de Stijl!
What
are the underlying philosophies and characteristic elements of the de Stijl
style? How are these principles applied when creating de Stijl inspired visual
communications? Include in your answer specific names of designers and links to
their work.
The philosophy of De Stijl was based on functionalism, with a severe and doctrinaire insistence on the rectilinearity of the planes, which seem to slide across one another like sliding panels. All surface decoration except color was to be eliminated, and only pure primary hues, plus black and white were to be allowed. De Stijl artists sought universal laws of balance and harmony for art, which could then be a prototype for a new social order. They sought an expression of the mathematical structure of the universe and the universal harmony of nature. They were concerned with the spiritual and intellectual climate of their time and wished to express the “general consciousness of their age.” They believed the values before the war were no longer relevant, and sought the universal laws that govern visible reality but are hidden by the outward appearance of things. The goal behind De Stijl was universal harmony. They believed that beauty arose from the absolute purity of the work, and wanted to purify art by banning naturalistic representation, external values, and subjective expression.
ReplyDeleteA collaborative cover by Theo Van Doesburg and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy for the book Grundbegriffe der neuen gestaltende shows a direct application of the De Stijl vocabulary to graphic design. The primary colors, black and white, and the flat planes, vertical and horizontal are apparent in this piece.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Grundbegriffe_der_neuen_gestaltenden_Kunst_cover_02.jpg
http://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/decart/destijl/decstijl.htm
Meggs’ History of Graphic Design
The underlying De Stijl philosophy was to “express the mathematical structure of the universe and universal harmony of nature (1).” They did this through use of abstraction and adherence to strict art-making guidelines. They revered functionalism and stuck to their rules: reducing down to form and color, using vertical and horizontal lines, rectangular planes, and primary colors (and black/white) (2). They did not venture into any emotional subjects, but focused on visual and spiritual harmony and therefore made that their subject matter. Much of De Stijl’s philosophy stemmed from Theo van Doesburg’s “ideas on architecture and the role of primary colors (3).”
ReplyDeleteDe Stijl artist Bart Van Der Leck’s design for the Batavier Line poster (4) in 1915-6 shows his De Stijl roots. He uses pure color and gridded out the design with vertical and horizontal lines in order to bring structure to the work. Instead of the subject being visual harmony, Van Der Leck applied a commercial purpose to his work and the subject then became a service line that transported people from Rotterdam to London.
Another artist, Vilmos Huszar, used a heavy De Stijl influence in his graphic design. He created title pages for the De Stijl journal (5) that included Van Doesburg’s logo and high contrast rectangular shapes in a justified format, making use of positive and negative space. He took the idea of shapes and forms and, like Van Der Leck, used them for a commercial purpose in designing the journal, giving it stark visual impact and a clean, organized feel.
(1) Megg’s History of Graphic Design, p313
(2) http://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/decart/destijl/decstijl.htm
(3) http://www.moma.org/collection/theme.php?theme_id=10199
(4) http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=8362
(5) http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1409/537882422_8d6bddd598.jpg
I wonder why De Stijl artists avoided emotional matters. Structure, order, and primary colors can definitely be applied to emotional content and still be functional/harmonious. For example, Bart Van Derk Leck's gridded layout could have easily been applied to a poster for the poor instead of a ship line.
DeleteI think the idea of applying an emotional influence would have acted as a contradiction to the concept and style. I think when people talk about emotional situations, its usually something that didn't require much planning or thought. Because the De Stijl style was based on the mathematical structure of the universe, i think the artist were going for more of a straight forward approach to getting their message across to the audience. But I definitely agree that they could have applied emotional matters to their work, producing good looking products, I feel they just didn't want to.
DeleteI really like Huszar's work not just because of how he uses the style of De Stijl but how he incorporates an interesting composition, which creates movement that harmoniously flows through all the negative positive space. This particular style reminds me of an assignment I did once. Though it may look like a simple task by placing shapes wherever, it does require thoughtful decisions in order to accomplish a successful piece.
DeleteI think Katie brings up an interesting point; De Stijl artists still could have incorporated emotional matters into their art for sure, but I think John is right. The way I see it, I relate it to academic subjects. Okay, so as we said, the epitome of De Stijl was the mathematics of the universe. When it comes to math, it's very straight forward; there's usually one answer to every question, and it's the kind of thing where opinion or in this case, emotion, is not needed. If you think of something more like English, people write responses, or stories, or analyze things based off of their opinions, thoughts and emotions. This is more like, for example, Expressionism.
DeleteI think the Vilmos Huszar example is an interesting one because of its lack of color. It uses simple box shapes and uses de Stijl as an inspiration. It is very straight forward and clean and does not distract from the type too much that it becomes a burden in the design.
DeleteThe De Stijl, literally translates to “the style.” De Stijl was an art movement founded by Theo van Deosburg, an architect and painter in 1917. Other significant names to mention when speaking of this movement is the sculptor Vantongerloo, architect JJP Oud, designer Rietveld, and finally the painter Mondrian. The main purpose of this movement was to find a new aesthetic of art and principles. The movement even had published a magazine between 1917 and 1932 and provided and overview of the movement’s works and theories. In the magazine Mondrian comments that the “pure plastic vision should build a new society, in the same way that in art it has built a new plasticism”.
ReplyDeleteArtists of the De Stijl movement saw art as a collective approach. To them, it was a language that went beyond culture, geography and politics. The artwork during this time did not show much personality. They felt as though the artist’s personality should take a back seat in the artwork. The key to creating art within the movement’s views was to follow the theory of scaling down formal components of art. They did so by working with only primary colors and straight lines. A painting was created from the features on the surface and many De Stijl paintings convey elements of nature expressed abstractly. They were often geometric, and made up of primary colors. The ideas and productions of the De Stijl movement had a major influenced on the Bauhaus movement in Germany in the 1920’s.
