De Stijl was influenced by Cubist painting as well as by the mysticism and the ideas about "ideal" geometric forms (such as the "perfect straight line") in the neoplatonic philosophy of mathematician M. H. J. Schoenmaekers. Expressing the artists' search "for the universal, as the individual was losing its significance," this austere language was meant to reveal the laws governing the harmony of the world. Van Doesburg was also a writer, poet, and critic, who had been more successful writing about art than working as an independent artist. The name De Stijl is supposedly derived from Gottfried Semper's Der Stil in den technischen und tektonischen Künsten oder Praktische Ästhetik (1861–3), which Curl[3] suggests was mistakenly believed to advocate materialism and functionalism. Van Doesburg's most famous work experimented with geometric abstraction and archetypal forms. The "plastic vision" of De Stijl artists, also called Neo-Plasticism, saw itself as reaching beyond the changing appearance of natural things to bring an audience into intimate contact with an immutable core of reality, a reality that was not so much a visible fact as an underlying spiritual vision. This element of the movement embodies the second meaning of stijl: "a post, jamb or support"; this is best exemplified by the construction of crossing joints, most commonly seen in carpentry. The visual language of the De Stijl artists consisted of geometric forms which … Every color, line, and plane is clearly defined, as if each comprised its own work that just happened to be used for a piece of furniture. De Stijl Journal – Issue 1. Originally designed in 1918 but not fully realized until 1923, when it incorporated the characteristic De Stijl scheme of primary colors, Red and Blue Chair is one of the canonical works of the movement. [8] Quite adept at making new contacts due to his flamboyant personality and outgoing nature, he had many useful connections in the art world. Mondrian launched his new art in his long essay Neo-Plasticism in Pictorial Art (De Nieuwe Beelding in de Schilderkunst), which was published in twelve instalments in De Stijl magazine (1917-18). To this end, De Stijl artists turned their attention not only to fine art media such as painting and sculpture, but virtually all other art forms as well, including industrial design, typography, even literature and music. Museums with large De Stijl collections include the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague (which owns the world's most extensive, although not exclusively De Stijl-related, Mondrian collection) and Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum, where many works by Rietveld and Van Doesburg are on display. Among the pioneering exponents of abstract art, De Stijl artists espoused a visual language consisting of precisely rendered geometric forms - usually straight lines, squares, and rectangles--and primary colors. De Stijl artists believed that beauty arose from pure abstraction, and an asymmetrical balance of elements in a severely "economical" composition. In the early 20th century, visual arts were commonly referred to as ‘plastic arts’ — a term simply meant to distinguish visual art from writing, music and theater. [1] In a narrower sense, the term De Stijl is used to refer to a body of work from 1917 to 1931 founded in the Netherlands. Many sourced quotes and facts of De Stijl artists in: This page was last edited on 21 December 2020, at 07:28. The Netherlands-based De Stijl movement embraced an abstract, pared-down aesthetic centered in basic visual elements such as geometric forms and primary colors. The books and articles below constitute a bibliography of the sources used in the writing of this page. Van der Leck, on the other hand, went back to figurative compositions after his departure from the group. Mondrian left De Stijl when Van Doesburg began using diagonal geometry. De Stijl (meaning, the style) was a casual organization of Dutch painters, architects and sculptors, as well as the journal which the group used to propagate their ideas on abstract art and design. In 1920 he published a book titled Le Néo-Plasticisme.[10]. During those first few years, the group was still relatively homogeneous, although Van der Leck left in 1918 due to artistic differences of opinion. The De Stijl movement was also influenced by Neopositivism. De Stijl (literally translated, "The Style"): A design movement begun by modernist Dutch artists and designers characterized by right angles and the exclusive use of primary colors with black and white. De Stijl is also the name of a journal that was published by the Dutch painter, designer, writer, and critic Theo van Doesburg that served to propagate the group's theories. Oud can be found in Rotterdam (Café De Unie [nl]) and Hoek van Holland. Thefounder of the publication and leader of the group was Theo van Doesburg, anarchitect. De Stijl consisted of artists and architects. In 1915, Schoenmaekers published Het nieuwe wereldbeeld ("The New Image of the World"), followed in 1916 by Beginselen der beeldende wiskunde ("Principles of Plastic Mathematics"). He was also a prominent architect and writer. De Stijl’s leading artist is Piet Mondrian. In the Netherlands, too, there was interest in this "new art". February 9, 2010, By Paul Levy / He published a manifesto titled Neo-Plasticism in 1920. While here Mondrian uses blacks and shades of grey, his paintings would later be further reduced, ultimately employing more basic compositions and only solid blocks of primary colors. The work and the philosophy it expressed became canonical to de Stijl. Thus, it may be wrong to think of De Stijl as a close-knit group of artists. It was hoped that these inquiries would yield ideas for mass production. Emphasizing its manmade quality, Red and Blue Chair also notably avoids the use of natural form, which furniture designers tend to favor in order to emphasize the idea of physical comfort and convenience. The works avoided symmetry and attained aesthetic balance by the use of opposition. Like many other avant-garde art movements at the time, DeStijl was a reaction against the horrors of World War I. De Stijl (/də ˈstaɪl/; Dutch pronunciation: [də ˈstɛil]), Dutch for "The Style", also known as Neoplasticism, was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 in Leiden. These two publications would greatly influence Mondrian and other members of De Stijl. On the contrary, it should find its expression in the abstraction of form and colour, that is to say, in the straight line and the clearly defined primary colour". Composition A - whose title announces its nonobjective