Meaning and Value : De Stijl

Founded in 1917 De stijl was a magazine which was published monthly and also served as a group for artists with a common vision, it was founded in Leiden by Theo Van Doesburg. The group became more of a movement as opposed to just a collective of artists, They had a utopian vision which was an answer to the horrors of post WW1 a sort of safe haven for a new people which would be born out of the difficult times. They wanted to create a new art fit for a new kind of people who wanted to forget the past and start afresh, a kind of art based on one universal and modern style which could be applied to all areas of art and design.

RED AND BLUE CHAIR - GERRIT RIETVELD (1888-1964) IN (1917)

Many of the groups visual aspects were derived from Piet Mondrian’s geometric paintings, made up from a series of squares and rectangles and filled with only bold primary colours. Neoplasticism was the theory and practice of De Stijl which was developed by mondrian himself and was expressed through a range of sectors which included; architecture, furniture, textiles, graphics and other media. Frank lloyd wright and H.P. Berlage were also highly influential to the development of De stijl. Van Doesburg was for a short period a lecturer at the Bauhaus in Weimar where he developed contacts with El lissitsky, a prominent constructivist. The 1923 exhibition at Galerie l’Effort lead the the movement’s international phase and also created big changed within the movement itself and led to the removal of Mondrian

PIET MONDRIAN (1872 1944) - SIGNATURE STYLE

founding members of de stijl were looking to create a harmonious and ordered ideal. They worked hard for things to be stripped down to their minimum and wanted pure abstraction of form and also colour; this meant simplifying directions to only vertical and horizontal lines and using only primary colours with black and white.

below i’ll be giving some example of how De Stijl has influenced contemporary design. Some argue it has also developed into a more contemporary term which is referred to as ‘’colour blocking’’. While many artists or designers used De Stijl as a direct influence by literally printing the pattern onto clothing or accessories others have taken the use of block colours surrounded by an outline and developed it. Some have used irregular shapes as opposed to just horizontal and vertical lines seen in De Stijl and the colours also moved on from just primary to a range of rich hues ranging to pastel shades.