Megg’s History of Graphic Design
http://www.arthistoryguide.com/De_Stijl.aspx
http://chi.freeservers.com/deStijl.html
It makes a lot of sense that the founder, Theo van Doesburg, was an architect. Although there are lots of examples of creative and wild architecture, the practice itself is based on functionality/order. There has to be a certain order and structure for a building to hold up and actually be a building. His architectural background must have been a big influence on the aesthetic principles of the De Stijl movement.
DeleteIt's interesting how disparate artistic movements can be, even those that occur close to the same time period. As you said for De Stijl, they used geometric forms and focused on horizontal and vertical lines – compare that to the aesthetic of Expressionism: distorted realities, exploration of proportion and color, etc., and there is a big difference. These movements were going on around the same time, give or take a few years, but they look as though they could be from completely different time periods.
DeleteI was trying to figure out what Mondrian meant by saying, "pure plastic vision should build a new society, in the same way that in art it has built a new plasticism," but I couldn't really figure it out. I looked it up and found that Mondrian wrote an article called "The New Plastic in Painting", which best expresses their ideas for reduction of form and simplistic abstraction: He said that the new plastic art can only be based on the abstraction of all form and color, i.e. the straight line and the clearly defined primary color.
Deletehttp://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/C20th/destijl.htm
Me personally I loved the work of Vantongerloo before you even mentioned him.I have sa poster of his Red-Green (http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/vantongerloo-no-98-2478-red135-green-t01574) in my room. I think it's interesting how the systematic arrangement of the works these artists produce can appear to be so simplistic yet convey so much.
DeleteI always find it interesting that, as you pointed out, De Stijl translates to "the style" because when I see the art from this movement, "stylish" is the last thing that comes to my mind. Pieces from this time are based off of plain flat colors and straight lines which is indeed a style, but just doesn't exactly have that connotation with me.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhen looking at De Stijl, it commonly emphasizes features like abstraction, reductions of form and color, vertical and horizontal lines, and often primary colors. De Stijl features were then based on the idea to express a structured, mathematical map of the universe, along with complimenting the harmony of nature. (1) Typically, designs from this movement show evident displays of order and universality. Unlike styles like expressionism, this style was not correlated with the intention to extenuate emotions.
DeleteWhile looking at Theo Van Doesburg and Laszlo Maholy Nagy’s, “Book Cover,” it becomes obvious of all the De Stijl principles we see in the movement’s type of work. He minimizes his palette to the primary colors of red, yellow, and blue, along with using straight horizontal lines and vertical lines. The shapes of rectangles and square also compliment the flat planes that is signature in this movement. He even goes as far with the typography to reduce the visual vocabulary. (2)
In Piet Mondrian’s “Broadway Boogie Woogie,” also is keen to the De Stijl style as seen in this piece. He was inspired by American jazz to evoke these features from what he called, the “destruction of natural appearance; and the construction through continuous opposition of pure means—dynamic rhythm.” (3) Here, he utilized the primary colors and includes flat planes to heighten the rhythms of jazz. The vertical and horizontal lines compliment his spiritual harmony and sense of order we could almost here in jazz.
(1) Megg’s History of Graphic Design
(2) http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TF1XMwamFRI/UKwxMr9N3KI/AAAAAAAAAYw/oqpMla1L3Us/s1600/theo_van_doesberg_and_laszlo_moholy-nagy-book_cover-19251317187316537.jpg
(3) http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=78682
I'm posting this for Katie Chin:
ReplyDeleteThe most important thing the dutch De Stijl movement added to graphic design was the grid and a sense of order (1,2). While early De Stijl designs, like Piet Mondrian’s 1927 Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue and Theo van Doesburg/Lazlo Moholy-Nagy’s 1925 book cover, were extremely neat, abstract and a bit boring, modern adaptations can apply the underlying principals of De Stijl in a more liberal way (1). Theo van Doesburg already experimented with using grids to create dynamic but ordered designs in his 1922 cover for De Stijl magazine (1).
Almost every graphic design professor teaches their students to use grids these days (“Align that type with the box!”). Doing a search on Dribbble for grids brings up a large body of work. Even the website itself uses grids in their layouts, such as the neat 3 x 4 grid of boxes that’s central to their design (3).
Everything from logos to websites to posters are designed using an underlying grid. For example, Alvin Thong’s Sixbase logo is constructed with a grid, which gives a sense of neatness to the logo even if the grid isn’t obvious (http://dribbble.com/shots/325244-Sixbase-Logo). The new Windows 8 start screen is a series of gridded clusters (http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2012/10/windows8.jpg). De Stijl started a new tradition of combining certain mathematical rules and graphic design that became a central part of the practice.
(1) Megg’s A History of Graphic Design
(2) http://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/decart/destijl/decstijl.htm
(3) http://dribbble.com/search?q=grid
I think it's extremely important how you mentioned De Stijl started the whole idea of using grids. Perhaps that's where the movement got it's signature structured look from. I agree that most graphic design professors teach their students about having a grid to work with. It honestly sped the process of a design, as well as it's creative flow and ideas. (It always worked for me! i guess you can say I'm pretty keen on that whole structured look.)
