypeoplewanttoseeit,butnoteveryonehasthechancetocometo

Utrecht.Moreoveritcanonlyaccommodateafairlysmallnumberofvisitors.Asadministrator,theCentralMuseum

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in Utrecht has therefore decided to make the houseavailableonline”.Initially,Rietveldwantedtoconstructthehouseoutofconcrete.Itturnedoutthatitwouldbetooexpensive todothatonsuchasmallbuilding.Thefoundationsandthebalconiesweretheonlypartsofthebuildingthatweremadeoutofconcrete.Thewallsweremadeofbrickandplaster.Thewindowframesanddoorsweremadefromwoodaswellasthefloors,whichweresupported bywooden beams.To support the building,steel girders with wire mesh were used. The facadesareacollageofplanesandlineswhosecomponentsarepurposely detached from, and seem to glide past, oneanother.Thisenabledtheprovisionofseveralbalconies.LikeRietveld’sRedandBlueChair,eachcomponenthasitsown form,positionandcolor.Colorswherechosenastostrengthentheplasticityofthefacadessurfacesinwhiteandshadesofgrey,blackwindowanddoorframes,andanumberoflinearelementsinprimarycolors.Thereis littledistinctionbetween interiorandexterior space.The rectilinear lines and planes flow from outside toinside,withthesamecolorpaletteandsurfaces.Eventhewindowsarehingedsothatcanonlyopen90degreestothewall,preservingstrictdesignstandardsaboutintersectingplanes,andfurtherblurringthedelineationofinsideandout.

AnotherartistoftheDeStijlmovementwasJacobusJohannes Pieter Oud, a Dutch architect. Oudwas one

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Jacobus Johannes Pieter Oud

House for the direction of works of the Oud-Mathe-nesse colony in Rotterdam (1923 )

Directiekeet Oud-Mathenesse, Aakstraat Rotterdam-Netherlands ( 1923)

Façade of the Café De Unie, Rotterdam.

(1925)

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of a number of Dutch architects who attempted to reconcilestrict,rational,‘scientific’cost-effectiveconstructiontechniqueagainstthepsychologicalneedsandaestheticexpectationsoftheusers.Hisownanswerwastopractice‘poeticfunctionalism’.In1927,hewasoneofthefifteenarchitectswhocontributedtotheinfluentialmodernistWeissenhofEstateexhibition.InAmericaOudisperhapsbestknownforbeinglaudedandadoptedbythemainstreammodernistmovement, then summarily kicked outonstylisticgrounds.Asof1932,hewasconsideredoneofthefourgreatestmodernarchitectsalongwithLudwigMiesvanderRohe,WalterGropiusandLeCorbusier,andwasprominentlyfeatured in Philip Johnson’s International Style exhibition.In 1925 Oud designed the Façade of the Café De Unie,Rotterdam,he successfullydesigneda asymmetrical structureprotecting De Stijl’s vision of order on an environmentalscale while designing this building he resolved problems ofsignage,andidentification.Architecturalandgraphicformsofcontrastingcolorandscaleareorderedintoharmoniousbalance.

The De Stijl movement started off as a publishedjournal/magazine and now it has become a well know artmovement. De Stijl paintings convey elements of natureexpressedabstractly.Ican’timaginelimitingmyselfasanartistto just two or three colors.Or imagine painting only squares

and straight lines, it sounds crazy but, agroup of Dutch artists in the early 20thcentury,theydidjustthatandtheoutcomeof their designs have becomewell knowal around the world. TheDe Stijl artistssoughttopreservetheprimacyofaestheticprinciples as agents of social reform intheir own right.As a result, compositionand balance played a huge part in theirwork,making theDeStijl artmovementfairlyinfluentialinthenextfewdecadesofmodern design and modern architecture.

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WorksCited

Chilvers, Ian. “Neo-Plasticism.” Web.

Darwent, Charles. “Van Doesburg & the International Avant-

Garde, Tate Modern, London.” The Independent | News

| UK and Worldwide News | Newspaper. Web. <http://

www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/reviews/

van-doesburg--the-international-avantgarde-tate-

modern-london-1891448.html>.

Meggs, Philip B. A History of Graphic Design. New York:

John Wiley & Sons, 1998. Print.

“Netherlands 1914 - 1919.” Piet Mondrian | Pietmondrian |

Mondrian. Web. <http://www.pietmondrian.org/about-

piet-mondrian.php#top>.

“Rietveld Schröder House.” Web. “Tate | Glossary | Neo-Plasticism.” Tate: British and

International Modern and Contemporary Art. Web. <http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/glossary/definition.jsp?entryId=191>.

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