The document provides an overview of the De Stijl art movement: - De Stijl was a Dutch artistic movement that advocated pure abstraction using only primary colors, black, and white with horizontal and vertical lines. - It was founded in 1917 in the Netherlands by Theo van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian. Other key members included Gerrit Rietveld. - The movement was inspired by Neoplasticism and the idea that their art could help achieve social harmony through revealing universal truths. - Key works included Mondrian's Composition with Red, Yellow and Blue and Rietveld's Red Blue Chair, which was one of the first designs to fully embrace De

1. 20TH CENTURY DESIGN AND CULTURE
TERM: JULY 2013
LECTURER: SANDRA DRASKOVIC
DE STIJL
THE STYLE

2. Before First World Ward new concepts and forms:
1. ART NOUVEAU
2. BAUHAUS,
3. EXPRESSIONISM,
4. FUTURISM,
5. CUBISM
New technologies, technical innovation, new materials,
new industries
After I World War end of One era era of traditional world,
End of Austro-Hungarian state that disappeared from the
Map of Europe, Russia and Germany were swept away by
revolution United States began to be stronger

3. World War I
1914-1918
Stormtroops Advancing Under Gas
etching and aquatint by Otto Dix, 1924
Battle of the Somme, Soldier
Carrying Casualty, 1916
 Trench & mechanized warfare, modern weapons, tanks, aircrafts
 More than 9 million deaths, postwar uncertainity, poverty, unemployment

4. Post I World War period
Architecture needs to invent the program to addres the
social needs: unemployment, homeless people, hunger,
uncertainty
New economical-social atmosphere was a challenge for
artists, poems, writes, painters, designers
In architecture a drive to develop new functional ways of
buildings and new use of materials: GLASS, CONCRETE,
IRON, STEEL
New forms and programs to address modern changes:
new housing development, urgency to find the solution for
homeless people and poverty.
New Urbanism, utopian ideas of city planning.

5. 1920: “Art is Dead!” - Dada Fair held in Berlin
 Dada Berlin formed as
attack on bourgeois
German society
 Politically mobilized &
aligned with the
Communist party which
was found in Germany in
1919
 Shared distaste for earlier
20th century avant-garde
movements
(Expressionism &
spirituality, Cubism’s
emphasis on aesthetics,
Futurism & typography)
 Photomontage emerges
as a major strategy to
deconstruct the image &
dismantle Weimar
consumer culture (driven
by commodity images
and advertizing)
Hoch and
Haussman
Dummy with a pig’s head
dressed as German officer

6. Hannah Hoch
 The “It Girl” of a circle of male
artists in Berlin Dada
 Demonstrates major tenets of
Berlin Dada (anti-aesthetic,
illogical, non-hierarchical,
politically driven and left wing)
 Images clipped and collaged
together with no apparent formal
logic
 Grotesque juxtapositions,
distortions of scale
 Inventory of major German figures
(Einstein, Friedrich Ebert, Kathe
Kollwitz (a German Expressionist
artist), Marx, Lenin) with Dada
sayings written throughout (“Dada
is not an art trend”)
 Major Berlin Dadaists in lower right
quadrant, including Hoch above
map of European countries where
women can vote
Hannah Hoch, Cut with a Kitchen Knife through
the Beer Belly of the Weimar Republic, 1919

7. Grosz, To Oskar Panizza, 1917-18
h•Artists reacted in a variety of
different ways to the traumatic
experience of WWI. Many believed
that the War had proven that the
world was senseless and crazy, and
that there was no hope left. A style
of art called “Dada” was born out of
this despair. The word Dada was
chosen because of its
meaninglessness. Dadaists wanted
to be as nihilistic as possible, and
their work is often extremely bleak.
This was especially true in Germany
where feelings of despair were
mixed with shame as the ones who
lost.
•This painting shows society in total
collapse with buildings slanted at
impossible angles and everything in
flames.