DeleteTwo fundamental concepts behind de Stijl were historicism and essentialism. Historicism meaning that the art of today and tomorrow would have evolved from all past art and eventually art would become integrated into the day to day environment. Essentialism meaning that each art form must isolate the essence that is relative to it and therefore secure its autonomy from the other arts. (1)
ReplyDeleteThe key philosophy of De Stijl was a process of elementarisation, integration and collaboration. This philosophy was at the heart of Modernist movements however de Stijl came up with the concept of collaboration. Elementarisation was the practice of each art form finding the essence that was at its core, stripping away superfluous elements (as mentioned above). Integration meant each component must be in balance with the others and no one element should have more emphasis than the others. (Bois, 1993, p. 109) Once an art form has gone through these processes it can then look outward and seek another art that has a common denominator to collaborate with. Within de Stijl the most successful and well-known collaboration between the arts was the marriage of painting to architecture. This collaboration was the subject of many debates within the de Stijl group of artists. De Stijl's ideology was mostly utopian, believing and striving for a world where art and life could merge and become one. Only a few pieces of art fulfilled it's many rules and regulations while the most successful artist to come out of the movement was Piet Mondrian. (1)
It is interesting that Theo Van Doesburg, the leader of the movement, was a very diverse artist. For example, he made a stained glass composition (2) for the Mayor’s house in 1917. It is not confined to all the rules of De Stijl, but it’s certainly a very interesting interpretation of them. Van Doesburg also created drawings and oil paintings, such as this painting of people playing cards (3). The figures are reduced to basic geometric shapes, but the composition looks very appealing and well thought out.
(1) http://chi.freeservers.com/deStijl.html
(2) http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3280/4037278861_10887fec78_z.jpg?zz=1
(3) http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/hgvn/webroot/files/Image/collections/ICN01_AB4097.jpg
Building upon your mention of historicism and essentialism, it is interesting that De Stijl artists truly believed that this is where art "ended," in that it was a further progression of movements that had already been started and that they stripped painting down to its bare basics. I have to wonder what they believed the "future" of painting would look like after De Stijl. Moreover, as Professor Ballas asked, how much "black and white grid with red, yellow, and blue blocks" could you look at before you were just desperate to see something new?
DeleteI'm glad that you pointed out how Theo van Doesburg was a very diverse artist because I think De Stijl is such a non-diverse art movement. Everything seems to look exactly the same in every piece. It's crazy that the founder of this movement did so many different things but that a few of his pieces started an entire movement.
DeleteAfter World War I there was a turning point from old philosophies of designers and artists. Aesthetics of the new industrial world had come into play, incorporating essences of the “machine” into abstract artwork. In the early 20th century, a group of architects and artists that were influenced by DaDa, helped form a movement that would be known as de Stijl.
ReplyDeleteTheo Van Doesburg pioneered the movement in which the philosophy was based on functionalism, with a severe and doctrinaire insistence on the rectilinearity of the planes that seem to slide across one another like sliding panels. All surface decoration was to be eliminated except for color. And only pure primary colors were used in the de Stijl movement. One of the key philosophies was integration and collaboration. De Stijl was built on the practice of finding the essence that was at its core, stripping away unnecessary elements. Each element that remained must be in equal balance with the other elements that were in the art form. Not one aspect of the art should have more emphasis on the other.
“Book Cover” designed by both Theo van Doesburg and Laszio Moholy Nagy is a direct example of de Stijl effecting visual communication. The lack of hierarchy and balance of primary colors allows for not one thing to be more important than the other, which is a major philosophy of de Stijl. In addition the linear structure of the cover is also apparent in the design as well.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TF1XMwamFRI/UKwxMr9N3KI/AAAAAAAAAYw/oqpMla1L3Us/s1600/theo_van_doesberg_and_laszlo_moholy-nagy-book_cover-19251317187316537.jpg
http://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/decart/destijl/decstijl.htm
The visionary prowess of van Doesburg must have been something special. If you didn't tell me to make a piece similar to de Stijl before this movement began I don't think I'd come up with anything close. To take something from nature and strip away " all the unnecessary elements", and be left with the core image. To be the founder/pioneer of this particular way of thinking must have meant that van Doesburg was constantly looking to reveal the core meaning behind the things that influenced his world.
DeleteThe Stijl movement philosophy most likely refers to the desire of standardization in the industrialization period after the WWI. By using only the essential forms and color, it present the idea that the true purpose of art is not to reproduce real objects, but to express the absolutes of life, relating to the form, color, and space. It tried to express a new ideal of spiritual harmony and order by showing the pure abstraction. Along the way, Grids have become important modes of organization in de stijil movement as well as primary colors. Most of the forms in De Stijil movement always reduced to the horizontal and vertical elements by using grids, as well as apply primary colors balanced the composition through the contrasting effects of colors. With the idea of the grids and the use of black lines, it produces the positive and negative space. Everything in this movement places on the basis of formal relationships between grids and colors. And because of this influence of grids in De Stijil, this movement has also influence in design of architecture, furniture, typography afterward and lasted to this day. De Stijl is the importance movement to the grid, by its concept of use straight lines to make rectangular areas.
ReplyDeleteWorks by De Stijl members are spread all over the world, but De Stijl-themed exhibitions are organised regularly. Museums with large De Stijl collections include the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague (1) and the Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum, where many works by Rietveld and Van Doesburg (2) are on display.
(1)http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/show-list/artist/m/?search=Piet%20Mondrian
(2)http://www.theartsdesk.com/visual-arts/van-doesburg-and-international-avant-garde-constructing-new-world-tate-modern
De Stijl started in 1917 by the founder was Theo van Doesburg, followed by Gerrit Rietveld and Piet Mondrian. (1) It was an art movement for every kind of artist including but not exclusive to painters, sculptors, architects, urban planners, typographers, interior designers and decorative artists, musicians, poets and dramatists. Their aesthetic was that using primary flat colors contrasted with black and white, straight horizontal or vertical lines. (2) They wanted to express their idea of spiritual harmony and order through their art.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the most interesting pieces from the movement is "Counter-Composition V" by Theo van Doesburg in 1924. (3) It uses the primary colors but doesn't use the horizontal and vertical black lines. These kinds of designs can be seen to inspire everywhere. Even today, there are art students who look to De Stijl art as inspiration for their work. This can be found on modern blogs like Tumblr. (4) This piece uses De Stijl to make a map. It is an interesting twist to a map which I found clever.
