destijl

DE STIJL

"We speak of concrete and not abstract painting because nothing is more concrete, more real than a line, a color, a surface."

The Netherlands-based De Stijl movement embraced an abstract, pared-down aesthetic centered in basic visual elements such as geometric forms and primary colors. It is also known as the Neoplasticism.

De Stijl believed beauty arose from the absolute purity of the work. They sought to purify art by banning naturalistic representation, external values and subjective expression. The content of their work was to be universal harmony, the order that pervades the universe. The implications for modern design proved to be immense.

De Stijl advocated the absorption of pure art by applied art. The spirit of art could then infuse society through architecture, product and graphic design. Under this system, art would not be subjugated to the level of the everyday object; the everyday object would be elevated to the level of art. De Stijl became a natural vehicle for expressing the movement’s principles in graphic design.

Neo-Plasticism ("new art") is grounded in the idea that the true purpose of art is not to reproduce real objects, but to express the absolutes of life:

Mondrian explained his theory of Neo-Plasticism in Pictorial Art (De Nieuwe Beelding in de schilderkunst) in the first dozen or so issues of the journal De Stijl. In 1920, he published a book entitled Le Neo-Plasticisme.

His aim was to promulgate a new design-paradigm of harmony and order, by reducing all art to essentials of form and colour. Rejecting naturalistic art, he wrote: "this new art will find its expression in the abstraction of form and colour, that is to say, in the straight line and the clearly defined primary colour".

PIET MONDRIAN

Piet Mondrian is a Dutch artist best known for his abstract paintings. Art that is abstract does not show things that are recognisable such as people, objects or landscapes. Instead artists use colours, shapes and textures to achieve their effect

When Mondrian made his paintings, he would always mix his own colours, never using the paint directly out of a tube. He often used primary colours – red yellow and blue

Partly a reaction against the decorative excesses of Art Deco, the reduced quality of De Stijl art was envisioned by its creators as a universal visual language appropriate to the modern era, a time of a new, spiritualized world order.

De Stijl was the brainchild of the Dutch painter, designer, writer, and critic Theo van Doesburg.

While serving in the army, he encountered Mondrian's paintings, in which he saw his ideal. He then met him at an exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and, after many discussions, they formed the De Stijl art group. At the same time they also founded the De Stijl journal, edited by Van Doesburg, to which Mondrian contributed numerous articles. Although its circulation rarely exceeded 300 copies per issue, its readership was influential within artistic circles and widespread.

Led by the painters Theo van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian - its central and celebrated figures - De Stijl artists applied their style to a host of media in the fine and applied arts and beyond. 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.

Its members, working in an abstract style, were seeking laws of equilibrium and harmony applicable both to art and to life.

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. De Stijl's influence was perhaps felt most noticeably in the realm of architecture, helping give rise to the International Style of the 1920s and 1930s.

The principles were more about form and function which made de stijl look very minimalist and abstract compared to other art movements. They had reduced the amount of colours and only used the primary colours such as yellow, red and blue and black and white were exceptions to the style.

De stijls principles were based on a grid layout with vertical and horizontal lines that did or didn’t intersect each other and also using squares and triangles arranged in a vertical/horizontal layout to convey abstract simplicity with rectilinear forms. There is also a relationship of positive and negative space always found in De stijl paintings

KEY IDEAS

Like other avant-garde movements of the time, De Stijl, which means simply "the style" in Dutch, emerged largely in response to the horrors of World War I and the wish to remake society in its aftermath. Viewing art as a means of social and spiritual redemption, the members of De Stijl embraced a utopian vision of art and its transformative potential.

modeled on or aiming for a state in which everything is perfect; idealistic.

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. 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.

Even though De Stijl artists created work embodying the movement's utopian vision, their realization that this vision was unattainable in the real world essentially brought about the group's demise. Ultimately, De Stijl's continuing fame is largely the result of the enduring achievement of its best-known member and true modern master, Piet Mondrian.

OBJECTIVES:

• To rebuild society after WW1- essential ordering of structure.

• • Construct an ideal ‘model’ for a new world.

• • Achieving a utopian perception of spiritual harmony.

• • Would function as a sign for n ethical view of society.

• • To show that art and design have the power to change the future.

All of these artists incorporated the characteristic De Stijl elements in their work:

• primary colors red, yellow and blue, complemented by white, grey and black,

• dominated by horizontal and vertical lines.

• search for the essence of the art of painting, combined with the notion that, by creating a well-designed living environment, humankind would experience inner improvement.

CHARACTERISTICS of DE STIJL:

• ideas of spiritual harmony and order

• simplified visual compositions

• straight lines – vertical, horizontal & diagonal

• square & rectangular forms

• primary colours – red, blue and yellow

• primary values – black, white and grey

• asymmetrical

• geometrical form and shape with very technical construction

• Precise geometric forms of flat squares and rectangles.

• Play on positive and negative emphasis.