8. Grosz, The Pillars of Society, 1926
Here Grosz makes nasty fun of several types
in contemporary German society.
In the foreground is a student holding a pint
of beer. His head is open on top and inside
is a man on horseback – a reference to old
and now totally discredited myths of the
glory of war.
His tie pin is a swaztika showing that he has
learned nothing and is a follower of right
wing politics. Behind him on the right is an
academic (professor). His head is also
open and in place of brains there is a
stinking pile of shit.
Behind him is a priest who looks as though
he is in the advanced stages of alcoholism.
Nobody escapes the wrath of this furious
artist.

9. - Neo-Plasticism is Dutch and was founded by Piet Mondrian.
- It is a form of Abstract
- Rectangles, horizontal and vertical lines, and a limited color palette
make up Neo-Plasticism.
Piet Mondrian- Dutch Painter (1872-1944)
Theo van Doesburg- Dutch Painter (1883-1931)
Charmion von Wiegand- American Painter (1900-1983)
Ilya Bolotowsky- Russian/American Painter (1907-1981)
Vilmos Huszar- Hungarian/Dutch Painter (1884-1960)
Well Known Neo-Plasticism Artist

10. Neo-plasticism
Mondrian, Pier and Ocean, 1915
Here you can see
that all of nature
has been reduced
to simply black
and white and
horizontal and
vertical lines.
What are the
universal truths of
the natural world,
he asked? If we
can reveal those
underlying truths
perhaps we can all
live together in
harmony.

11. Mondrian, Composition with Red, Yellow, Blue, and
Black, 1921
By 1921 Mondrian had settled
on what would become his
formula of primary colors,
black and white, and vertical
and horizontal lines. From
these components the entire
visual/natural world can be
constructed. It is as if he
believed himself a prophet
who discovered a hidden
ultimate truth and was duty-
bound to enlighten the rest of
us. The ultimate goal was
social harmony among all
people. This style is all about
order, clarity, the universality
of basic geometry, etc.

12. Kandinsky, Composition VIII, 1923
All of the emotional drama
of free colors and brush
strokes evolves into crisp
geometric shapes drawn
with drafting tools.
The power of abstract
geometry as a regenerative
language that would wipe
away all of the chaos and
confusion of the preceding
years was very powerful at
this time.

13. Piet Mondrian
Composition with Red, Yellow and Blue
(1921) Three Hotels on Broadway
Boogie-Woogie, (1949)
Tableau 1, (1921)

14. Theo van Doesburg
Composition VII (the three
graces), (1917)
Contra-Construction Project
(1923)

15. City Rhythm
(1948)
Transfer to Cathay
(1948)
Charmion von
Wiegand

16. Large Blue Horizontal
(1975)
Black Diamond (1978)Untitled
Ilya Bolotowsky

17. Studie, (1921)
Monotype, (1924)
Vilmos Huszar

18. De stijl1917-1931
“.. Only primary colors and non-
colors, only squares and
rectangles, only straight and
horizontal or vertical lines.”
- Piet Mondrian

19. De Stijl – “The Style”
• Dutch artistic movement, founded in Netherlands. Also
known as Neo-Plasticism.
• Founders: Piet Mondrian & Theo van Doesburg.
• Utopian idea of spiritual harmony & order. Simplified
to vertical and horizontal lines.
• Used only primary colors along with black and white.
• Not to reflect reality but rather to express the harmony
that they believed was the law of universe.
• Their works of art helped the public along the path to
truth and purity.

20. INFLUENCES
•Frank Lloyd Wright – building appeared in
magazine Wasmuth, 1910-11
•French cubists – with different vision of
architecture and world
•Walter Gropius – Fagus factory
•Piet Mondrian – plain surfaces, neo-plasticism,
abstract forms and primary colors, pictorial
squared space , basic structures, clear
geometrical system

21. De Stijl Magazine First
Front Cover.
1917 - Vilmos Huszár
• The group’s monthly
journal called ‘De-Stijl’
started in 1917.
• This longing for
harmony developed in
the chaotic times of
WW1.
• Journal continued to be
printed until 1931 when
Theo van Doesburg died.