(1) http://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/decart/destijl/decstijl.htm
(2) http://www.moma.org/collection/theme.php?theme_id=10199
(3) http://mediumcontrol.com/blog/inspiration-de-stijl-walker-art-center/
(4) http://folkingwholockian.tumblr.com/post/23299171384/de-stijl-inspired-world-map
The Tumblr De Stijl map is awesome! It definitely stays within the De Stijl "guidelines" but switches it up by taking on a subject instead of pure forms. I think that world map picture would make a good reference for a motion graphic; I could see all the rectangular planes quickly moving around and altering in size and shape before finally settling into a puzzle of the world.
DeleteI think you’re right about Van Doesburg’s “Counter-Composition V,” it’s definitely the most unique De Stijl piece of art I’ve seen. I love the fact that he didn’t use vertical or horizontal lines, but simply squares in a block diagonal pattern. Not to mention, they’re a bunch of squares inside of a square—it makes it interesting.
Delete-Jasmine Berry
The key philosophy of De Stijl was a process of Elementarisation and collaboration. This philosophy was at the heart of modernist movement. The art was seen as a collective approach with a language that went beyond cultural and political divisions. The artist of the movement took a “backseat” to a conscious and the calculated working process. Somewhat conveying art as a raw emotion. This theory was aimed at scaling down the formal components of art only to primary colors and straight lines. (1) Van Doesburg sought to broaden the movement's research projects into architecture, reconceiving the entire living environment. A De Stijl picture represented a fragment of a larger project concerning space: the house as an interior space, and the city as an assembly of houses. The austere forms of De Stijl were well suited to the geometric structures favored by the International Modernist movement, while the primary colors favored by the painters could be used as decorative elements to articulate an otherwise plain facade.
ReplyDeleteDe Stijl process of deconstructing and translating a design through colors and lines is some thing one would see a lot of in visual communication today and I believe their philosophy is spammed out through different parts of the art field
1.http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/C20th/destijl.htm
http://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/decart/destijl/decstijl.htm
Architecture gets overlooked as an art form by so many people. It was interesting to learn that there is a whole style pretty much based on an architectural style. Being very structured and thought out allowed for well functioning compositions that were enhanced by the use of color. Like Katie said it really makes sense that the founder of this style was an architect.
DeleteIt often takes a different mind set to think of architecture as an art form. It is interesting to see the house as a statement and a city full of houses as art as well. The geometric structures of cities is very artistic if thought about as well as practical. To use the de stijl mindset in architecture only makes sense because of their simple way of thinking.
DeleteDe Stijl artists envisioned its art as the ultimate style with visual language fitting to the modern era. The movement embraced characteristic of abstract, pared-down aesthetic art, centered in basic visual elements such as geometric forms and primary colors (1). The movement had many philosophies, one was the belief that beauty came from total purity of work. They did this “by banning naturalistic representation, external values, and subjective expression,” in order to infuse universal harmony (2).
ReplyDeleteDe Stijl artist, Theo van Doesburg used many of the elements of De Stijil before it was formed in his art. Taking his use of simple black bars, geometric shapes and flat colors, he applied it to architecture, sculptures, and typography. For example, van Doesburg’s “Contra-Construction Project” displays simply geometric style, use of primary colors with a three dimensional effect (3). Another artist important to the movement was Piet Mondrian, who used the same elements of De Stijl and applied it to his art (4).
(1) http://www.theartstory.org/movement-de-stijl.htm
(2) Meggs’ History of Graphic Design
(3) http://designhistorytimeline.info/van-doesburgs-contra-construction-project/
(4) http://kyara-itsmylife.blogspot.com/
-Jasmine Berry
I think it is interesting that the artists of this movement believed beauty came from total purity of work, and that they must completely leave out all subjective and naturalistic references. This concept of flat geometric shapes equalling beauty is something strange to me and I feel like this acceptance of these rigid characteristics for beauty shows the movement difference to the other art movements of the time. Personally I don't see beauty in these strict rules, and I feel like they are too restraining to create something truly beautiful.
DeleteAccording to Megg’s, De Stijl artists “sought universal laws of balance and harmony for art, which could then be a prototype for a new social order.” Their work can be characterized by “pure, geometric abstraction.” The paintings of Piet Mondrian, the “wellspring from which De Stijl’s philosophy and visual forms developed,” after 1911 were composed of horizontal and vertical lines and strictly red, yellow, and blue (along with black and white). He felt that the ultimate goal of abstraction was the expression of pure reality.
ReplyDeleteThis philosophy, as opposed to the similar elements of Suprematism, was intended as a social commentary and to embody underlying mathematical harmony of the world. While its manifestations look different, De Stijl was inspired by Cubism and was considered by Mondrian to be a step forward on the path of abstraction that Cubism had paved.
De Stijl-inspired visual communications, such as “Batavier Line Poster” by Van der Leck (1), used characteristic pure-color shapes and simple black bars along with flat-color images. The horizontal and vertical structure was also applied to type design, often composed in tight rectangular blocks. Color was not used as an afterthought, but rather as a structural element.
The harmony that the horizontal/vertical system achieved is one still important in design today. The grid used to arrange columns and blocks of type with imagery is still a necessity in contemporary publications such as (2) as well as many other design applications. The gridded layout and flat-color illustrations in (3) also embody some De Stijl ideas.
(1) http://www.lordprice.co.uk/mm5/graphics/00000001/TRSP1016,-Batavier-Line-.jpg
(2) http://www.behance.net/gallery/THE-OUTPOST/4752933
(3) http://www.behance.net/gallery/Magazine-Infographics/5283489
The De Stijl movement, founded by Theo van Doesburg in the Netherlands, was based on the philosophy of seeking a new social order by acquiring balance and harmony in art. This movement was “characterized by the elementary components of the primary colours, flat, rectangular areas and only straight, horizontal and vertical line” (1) De Stijl could be found in architecture, sculpture, and graphic design and the movement advocated that art could permeate society through everyday objects by the “absorption of pure art by applied art.”(2) Designs of the De Stijl style did not contain any naturalistic or subjective representation rather it focused on elementary components and order. As a result the art created from this movement did not showcase artist’s personality rather it showcased the new aesthetic of reduction to the elementary components of art.
