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Seek Simplicity, Achieve BeautyUnderstanding De Stijl (1917-1931)

beauty

Beauty is commonly recognized by the materialistic matter that a person

possesses, especially in America where fashion exudes status. High end threads or top of the line pigments make a person the

idealized image of beauty.

Failing to see past the composition of one’s attire, or strategically placed make up results in the failure of recognizing the true beauty they possess in each portion of their being.This sense to detect a

conscious beauty

“Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it”- Confucius

is the same awareness the

De Stijl movement aimed

to achieve through plastic

art representations.

01Poster for the international exhibition of

La Section d’Or, Cubists and Neo-Cubists

locationAs a central safety zone, it was a prime location

for the mixing of artists from all over Europe, as many could not return home. Therefore it seems

only logical that the universal art movement would come out of this place as well.

The movement was created most notably in the form of a self-titled magazine, De Stijl, in 1917. Its overall appeal was that it intended to “unify the modern trends of thought” (Donald Langmead, 2000, p1) through simplification and universalism.

In regard to the magazine as well as the movement they felt De Stijl filled the necessity “for clarity, for certainty and for order.”(Hans Ludwig C. Jaffe, 1986, p11)

“for clarity, for certainty and for order.” Hans Ludwig C. Jaffe

The movement was established by Theo van Doesburg, Piet Mondriaan (who dropped the second a in his name when emigrating to the United States [Langmead, 2000, p203] ), Jacobus Johannes Peiter Oud (commonly known as J.J.P. Oud), Jan Wils, Bart van der Leck, Antony Kok and Vilmos Huszar.

De Stijl started off in the

Netherlands, a neutral

territory in the chaotic

war zone Europe was

during World War I.

They used several basic principles, including the rectangular form and grid structure, primary colors (red,

blue, yellow, black and grays), as well as machine-aesthetic. All these guidelines

stripped the self from an artist’s work, adding to the universalism that De Stijl

desired. The movement was international in spirit, it was not only intended to affect

the Netherlands but the world.

Expression through

plastic arts was less

organic and relied on

the simple beauty of

the plane, line and

primary colors.

At the time in art, there was much exploration with this simplified beauty, through explorations by the futurists and cubists. De Stijl took from all the most modern explorations and seeked “to make a contribution to the development of a

new awareness of beauty.” (Langmead, 2000, p67)

awareness

“to make a contribution to the development of a

new awareness of beauty.” (Langmead, 2000, p67) 03

Rendered from “Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow”, 1930

The magazine also offered the artist the opportunity to be recognized as the creator of a piece, because the individual was removed in De Stijl artwork signature styles could not be recognized by critics and viewers alike. Though an area for opinionated articles discussing theories of a select few individuals De Stijl.

The magazine was a valuable tool in the success

of the understanding of De Stijl because it allowed the artist interaction with

the audience.

Similar to the appeal of clothing and make-up today, this lack

of information left room for assumptions to the beauty a piece

possessed, De Stijl created the clarity in where the artist saw

beauty but still allowed the viewer to find their own sense of it in

the composition.

foundation

Prior to this much of the art created by artists were open to the viewer to understand the piece’s meaning or purpose, in

De Stijl van Doesburg as well as Mondrian discussed their experimentations and intentions of their pieces. The magazine was a

corner stone in the

foundation of the

artistic movement.

L’Architecture Vivante

views from Mondrian’s Paris studio

The mending glue that held the loose-knit group

together was a common mindset and vision. The

artists all believed in the notion of the art being

simplified and universal but more so that it “aim at the realization of a universal

law and a universal spirit.” (Jaffe, 1986, p5)

The principles of attaining this universal law began with the rectangular format and the experimentations with the grid format. Composing horizontals and verticals in arrangements that were dynamic rather than static, alluded feelings of tension in pieces that caused aesthetic interest in viewers. This drastic call for attention was a way to show that even with the basics as content the arrangement of them could induce the same dynamics as organic renderings of subjects.

vision“aim at the realization of a universal law and a

universal spirit.” (Jaffe, 1986, p5)

05

De Stijl shifted the viewing frame that was typical of critics viewing works, it created work that was aimed at being understood by other artists.

insight

These standards of

thinking were being

broken by van Doesburg

and the group that was De

Stijl in the 1920s.

This shift in viewing was an evident struggle in itself, changing developed notions proves to be a difficult task as we relate it to today and how we view others. Stereotypical thoughts fill our brain when we encounter different people, depending on how they dress, what they accessorize with and essentially how they want us to perceive them.

