Going D(e)ut(s)ch: De Stijl & Mies van der Rohe

Going D(e)ut(s)ch: De Stijl & Mies van der Rohe

Overview of De Stijl Movement

  • Art Movement: De Stijl

    • Origin: Begun in 1917

    • Founders: Theo van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian

    • Name Origin: Derived from a journal published by van Doesburg that continued into the 1920s.

  • Main Artistic Impulse:

    • Abstraction of nature using only straight lines and primary colors.

    • Purpose: To reveal the essential essence of a thing in a completely fixed vocabulary.

  • Group Composition: Included painters, sculptors, and architects.

    • Influence: Particularly significant in architecture, influencing major figures like Gropius and Mies van der Rohe.

Notable Works and Artists

  • Composition VII: By Theo van Doesburg, 1917.

  • Red and Blue Chair: Designed by Gerrit Rietveld, 1917.

  • Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow: By Piet Mondrian, 1921.

Exhibition Information

  • Gallery: GALERIE L'EFFORT MODERNE, Paris.

    • Event: "De Stijl Exhibition" featuring van Doesburg and van Eestern in Fall 1923.

Landmark Architectural Projects

  • Schröder House:

    • Architect: Gerrit Rietveld

    • Location: Utrecht, Netherlands

    • Completion Year: 1924

    • Design Features:

    • Open and closed plans for living and sleeping spaces.

  • Hilversum Town Hall:

    • Architect: Willem Dudok

    • Location: Hilversum, Netherlands

    • Completion Year: 1928-1931

  • Café de Unie:

    • Architect: J.J.P. Oud

    • Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    • Completion Year: 1925

  • Worker’s Housing:

    • Architect: J.J.P. Oud

    • Location: Hook-of-Holland, The Netherlands

    • Completion Year: 1924

Mies van der Rohe's Architectural Contributions

  • Friedrichstrasse Skyscraper Project:

    • Designer: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

    • Completion Year: 1922

  • Glass Skyscraper Project:

    • Designer: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

    • Completion Year: 1922

  • Brick Country House:

    • Designer: Mies van der Rohe

    • Completion Year: 1924

  • Weissenhof Siedlung:

    • Planner: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

    • Location: Stuttgart, Germany

    • Completion Year: 1927

  • German State Pavilion (Barcelona Pavilion):

    • Designer: Mies van der Rohe

    • Location: Barcelona, Spain

    • Completion Year: 1929

  • Tugendhat House:

    • Designer: Mies van der Rohe

    • Location: Brno, Czech Republic

    • Completion Year: 1929-1930

  • Bauhaus Berlin-Steglitz:

    • Leadership: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe took over as the 3rd Director of Bauhaus in 1930.

    • Mies was forced to relocate the school from Dessau to Berlin in 1932 due to Nazi control.

    • The school was shut down permanently in January 1933 after only one fall term in the new location.

Notes on Bauhaus Closure

  • Date of Incident: April 11, 1933

  • Context: Nazis closing Bauhaus in Berlin.

  • Details of the Search:

    • Illegal materials confiscated during searches conducted by authorities.

    • Allegations regarding communist materials found contributed to the closure.

Additional Points

  • Various architects associated with Weissenhof Siedlung:

    • Victor Bourgeois, Le Corbusier, Hans Poelzig, Walter Gropius, and others.

  • Interiors and Furnishings of Weissenhof Siedlung documented in 1927.