22. MANIFESTO OF DE STIJL, 1918
• complex theoretical goal of new
world order
•Buildings should be radically
simplified
• principles of right-angle
• Flat roofs and smooth surfaces
• Primary colors: red, yellow, blue
• Interpenetration of cubic volumes
• quasi-sculptural experience
• neo-plastical appearance, flat roof
• plane surfaces, white plaster
• revolutionary solutions for open-
plan interiors

23. MANIFESTO OF DE STIJL

24. Theo van doesburg
• Dutch artist.
• Founder and Leader of De
Stijl.
• Complete abstraction of
reality in his paintings.
• He was more flamboyant
and extravagant.
• Split up with his colleague,
Piet Mondrian in 1924 due to
disagreements.
1883-
1931
Composition VII- The Three Graces, 1917

25. Theo van Doesburg
Simultaneous Counter-
Composition 1929
Counter Composition V, 1925.

26. Piet mondrian
• Dutch Painter,
theorist and
draughtsman. His
work marks the
transition at the start
of the 20th century
from the Hague
school and
Symbolism to Neo-
Impressionism and
De Stijl.
• Important
contributor to De Stijl.
• An introvert by
nature.
1872-
1944
Composition with Grids: Checkerboard Composition
with Light Colors - 1919

27. Piet mondrian
Composition with Red,
Blue, and Yellow
Neo Plastisicm - 1930
The essence of
Mondrian’s ideas is that
painting, composed of
the most fundamental
aspects of line and
colour, must set an
example to the other
arts for achieving a
society in which art as
such has no place but
belongs instead to the
total realization of
‘beauty’.

28. COMPOSITION WITH YELLOW , BLUE , RED ,
1937-42 , PIET MONDRIAN.

29. Gerrit rietveld
• Dutch furniture designer
and architect.
• One of the principal
members of De Stijl.
• Famous for his Red
and Blue chair design.
• The chair was designed
for the Rietveld Schroder
House which is a
UNESCO world heritage
site.
1888-
1964
Red and Blue Chair - 1917

30. INTRODUCTION
 De Stijl Dutch for "The Style", also known as
neoplasticism, was a Dutch artistic movement
founded in 1917.
 De Stijl is also the name of a journal that was
published by the Dutch painter, designer, writer,
and critic Theo van Doesburg (1883–1931)
 Next to van Doesburg, the group's principal
members were the painters Piet Mondrian (1872–
1944), Vilmos Huszár (1884–1960), and Bart van
der Leck (1876–1958), and the architects Gerrit
Rietveld (1888–1964), Robert van 't Hoff (1887–
1979), and J.J.P. Oud (1890–1963).
 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).

31. FORMING THE DE STIJL
 They advocated pure abstraction and universality by a
reduction to the essentials of form and colour; they
simplified visual compositions to the vertical and horizontal
directions, and used only primary colors along with black
and white.
 Around 1915, Van Doesburg started meeting the artists
who would eventually become the founders of the journal.
He first met Piet Mondrian at an exhibition in the
Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum. Mondrian, who had moved
to Paris in 1912 (and there, changed his name from
"Mondriaan"), had been visiting the Netherlands when war
broke out.
 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). These two publications would greatly
influence Mondrian and other members of De Stijl.

34. INFLUENCE ON ARCHITECTURE
 The Rietveld Schröder House—the only building
realised completely according to the principles of De
Stijl.
 The De Stijl influence on architecture remained
considerable long after 1931;
 Mies van der Rohe was among the most important
proponents of its ideas. Between 1923 and 1924,
Rietveld designed the Rietveld Schröder House, the
only building to have been created completely
according to De Stijl principles.
 Examples of Stijl-influenced works by J.J.P. Oud can
be found in Rotterdam (Café De Unie) and Hoek van
Holland.

35. STUDY FOR AN APARTMENT BUILDING,
1923, TEO VAN DOESBURG

36. STUDY FOR AN APARTMENT BUILDING, 1923,
TEO VAN DOESBURG
Multiform, abstract geometrical order
Right-angled
Combination of primary colors: blue, yellow, red
Semi-philosophical analysis of the world and
order
Single color smooth plastered surfaces
Walls that penetrates each other and step into the
space
Part of the endless growing space
Interior and exterior are merged
Triumph of abstract space
Open plan – sliding panels and rectangular
partitions, Interlocking planes

37. The
Dutchman Gerrit
Rietveld (1888-
1964) was one of
the most important
designers and
architects of the
20th century.
Gerrit Rietveld - 1888 - 1964
Bauhaus Architect and Modern Furniture Designer

38. Today his work is
primarily
associated with
his two most
famous designs,
which have
become icons of
modernism:
the Red-Blue
Chair (1918/1923)
and the Rietveld-
Schröder House
(1924).

