Theo Van Doesburg by Hussain Alali

The De stijl Movemet

Introduction

Theo Van Doesburg, or Christian Emil Marie Kopper, was born on 30 August 1883. He was Dutch painter, architect, designer and writer. Doesburg started painting in his early life with naturalistic objects. In addition to that, He started writing for magazines. He practiced different activity other than painting and drawing. Both, Doesburg and Georges Vantongerloo, Belgian abstract sculptor and painter, did an effort in architecture, designing houses for artists. The decoration for the Café Aubette in Strasbourg is an example of Doesburg's designs.

In 1915 he met the painter Janus de Winter, who worked mainly in watercolors and pastels. Doesburg was influenced by De Winter and this is noticed in his works during this period which appear as expressive and highly charged pastels and self-portraits. At the same year, he met Piet Mondrian, also a Dutch painter. These meetings with other artist and designers had enriched Doesburg's experience and knowledge and gave him a solid background in both painting and architecture. A year after 1915, together, Doesburg and Mondrian, with related artists Bart van der Leck, Anthony Kok, Vilmos Huszar and J.J.P. Oud, established the magazine De Stijl. The De Stijl became as a movement in design and art. This movement has got a history of development and an influence on architecture, music, and our daily life.

The De Stijl History

The De Stijl was a Dutch Artistic movement between 1917 and 1931. De Stijl means Dutch for the style. It was founded by a group artists and designers and led by Doesburg who became the main person in the history of this movement. This group philosophy was based on the new plastic art or the neoclassicism. Neoclassicism refers to the de stijl art. The events and ideas

from society, religion, and politics which shaped the European countries at that period have their influence on De Stijl movement. This made this movement to become the framework for future artistic and design expressions. De Stijl art is a work where the artist seeks to represent the logical and religious world by abolishing all complex parts of the visual and natural world. With this movement, artists would achieve ultimate abstraction, simplicity, clearness, harmony, and equilibrium. It seems that artists followed a reduction in forms and colors in De Stijl. Abstract-geometrical lines that either run vertically or horizontally were used in paintings, sculptures and architecture. Three primary colors, red, blue and yellow, are the only colors were used in De Stijl designs. Artists aimed to make a new vision and a different way of life to humanity that was universal and easy to understand by keeping abstract and geometric simple represented in the De Stijl art. Due to Doesburg’s ideas on architecture and the role of basic colors, De Stijl became more popular and accepted by people. The report by Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning in University of Melbourne which says, "Within De Stijl there exists three periods through which the movement as a whole is characterized. The three periods could be defined as follows: the immature period from 1916 to 1921, the mature period from 1921 to 1925, and the period of deterioration from 1925 to 1931". In the first phase of De Stijl history, it seems to be quite and underdeveloped period. During World War I. Holland enjoyed the magnificence of growth of architecture activities than other states that involved in war. There was a close connection among the artistic works, writings and beliefs of the men who formed De Stijl. In this period of time, and exactly 1917, the architects, painters, sculptors, and writers produced the first issue of a new journal, also known as De Stijl. In the second phase, most critics praise that De Stijl showed its most permanent work, and they consider that the other periods did not have the same status that this period had. In this period, Doesburg was behind disseminating the new ideas of De Stijl to all of Europe. By the end of 1921, due to the disagreement with the organization of De Stijl, there were some major changes in the movement. Bart Van Der Lick who is one of the members in the movement left the organization. Later on other members also left the association. This forced Doesburg to recruit some new members of the association to continue the work. He recruited members from different countries and this shows the idea of Doesburg desire to spread the De Stijl to countries other than Holland. By the influence of the new member Van Eesteren, Dutch architect, the art of De Stijl spread all over the world. The last phase, the De Stijl movement faced a deterioration in its development. The style took on a less attractive look, moving towards post-neoplastic progress. A lot of criticism received as the movement lost its values and inconsistence. After the disagreement between Mondrian and Doesburg on Van Doesburg’s introduction of the diagonal into his paintings, Mondrian resigned and left the group. This cause a reduction on the De Stijl activities and between 1923 and 1928, it started to appear less and less. The development of new technology and science and the difficulties that the group faced, stopped the influence of the movement.

De Stijl Influence on architecture

The De Stijl influence on architecture remained considerable long after 1931. It is

credited to Theo Van Doesburg who spent the rest of his life career trying to set up a standing in the field of architecture. Any contemporary appreciation he received was hard-won and rested for the most part on his theoretical writings. With a help from Gerrit Rieveld who was formally schooled as an architect, this group was able to have its influence of architecture. The De Stijl art movement led Rieveld to explore and develop a unique style in three-dimensional structures. Its asymmetrical design created a three dimensional interpretation of the De Stijl style. This enabled the use of De Stijl in the design of many furniture pieces. Some of the example in which De Stijl used in architecture, is Gerrit Rieveld's design of the Schroeder house in 1924. Also, the chair which was designed by same person by using De Stijl styles. Today, we can see how the De Stijl appears on the building designs and how designers use it to create different styles that combine the old and modern art. As we can see in the picture, a CBC store designed using a De Stijl design. The design used is old fashion, but it gave the building a new look that lines with the modern designs.

De Stijl Influence on Music

There is not too much influence on music by De Stijl. There was one influence which appears on the work of composer Jakob van Domselaer, who was a close friend of Mondrian. Between 1913 and 1916, he composed his Proeven van Stijlkunst. He was inspired mainly by Mondrian's paintings. His works defined horizontal and vertical musical elements and aimed at balancing those two principles.

De Stijl influence on our life

In these days, we can see that De Stijl has its influence on our daily life and products. From furniture to Clothes and from home design to consumables, we can see how the type of art applied to give more stylish products and give some comfort to our life. We can see some examples of building followed the De Stijl style such as the Rietveld Schroder house which is the only building realised completely according to the principles of De Stijl. Another example of applying De Stijl art in our daily life. We can see more products that carry the type of style. A pair of shoes that is designed with the basic geometrical line and colors. Also, a piece of clothes that carries the same principle of the style. The De Stijl also influenced the consumables products and gave different styles of designs. The De stijl has wide range of applications. And till today we can see how it is still have an influence on the different products.

Conclusion

Theo Van Doesburg has other activities that working for De Stijl group. He kept his link with DADA; another movement established in Switzerland. It is involved with visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design. Doesburg did not live for a long time. On 7 March 1931 he died of a heart attack after he left a very large influence in the field of design and art. The De Stijl is one of his efforts that have its influence on the different fields.

Works Cited

Coulton, Brent, "The Influence of De Stijl as an Art Movement", Retrieved on Aug 10, 2009
<>

Doig, Allan, Oxford University Press, "Theo van Doesburg (Christian Emil Marie Kupper)",
Retrieved on Aug 10, 2009,http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=6076

Doig, Allan, The Burlington Magazine, "Theo van Doesburg, Painter and Architect.
Rotterdam, Boymans Museum", Vol. 131, No. 1032 (Mar., 1989), pp. 237-238

Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning, University of Melbourne, "The influence of
De Stijl ideas on 20th century architecture", Retrieved on Aug 10, 2009,
http://www.geocities.com/soho/workshop/5220/history/destijl/destijl.html

Jen C, "De Stijl Movement: Theo van Doesburg & Gerrit Rietveld"
Retrieved on Aug 10, 2009 ,< http://designhistorymashup.blogspot.com/2008/04/de-
stijl-movement-theo-van-doesburg.html>