ReplyDeleteThe work of De Stijl artist, Piet Mondrian, clearly shows the principles of the movement. His painting, Composition in Red, Blue, and Yellow 1937-42, eliminates all representational elements and this piece is made up of only horizontal and vertical lines with the colors red, yellow and blue. (3) Mondrian was an important contributor to this movement and he believed that it was the artist goal to express a clear vision of reality, which could only happen with reduction.
Other De Stijl artist, Gerrit Rietveld, shows the application of De Stijl principles into a three dimensional piece and product. His work, Red Blue Chair, explores the interaction of vertical and horizontal planes, and uses only the primary colors and black, which are main characteristics of the De Stijl. Its obvious the Rietveld was going for simplicity and implementing De Stijl into everyday objects.
(1)http://www.moma.org/collection/theme.php?theme_id=10199
(2) Megg’s History of Graphic Design
(3)http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/d/images/destij_mond_comprby37_lg.jpg
(4)http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=4044
I agree and think that it is a good thing to point out that the Se Stijl movement was not just a painting or visual communications movement. Gerrit Rietveld is a good example of this with his Red Blue Chair. I think it is really nice to show that this movement has 3 dimensional forms or art that convey its philosophy. It is like seeing Piet Mondrian's paintings in 3D form, I think it's a really interesting comparison as well as similarity.
DeleteDe Stijl or, “The Style”, was led by Theo Van Doesburg came to be in response to WWI and in reaction against Art Deco style. It took elements of Cubism and Suprematism, De Stijl artists worked primarily in basic geometric forms and primary colors. Stating that “for the universal, as the individual was losing it’s significance.” It was an idea of utopian ideals of spiritual harmony, total abstraction and simplicity, and it’s”…goal being the development of a new aesthetic that would be practiced not only in the fine and applied arts, but would also reverberate in a host of other art forms as well, among them architecture, urban planning, industrial design, typography, music, and poetry.“ De Stijl artists believed they were making groundwork for a future utopia.
ReplyDeleteThere was difficulty translating fine art De Stijl work into illustration or graphic design. How do you take such a simple, abstract and sterile design and sell a product or advertise something? Fine art work is free and open, but illustration, you need to sell something. Artists had to incorporate a message, through image or words, into their design. Piet Mondrian’s, work was an example of De Stijl fine art, in “Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow”, which is composed of straight bold black lines which intersect into squares and rectangles, in there are three swatches of primary colors. There was an attempt by Van Doesburg and Moholy-Nagy, which I feel is very similar to the painting by Piet Mondrian. on a book cover for the Bauhaus, to incorporate De Stijl, with text.
Sources:
http://www.theartstory.org/movement-de-stijl.htm
http://havingalookathistoryofgraphicdesign.blogspot.com/2012/11/de-stijl.html
http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/piet-mondrian/composition-with-red-blue-and-yellow-1930
That’s a good question, but it seems Mondrian was able to do it successfully. As a kid who grew up regularly watching the show Arthur in the mornings before school, I remember seeing an episode about Mondrian’s “Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow” art. Now I’m learning about it years later in graphic design.
Delete-Jasmine Berry
The style De Stijl mainly revolves around the primary colors red, yellow, and blue. Another name for the style is neoplasticism and it was a Dutch artistic movement founded in 1917. The underlying De Stijl philosophy was to “express the mathematical structure of the universe and universal harmony of nature. I think that, with this philosophy in mind, their artistic approach was to allow people to visually see the way the artist thinks. Its almost as if they're telling the audience that their minds work in a very structured, refined, systematic way. Through applying this logic De stijl artists incorporate a lot symmetry in their designs while creating a sense of color balance and arrangement. I think by using colors that are so basic and so built into our senses it causes the viewer to immediately find these works of De stijl art, in some way shape or form, relatable. Even if the viewer has no particular sense of artistic appreciation towards the piece and says to themselves " this is too simple, i can make this" they still found a way to connect to it. By that time the viewer would have already seen the piece, analyzed the picture and familiarized themselves with its simplistic color scheme yet intricate structure. It's as if there is something innate in our subconscious minds that automatically relate these colors to our childhood. Because as children we play with the most basic of color palettes. So maybe that's why so many people look at art like this and say themselves " a kid could make this".
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Stijl#Principles_and_influences
Meggs’ History of Graphic Design
Lajos Ebneth -http://www.artfact.com/artist/ebneth-lajos-kuqb9vg4hu
I think that there is a little more to each De Stijl piece other then "a kid could make this." But I also think that most people unfamiliar with the story behind the paintings do say that. It is interesting to focus on the color however. It makes sense that we would be so familiar with the primary colors that we hold them in our subconscious and then when we see these paintings they therefore become relatable to us because of our familiarity with the colors. I think there is something to that.
DeleteIn the de Stijl movement, artists worked in an abstract geometric style and sought universal laws of balance and harmony for art, which could then be a prototype for a new social order. The painter Piet Mondrian was influenced by philosopher M.H.J. Schoenmakers. By 1911, Mondrian had moved from traditional landscape painting to a symbolic style influenced by Van Gogh that expressed the forces of nature. It was then that he first saw cubist paintings. Over the next few years, he purged his art of all representative elements and moved cubism toward a pure, geometric abstraction. Schoenmakers defined the horizontal and the vertical as the two fundamental opposites shaping our world, and called red, yellow, and blue the three principal colors. Mondrian began to paint purely abstract paintings combined of horizontal and vertical lines. He believed the cubists had not accepted the logical consequences of their discoveries; this was the evolution of abstraction toward its ultimate goal, the expression of pure reality. Mondrian believed in true reality in visual art. In his painting, Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue, it perfectly describes asymmetrical balance, with tension between elements, all while achieving absolute harmony and sticking to the principles at hand. (1)
ReplyDelete1. Megg's History of Graphic Design pages 313-314
Definitely a total representation of the Stijl movement in his paintings, it's amazing. Using the primary colors and still looking awesome.