De Stijl shifted the viewing frame

design for a traffic town; facade,

cross-section, groundplan and

axonometric view, 1929

These colors are the also the brightest colors when assembled next to each other and therefore give off a sense of urgency or attract attention.

simplistic

As a step further they also incorporated color in some pieces, but again remained

to the simplest forms of implication. The hues used

were yellow, red, blue, black and grays; the colors are all

the most basic of color theory, for no other combination of

colors can result in these and every other color is a product

of their mixings.

simplest formssense of urgency

07

“In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme

excellence is simplicity.”Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

They leave little room to go

unnoticed, something to consider

when thinking about the concept

behind De Stijl, it left no room for

misunderstandings.

background rendered from “Simultaneous Counter-composition, 1929

When the van Doesburg said that they were creating “a symbol of the Absolute Idea” (Allan Doig, 1986, p40) it was based on the the idea of

a beauty that could not be toiled with but just needed to be understood he did not allude to

adjusting the forms to fit the mold society had of beauty he just adjusted the way the world saw

what was already there.

aesthetic

The designs clarity and precise appeal made it less humanistic and more industrial, it captured the machine aesthetic that was appearing in the art world at the time.

Today that standard still exists, but it has been manipulated into an image of idealized perfection, from the runways in New York to the strips of Paris the look of beauty now has a face, but not only everyone in America is seeking to adjust their look, the world is.

“a symbol of the Absolute Idea” (Allan Doig, 1986, p40)

The machine presented a more accurate rendering of a

standard system and allowed for a unison from artists around

the world. This aesthetic was right in line with the basis of

the De Stijl mission, it provided the world with a standard

understanding of beauty.

background rendered from “Arithmetic Composition, 1930”

This awareness that he and the other artists of De Stijl understood was something that all artists knew unconsciously, this attention to beauty that “every true artist has always been moved by, the beauty of line, colour and relationship for their own sake and not by what they may represent.” (Jaffe, 1986, p103)

Nothing of recognition was really

attributed to the movement and van

Doesburg’s enthusiasm by the world

until after his passing. That was when

exhibitions in New York were created

in honor of the movement.

It took that an extended amount of time for the world to realize what van Doesburg saw and lived by for most of the end of his life.

That awareness was the basis of the movement.

international

09

Though the De Stijl movement affected all

aspects of expression from painting to architecture to

music and even into theater, today in some aspects its

concepts are forgotten.

Although without the explorations of van Doesburg, Mondrian, Oud, etc much of the developments of art today would not exists, because De Stijl affected much of the future movements, such as the Bauhaus, and the dadaists.

perception

Once again through the evolution of art and means of expression the absolute idea has withered away into the unconsciousness.

the style

el estilo

le style

Der Stil

lo stile

o estilo

stilen

风格

風格

スタイル

They made their work understandable to those in the

world who were also artists and strayed from the critiques of the

uninvolved “art critics.” The movement was that “balance

between thousands of ideas gyrating in terrifying acrobatic

feats on the high-wires and tight ropes of arts developments.” (Doig, 1986, p33) It created the awareness

that we all unconsciously possess but fail to recognize, the

awareness of bare beauty.

universalismDe Stijl successfully captured the

international spirit and produced some of the most complex arrangements of plastic art.

11

The De Stijl movement

reached beyond the

standards of time and

recaptured the reason

to create art. background rendered from Composition, XII, Composition in black and white, 1918

manifesto

De Stijl extends it’s hand into modernism by providing for the whole rather than

the part. It is about awareness under one concept and understanding of perception.

The principles are founded on simplicity and elaborated through experimentation. This artistic philosophy unifies all means

of expression and reaches one mind set under all forms of expression.

Chair by Rietveld, 1917

De Stijl is about the style of one’s life.

“The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.” -Henri Bergson

references

Baljeu, Joost. Theo van Doesburg. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co, Inc, 1974.

Doig, Allan. Theo van Doesburg, Painting into Architecture, Theory into Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.

Jaffe, Hans Ludwig C. De Stijl; 1917-1931. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Hardvard University Press, 1986.

Langmead, Donald. The Artists of De Stijl: A Guide to the Literature. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000.

Postma, Frans. 26, Rue Du Départ: Mondrian’s Studio in Paris, 1921-1936. Berlin: VCH Publishing Group, 1995.

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