my summary of de stijl

Just in case you are really bored yet really interested in art I decided to be a good person and upload my research on De Stijl, which is, without a doubt, my favorite art movement. The only thing missing is my conclusion, which was written separately and not saved or smtn like that

Introduction

Originally starting as a project of Dutch artists, architects, designers and writers, its mission was to define a style that would best represent Holland. This mission translated into the name, De Stijl, which literally translated to ‘The Style.’ De Stijl needed to be a style that would last and possibly define movements to come. It was a result of the emerging modern trends of the early 20^th century specifically the abstract works cubism, the machine aesthetic of the industrial revolution and the birth of abstract art.

Wassily Kandinsky's On White II

The Start

De Stijl was founded by the meeting of Dutch impressionist artists Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg. Van Doesburg decided on the formation of De Stijl after being inspired by the works of Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky. Kandinsky’s abstract work was unlike any other at that time. From this Van Doesburg determined that abstract was the art movement of the future and Piet Mondrian’s highly geometric work showed what needed to be done. Geometry was shown in the industrial revolution as a symbol of efficiency and the path of the future, by using this as a datum, geometry in art seemed to be the future.

After consulting with other interested persons, De Stijl was formed from a combination of artists, poets, typographers, architects and furniture/industrial designers. De Stijl unlike other art movements of the time was to be a combination of ideas from these separate individuals. Their contributions would then be published in a magazine bearing the De Stijl name, which was then distributed throughout Holland. Each issue of De Stijl would have varied amounts of input from various contributors. Some of the main contributors were as follows: J.J.P. Oud (architect), Gerrit Rietveld (furniture designer and architect), Piet Mondrian (painter) and Theo van Doesburg (painter, writer, poet and architect) all of whom originated from Holland.

Piet Mondrian's Composition with Yellow, Blue and Red

The Projects

De Stijl composed of numerous small projects, the most famous surrounded furniture, art and architecture. Typography, sculpture and even music were influenced. The most famous works come from Mondrian his compositions of primary colors, shades of black and white and strict orthogonal lines defined what De Stijl was. Most De Stijl members took inspiration from, but not always followed, Mondrian. However orthographic black and white lines remained a constant throughout the various projects. Gerrit Rietveld’s contributions started out with orthogonal, intersecting planes for his furniture, some of which were painted to match the colors of De Stijl. His most famous piece of furniture was the Red and Blue chair, which acted as a 3D composition of Mondrian’s paintings. Rietveld followed this theme of bringing Mondrian’s drawings to life in the construction of Schroder House. Schroder House was the first, and still considered to be the only, true representation of De Stijl in architecture. The use of concrete and large panes of glass was just as unconventional as the art movement it represented. The house was built at the end of a row of traditional brick Dutch houses, its position there was both symbolic and controversial.

De Stijl works of interest:

• Rietveld Schroder House - Gerrit Rietveld
• Cafe De Unie - J.J.P. Oud
• Red and Blue Chair - Gerrit Rietveld
• Cafe Aubette - Theo van Doesburg

Bauhaus School - Walter Gropius

The Spread of De Stijl

Despite not having an impact in Holland as great as they originally expected, the De Stijl magazine soon spread across Europe with van Doesburg as its spokesman. In Russia, he came in contact with the constructivists and showed similarities between their movements. Eventually in 1922, after being exiled from Russia, the Constructivists merged with De Stijl. In France De Stijl organized an exhibition of their work, for some contributors of De Stijl, this was their first time meeting other contributors. The exhibition received a respectable amount of praise; Le Corbusier was its hardest critic. Although Le Corbusier shared the view of the ‘machine aesthetic’ with De Stijl, he thought of De Stijl as too sanitary to be able to move from art into architecture. He publically expressed this by visiting the exhibition coming straight from a construction site, he was unshaved, covered in dirt and had worn clothes. Despite this act of opposition, it didn’t stop Le Corbusier from taking inspiration from the Rietveld-Schroder House. The large spread of windows on Schroder House possibly inspired Le Corbusier’s use of ribbon windows in some of his work. Germany was another important player in the De Stijl movement, in fact most issues of De Stijl found its way to Germany. Its impact there was eventually picked up by Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van de Rohe. Mies admired the discipline of De Stijl and saw it as a good foundation to set modern architecture off on. Gropius also took inspiration from them, elements of the Rietveld Schroder House saw its way into the design of the Bauhaus school.

De Stijl’s strong orthogonal lines inspired much of the façade of the Bauhaus. Apart from the physical design of the Bauhaus, even some of the teachings of De Stijl referring to efficiency and hands on projects defined the school’s curriculum. The Bauhaus saw success as it evolved to become the school one automatically associates with modernism. Former headmasters of the Bauhaus, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius became known as the fathers of modernism. The impact of De Stijl did not stop there. When Mies was put in charge of the construction of Weissenhoff Estate (a group of houses to be built for the working class) he employed some of the most influential modern architects to help out. The list included Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Peter Behrens and De Stijl’s J.J.P. Oud. In total 16 architects contributed to the project which eventually became an exhibition of modern architecture. The involvement of Oud in the Weissenhoff Estate cemented De Stijl’s impact on the world of Modernism.

The End

As De Stijl’s popularity grew and more people contributed to the magazine, a debate started. After visiting the Bauhaus and communicating with the Constructivists in Russia, Van Doesburg suggested and tried the introduction of diagonal lines and secondary colors into De Stijl, this was met with conflicts, and Piet Mondrian was one of the first members to leave as a result of this conflict. During this period of conflicts, the release of De Stijl issues shrank until it reached levels of near death. Many of the contributors to De Stijl participated in other art projects. Van Doesburg went off to contribute to numerous art movements namely Dada and the Concrete Art movement. It came to an end in 1931 when Theo van Doesburg died from a heart attack, his wife, Nelly van Doesburg, contacted previous members of De Stijl to produce one final issue of the magazine in honor of his death. De Stijl died with van Doesburg, the slow, irregular publications and the lack of a central person for communication made continuing De Stijl difficult.

References

• Whitford, F. (1992). Bauhaus. Thames and Hudson.
• Bowness, A. (1992). Modern European Art. Thames and Hudson.

• Overy, P. (1991). De Stijl. Thames and Hudson.