DeleteI think it's great that Mondrian believe in true reality in visual art, his composition like you said reflects harmony and a reality between the elements in his painting. You really can see how Mondrian was influenced by Schoenmaker and by Van Gogh in his paintings. They show a symbolic style, represents nature, and uses geometric elements to portray harmonious pieces.
DeleteThe underlying philosophies and characteristic elements of the de Stijl style were to find the mathematical structures of the universe. “In abstract geometric style, De Stijl artists sought universal laws of balance and harmony for art, which could then be a prototype for a new social order (1).” Piet Mondrian, the French painter, was one of the first De Stijl artists. He was influenced by Cubism and began to paint in “pure, geometric abstraction.” “With their prescribed visual vocabulary, De Stijl artists sought an expression of the mathematical structure of the universe and the universal harmony of nature (1).” They believed that beauty came from the purity of their work, and that the content was to be universal harmony (a balance between elements).
ReplyDeleteTheo van Doesburg applied these principals to visual communication and began to create a balance with typography and the visual image of the design. Van Doesburg, and other De Stijl designers, used mainly horizontal and vertical structuring in their layouts, including the typography. Color became an important part of the layout and design, not just a decoration and because the type was so rigid and non-curved or diagonal, it made legibility difficult. It became more about balance and a sense of symmetry then legibility of type and design. This is especially noticeable in Van Doesburg’s Architype type design in 1919. There are no curved or diagonal lines at all which makes many of the letters completely impossible to read. He used this typeface for the logo of the League of Revolutionary-Socialist Intellectuals and played with the kerning and letting so that the name created a rectangle.
Another designer that was influenced by the De Stijl movement is the Dutch architect Wijdeveld. (3) He started the monthly magazine Wendingen, devoted to architecture, which then became a magazine devoted to all areas of visual art. The design of the magazine is very rigid and geometrical, with balance and symmetry throughout. There are heavy, right-angled borders and type suddenly becomes the main illustrative part of the design. Wijdeveld designed only four of the covers of the magazine, he had other visual artists and architects design the covers. El Lissitzky was a famous constructivist who designed one of the covers in 1921 (no11)(4).
(1) Meggs page 313
(2) http://www.iconofgraphics.com/Theo-Van-Doesburg/
(3) Meggs page 317
(4) http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/160000173
It is interesting to talk about De Stijl in a conversation about our own work as contemporary designers. Many people have mentioned the grid being an important design element still seen and used today, but I never really considered the link between "balance and harmony" in De Stijl and sound graphic design compositions until now. You mentioned their "prescribed visual vocabulary" which, in a way, is similar to the rules of composition we are taught in class: the presence of color, visual tension, and even color created by type must all be considered for a pleasing composition.
DeleteDe Stijl is basically an idea of visual harmony and order all in one. It’s a balance between color and shapes. It’s a use of primary colors that’s along black and white. Some people call it a utopia but to me its just peaceful visual insight on something that was always there.
ReplyDeleteDe Stijl principles are in a way influenced by Cubist painting and have a geometric form to it. It inspires visual communication mainly because of its geometric form. It also places a roll on future design such as myself because I believe simplicity is usually the best way to go when getting a point across or an idea to the audience(s).
I don’t know but here are a few artist that we’re influenced by De Stijl:
“Frank Jacobs loves maps, but finds most atlases too predictable. He collects and comments on all kinds of intriguing maps—real, fictional, and what-if ones—and has been writing the Strange Maps blog since 2006, first on WordPress and now for Big Think.”
“De stijl van Santa by Kim Rempel / acrylic on canvas”
http://bigthink.com/strange-maps/347-leyden-in-the-style-of-de-stijl
http://eatdrinkpaint.blogspot.com/2011/12/st-nicholas-collection-no7.html
I do agree, I think that simplicity is better. Even though I do think that you have to have how to do it in order to bring emotion and have true meaning.
DeleteI think that De Stijl paintings are usually oversimplified, but they do seem very balanced and well thought out.
DeleteThe movement was founded in 1917 in Netherlands. The Dutch painter, designer, writer and critic Theo van Doesburg named it of a journal that was published. De Stijl emphasized the spiritual harmony, order, abstraction and universality. Anything emotional was taboo. Artists reduced visual vocabulary. De Stijl movement sought to express the mathematical structure of the universe and visual harmony. Searching for visual harmony becomes the subject. De Stijl was influenced by the Cubism by the mysticism and the ideas about “ideal” geometric forms, such as the perfect straight lines.
ReplyDeletePrinciples that had to be followed to create a “De Stijl” inspired work:
-Reduction to essential form and colors
- Simplifying visual compositions to the vertical and horizontal directions.
-And used only primary colors and black along with black and white.
Gerrit Rietveld’s famous red and blue chair of 1918 (http://www.entoen.nu/stijl/en)
Piet Mondarin: http://www.pasunautre.com/2010/12/22/de-stijl-here-neoplasticism-and-the-20th-century/
Vilmos Huszar: Composition with female figure http://www.moma.org/collection/provenance/items/1026.83.html
Sources:
http://www.pasunautre.com/2010/12/22/de-stijl-here-neoplasticism-and-the-20th-century/
Plus Class notes.
The De Stijl Movement originated as a response to World War I, in reaction against the Art Deco movement. Influenced by the works of Piet Mondrian and led by Theo van Doesburg, De Stijl adopting visual elements of several movements like Cubism, Suprematism, and Dada and focused on the expression of the mathematical structure, using geometric form and primary colors, in order to convey the universal harmony of nature. De Stijl had many philosophies, including the belief that true beauty came from the purity from the work. They did this “by banning naturalistic representation, external values, and subjective expression,” in order to infuse universal harmony.