nature by making no reference to anything beyond itself - is a good example of Mondrian's geometric abstraction before it fully matured within the framework of the De Stijl aesthetic. Individual members remained in contact, but De Stijl could not exist without a strong central character. [Internet]. Promoting their innovative ideas in their journal of the same name, the members envisioned nothing less than the ideal fusion of form and function, thereby making De Stijl in effect the ultimate style. The Bauhaus and De Stijl Founded by Walter Gropius in 1919, the Bauhaus ('building house') school of design, craft and architecture gathered together the most progressive artists in Germany and eastern Europe, and exerted a dominating influence on art and design throughout the world that is still felt today. Between 1923 and 1924, Rietveld designed the Rietveld Schröder House, the only building to have been created completely according to De Stijl principles. Many, though not all, artists did stay true to the movement's basic ideas, even after 1931. The Telegraph (UK) / The young architect Gerrit Rietveld joined the group in 1918. According to Theo van Doesburg in the introduction of the magazine De Stijl 1917 no.1, the "De Stijl"-movement was a reaction to the "Modern Baroque" of the Amsterdam School movement (Dutch expressionist architecture) with the magazine Wendingen (1918–1931). The work's suggestion of a human figure - accomplished by the arrangement of geometric forms and placement of a cube at the top, possibly representing a head - is also unique in De Stijl art. In 1924 Mondrian broke with the group after van Doesburg proposed the theory of elementarism, suggesting that a diagonal line is more vital than horizontal and vertical ones. This style of art was based on straight lines and basic horizontal and vertical geometric forms. In 1918 he had a poem incised on the underside of his Red and Blue Chair that read, "When I sit, I do not want to sit as my seated flesh likes, but rather as my seated spirit would sit, if it wove the chair for itself." The clearest way to distill De Stijl is to examine its ideas made evident in painting, sculpture, graphic design, and, most significantly, architecture. It was utopian innature in the sense that the members of De Stijl believed art to have a transformativepower. Van Doesburg's personal version of De Stijl was called Elementarism, which emphasized subtle shifts in tones, tilting squares and rectangles at angles relative to the picture plane, and allowed straight horizontal and vertical lines to be colored, varied in length, and disconnected from one another. Thereafter, all members of the De Stijl movement who signed the movement's manifesto were committed to the theory of Neo-Plasticism. The De Stijl influence on architecture remained considerable long after its inception; Mies van der Rohe was among the most important proponents of its ideas. Principles and Influences. De Stijl in Dutch simply means "the style". [6] In general, De Stijl proposed ultimate simplicity and abstraction, both in architecture and painting, by using only straight horizontal and vertical lines and rectangular forms. De Stijl, which ambitiously means The Style, was conceived in 1917 in the Netherlands by a group of artists who centered around the idea to fathom the purity of form and the reality of nature, supposedly obscured by figuration. Other important participants were Gerrit Rietveld and PietMondrian. By comparing works of art that do not represent an object, is in our experience, the most fruitful way of exercising our receptivity for them. And so Mondrian’s concept of Neoplasticism, meant, in essence ‘the new art’. De Stijl was an abstract, modern art movement that originated in the Netherlands. In a narrower sense, the term De Stijl is used to refer to a body of work from 1917 to 1931 founded in the Netherlands. Theo van Doesburg died in Davos, Switzerland, in 1931. Suprematism, the invention of Russian artist Kazimir Malevich, was one of the earliest and most radical developments in abstract art. Incidentally, De Stijl is also the name of the journal published by Theo van Doesburg, where the theories of this particular movement were enshrined. Between 1913 and 1916, he composed his Proeven van Stijlkunst ("Experiments in Artistic Style"), inspired mainly by Mondrian's paintings. De Stijl, meaning “Style”, was a group of Dutch artists who created abstract art which adhered to vertical and horizontal geometry. The movement inspired the design aesthetics of Rumyantsevo and Salaryevo stations of Moscow Metro opened in 2016. January 11, 2011, By Martin Gayford / The Guardian (UK) / The magazine De Stijl became a vehicle for Mondrian’s ideas on art, and in a series of articles in the first year’s issues he defined his aims and used, perhaps for the first time, the term neo-plasticism. De Stijl is Dutch for "The Style" and is also known as neoplasticism, The artistic movement was actually founded in 1917, 'De Stijl' was made up of many members and influences, however probably the most prominent was Theo Van Doesburg who was actually the 'ambassador' of the movement, promoting it across Europe. This became the name for the type … The artistic philosophy that formed a basis for the group's work is known as Neoplasticism—the new plastic art (or Nieuwe Beelding in Dutch). [4] The De Stijl movement posited the fundamental principle of the geometry of the straight line, the square, and the rectangle, combined with a strong asymmetricality; the predominant use of pure primary colors with black and white; and the relationship between positive and negative elements in an arrangement of non-objective forms and lines.[5]. It was an important influence on Constructivism. Ultimately, De Stijl's continuing fame is largely the result of the enduring achievement of its best-known member and true modern master. Around 1921, the group's character started to change. de Stijl in American English (dəˈstaɪl ; dəˈsteɪl) an abstract art movement marked by the use of rectangular forms and by emphasis on primary colors or grays and blacks Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Key Dates: 1917-1931. Neo-Plasticism was the guiding philosophy behind the art of Dutch painter Piet Mondrian and many of his peers in the De Stijl circle. Theo van Doesburg was a Dutch artist, who together with Piet Mondrian established the De Stijl movement. The main representatives of the new image are … Neoplasticism (in Dutch Nieuwe Beelding - the new plastic art) is an art theory that arose in 1917 around the De Stijl journal. 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