39. The Rietveld Schröder House—the only building realised
completely according to the principles of De Stijl.

42. Floating effect of the
balcony, light
balustrade, large
glass corners, open
space, flexibility,
rectangular walls

45. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl
ayer_embedded&v=qLHCYeswxuI

47. Red blue chair
Originally designed in
1917-1918, the
Red/blue chair had a
natural wood finish
(Beachwood and
plywood
construction). The
original chair was
constructed of
unstained beech
wood and was not
painted until the early
1920s.

48. Red blue chair
He later painted
this revolutionary
chair in 1921 as a
result of his
association with
the De Stijl
movement.

49. Red blue chair variations

50. Red blue chair elements

51. Red blue chair technical drawings

52. Red blue chair details

53. Red blue chair
Traditional
bamboo trusses
show non
intersecting
beams and
girders with
protruding ends.

54. Red blue chair detail of rails

55. Rietveld writes as follows about his joints:
•The ordinary doweled joint, by which the post takes the rail, is still
used for nearly everything. It is a very satisfying method of working
and it is a fine thing to see, for example a set of rails and posts with
hole, peg and groove.
•This jointing sometimes gives rise to an unintentional plain surface.
•The jointing employed here was an obvious choice because of its
simplicity and clarity of expression.
•Moreover, it is particularly strong because the ends of the wood
retain their full strength.
•It requires very little time to produce, which makes it appropriate
to modern labor conditions.
•The greatest advantage is that it gives extreme freedom in the
positioning of the rails, which achieve a greater expression of
space, enabling one to break away from the constructional tied
plane surface.
Red blue chair

56. Red blue chair details
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEMcmWHqg9g
Date : 1918
Country : Netherlands
Materials : wood (lacquered).
Style/Tradition : De Stijl
Dimensions: 66x83x88cm (WxDxH)
Colours : Black, red, blue and yellow

57. Café Aubette, Strasbourg, France,
Theo Van Doesburg

58. Café Aubette, Strasbourg, France,
Theo Van Doesburg
•The Cafe Aubette, located in the central square of
Strasbourg, is one of the most ambitious projects of the
artistic avant-garde of the '20s, so much to be defined by the
most enthusiastic as the "Sistine Chapel" of modern art.
•The grandiose building, prior used for military purposes,
came into possession of the Horn brothers in 1922, they
wished to make it the meeting point of reference for the
Strasbourg society.
•When the Cofè Aubette's project was finished, Theo van
Doesburg, responsible for making new, called it as the
realization of unbridled imagination.

59. Café De Unie, De Stijl, Roterdam, 1925
•Café De Unie; Café; De Stijl;
•Creation date: 1925;
• Architect: J.J.P. Oud.

60. Café Aubette, Strasbourg, France,
Theo Van Doesburg
•J.J.P. Oud’s association with De Stijl lasted from 1917 to
1922. Oud was particularly interested in the technical and
social aspects of architecture. He tried to create a new
aesthetic by using modern techniques and building materials.
The industrial production of building elements could be used
in social housing to help solve the housing shortage and
poor living conditions.
•Oud and Van Doesburg were united in their interest in the
convergence of different art forms. But there was one
difference. Oud’s perspective was that of a master builder
creating space for painting and sculpture, while Van
Doesburg’s starting point was modern (abstract) painting, on
which architecture and applied art had to focus.

61. Jacobus Johannes Peter Oud,
Café De Unie façade, Rotterdam, 1925

62. Café De Unie, De Stijl, Roterdam, 1925

63. Café De Unie, De Stijl, Roterdam, 1925

64. Reconstruction, Mondrian’s Atelier at 26, rue du Départ,
Paris - The atelier in 1926