ReplyDeleteThe De Stijl movement had a great impact on the artist who taught at the Bauhaus. The work of the Bauhaus is known for its use of the primary colors, geometric forms, and multi-use of object, in particular furniture. For instance, in the piece Red Blue Chair, "Rietveld manipulated rectilinear volumes and examined the interaction of vertical and horizontal planes..."
Meggs’ History of Graphic Design
http://www.theartstory.org/movement-de-stijl.htm
http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=4044
De Stijl was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917. The word de Stijl means "The style" in dutch. This art movement was some what based on cubism. Piet Mondrian was one of the first artists who used the de Stijl style. He would paint on a white background and paint a grid like pattern on it and filling in sections with only 3 primary colors. This was called Neo-plasticism. (http://www.pietmondrian.com/art.shtml) Gerrit Rietveld was an architect and furniture designer.
ReplyDeleteThe philosophy of De Stijl was a process of integration and collaboration. This philosophy was at the heart of Modernist movements however de Stijl came up with the concept of collaboration. Within de Stijl the most successful and well-known collaboration between the arts was the marriage of painting to architecture. De Stijl's ideology was mostly utopian ideal of spiritual harmony and order.
This principles are shown though out the art work of this style. Ridged lines are like floor plans to buildings or like windows of skyscrapers. Architecture can be seen my looking at de Stijl inspired work. THe merging is what makes de stijl impressive.
http://www.modernity.se/Designer/Gerrit-Rietveld/ID/121/Gerrit-Rietveld.aspx_
http://www.pietmondrian.com/art.shtml
http://chi.freeservers.com/deStijl.html
I completely agree that the collaboration aspect of De Stijl is the most interesting part of this movement, especially since they rigid rules didn't leave much room for experimentation. By bringing De Stijl characteristics to architecture and products, such as Rietveld's chair, these artists were bringing "pure art to applied art" showing the public art should be not limited to something that could be hung in a museum.
DeletePart of De Stijl’s philosophies can be traced back to M.H.J. Shoenmakers, who was a 20th century philosopher and mathematician. Sheonmakers saw the world in two fundamental opposites: vertical and horizontal. The three principle colors of the world, he thought, were red, yellow and blue. His fundamental view of the world shaped the way Mondrian thought and painted.
ReplyDeleteAs we can see in Mondrian’s famous de Stijl works, we can only see vertical and horizontal shapes, as well as red, yellow and blue colors only. Mondrian was a driving force behind De Stijl movement, next to its founder Theo van Doesburg. Mondrian was responsible for getting rid of all the elements of representational style in art, and replaced it with “geometrical abstract” (textbook). The underlying characteristic elements to de Stijl’s art is plainly seen in Mondrian’s paintings: total abstraction of geometric shapes; extreme simplicity in style, yet asymmetrically balanced; and reducing the colors to red, yellow and blue, Shoenmakers’s three principle colors.
De Stijl artists thought that these elements make up a purest and the most beautiful form of art. Anything that included “naturalistic representation, external values, and subjective expressions” would be contrary to de Stijl’s idea of art (textbook). Harmony, while still presenting tension between elements, was the goal of de Stijl. This can be seen in many of Mondrian’s painting. One example is provided in a following link:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9c/Mondrian_Comp10.jpg
Here is one example by an artist named Bart van der Leck:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SFwdWzOuPr0/STUEIbkRVHI/AAAAAAAAII0/2UI2JrtI79Q/s320/vdleck_lg.gif
You present a very interesting example from Bart van der Leck! The deer is depicted by using primary colored geometric planes and vertical and horizontal lines. It is definitely recognizable, but it makes me feel like it is missing the sense of it. It’s missing to express what a deer really is. Especially comparing to this painting: http://bjws.blogspot.com/2011/02/hungarian-artist-csontvary-kosztka.html from the Hungarian painter Csontváry.
DeleteDe Stijl artists sought universal laws of balance and harmony for art, which could then be a prototype for a new social order. These artists also sought an expression of the mathematical structure of the universe and the universal harmony of nature. They were deeply concerned with the spiritual and intellectual climate of their time and wishes to express the "general consciousness of their age." They believed the war was expunging an obsolete age, and that science, technology, and political developments would usher in a new era of objectivity and collectivism. They wanted universal laws that govern visible reality but are hidden by the outward appearance of things. De Stijl followers believed beauty arose from the absolute purity of the work. To purify art they banned naturalistic representation, external values, and subjective expression.(1)
ReplyDeletePainter Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) is one who applied De Stijl's philosophy and visual forms together. From 1911 Mondrian had moved from traditional landscape paintings to a sybolic style influenced by Van Gogh that expressed the forces of nature. After being influenced by philosopher, M.H.J. Schoenmaker, Mondrian began to paint purely abstract paintings composed of horizontal and vertical lines. In 1910, paintings and designs by Mondrian, Van der Leck, and Van Doesburg were quite alike. All three had reduced thei visual vocabulary to the use of primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) with neutrals (black, grey, and white), straight horizontal and vertical lines, and flat planes limited to rectangles and squares. (2)(3)
(1) Megg's History of Graphic Design page 313-314
(2) Megg's History of Graphic Design page 313
(3) http://www.theartstory.org/artist-mondrian-piet.htm#
To be honest, I don’t like paintings that are inspired by the De Stijl movement. I think they were so stick to their rules and so engaged to look for the universal harmony; they didn’t notice the beauty of the disharmony and chaos. I also feel like the artists were so limited by their strict rules, so their artworks look alike.
DeleteIn the 20th century abstracts ideas came to play bringing the whole idea of “the machine aesthetics” to a new level of Art and design. In the early 20’s variety of artist and architects came together after being directly influenced by the extravagant ideas of DaDa. De Stijl a new art movement meaning Dutch for The Style arouse among them in order to establish “utopian philosophical approaches”. Theo van Doesburg a Dutch artist and architect, was known as the founder of the organization.
ReplyDeleteThe hallmarks of de Stijl were based upon functionalism, one of the easiest ways to describe it by describing the organization of the planes, which “seem to slide across one another like sliding panels”. Also, “All surface decoration except color was to be eliminated, and only pure primary hues, plus black and white were to be allowed.” One of the most important terms about this organization was “their ideas, since they managed to build very few of their designs”(1)
In the following example (2) by ilmos Huszár & Gerrit Rietveld show us a great example of the art movement deStijl yet placed on the functional world. it's reductions, organization and limited palette allows the viewer to be subjective even if it's not the goal of the art movement.
(1)http://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/decart/destijl/decstijl.htm
(2)http://quincampoix.tumblr.com/post/11822143025/radiomeduse-vilmos-huszar-gerrit-rietveld
Ilmos Huszar and Gerrit Rietveld's piece is very interesting, not only because it was influenced by De Stijl, but because it incorporates organization of the planes, pure colors, and a universal harmony all around. It uses the basic principles of the De Stijl movement to make an interesting eye catching piece of art. It is very limited which gives us open space to really think about the design and try to relate with the artists.
DeleteDe Stijl artists were definitely limited by all the rules of the movement, but it's very interesting how linear composition comes to life in a 3-dimensional space, like in the example by Huszár and Rietveld. It seems much more organic, than it usually is in a 2D picture.
DeleteDe Stijl was a Dutch artistic movement that began in 1917. The architect Theo van Doesberg was the founder and much of the work from this movement was through architecture. Work from this period was known for consisting of the horizontal and vertical lines, the three primary colors and the three primary values. Artists wanted to create a universal style in painting, design and architecture by using squares and rectangles in flat planes of bold colors. (4) The philosophy of De Stijl overall was one based off of functionalism. They strived to, “create artworks as far as possible purified, to be able to serve as an art expression of the universal powers of life.” (3) Artist Piet Mondrian is a great example of every characteristic of De Stijl art in his painting, Composition with Yellow, Blue and Red, in that he uses strictly primary colors and clean straight lines. (5) Gerrit Reitveld is also a great example through works like his Red and Blue Chair. Though it isn’t a painting or two dimensional work, he still employs the hallmarks of De Stijl style through his geometric shapes, lines and flat planes of color. (6)
ReplyDelete(1)https://sites.google.com/site/destijlarchitecture/key-stylistic-features
Deletehttp://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/decart/destijl/decstijl.htm
http://www.quotes-famous-artists.org/the-style-neo-plasticism-in-art-quotes
http://www.artsmia.org/modernism/nintro.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet_Mondrian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rietveld_chair_1.JPG
The elements of the de Stijl movement were horizontal and vertical lines, in accordance with Schoenmakers’ philosophy that the lines are two of the elements that comprise our world. Other key elements of the de Stijl style were the primary uses of colors red, blue and yellow, influenced by Schoenmakers’ belief of those being the “principal colors.” Schoenmakers emphasized the importance of red not only for its ability to contrast with black, but its significance as the color of revolution. Piet Mondrian, the pupil of Schoenmakers’ philosophy, began to incorporate solely these lines and colors into his pieces. By adopting such a strict visual vocabulary, the artists of the de Stijl movement attempted to “purify art” (1) by creating a universal harmony, using the essential elements of life that unifies the world community.
ReplyDeleteThe four main elements of the de Stijl aesthetic were historicism, essentialism, integration and collaboration. Historicism places emphasis on the evolution of art, insisting that the past manifests itself in the present. The element of essentialism is responsible for the effective minimalism of de Stijl, as it “refers to the essence at the core rather than using unnecessary elements” (2). The principle of integration was for the sake of balance, to ensure the equality of all de Stijl elements. The collaboration element brought together the de Stijl world and the world of architecture, De Stijl leader, Rietveld Schröder, erected a house that integrated all four elements of the movement’s aesthetic while transferring it to the medium of architecture as opposed to one-dimensional art. (3)
(1) Meggs’ History of Graphic Design
(2) http://designseminar4.blogspot.com/p/philosophy.html
(3) http://maddme.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/mulder-rietveld-schroder-house-living-room.jpg
I like that you actually mentioned and broke down the primary elements that formed De Stijl. Historicism, essentialism, integration and collaboration are vital elements of de Stijl that people often forget to bring up. The movement goes a lot farther than the strict principles that it was founded upon; it involves the collaboration of communal aspects to form this movement.
ReplyDeleteDe Stijl was a Dutch artistic movement that was founded in 1917. Many of its founders and artists believed that there was another way to look at art and change our perspective on how it can be challenged and approached. By using pure abstraction, and overly simplified visuals artists were able to keep a harmonious look and order. The movement involved only the primary colors, black and white, and the use of mainly horizontal and vertical lines. Many of the movements founders and artists felt that there was a possibility for a utopian angle to aesthetics by incorporating specific colors, vectors, and four main concepts. These four main constants included historicism in which art of the past and present are evident in and become part of everyday life, essentialism, integration, and collaboration with other artists, styles and movements, mainly architecture. Each of these philosophies brought forth the integral aspects of the movement. Examples of work and artists during this movement are Piet Mondrian, Theo Van Doesburg, and Bart Van Der Leck just to name a few.
ReplyDelete1)http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-34Caglnsydg/TysSNPs7M4I/AAAAAAAABKE/-zxKKtDjREw/s1600/PietMondrianKomposition.jpg
2) http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/1/21/1264093654078/van-doesburg----006.jpg
3)http://skelemitz.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/bart-van-der-leck.png?w=720