De Stijl

Andreas LeonidouSilvia Ortega

A 1921 painting by Piet Mondrian

D e S t i j lThe De Stijl (Dutch for “the style”), also known as neoplasticism, was one of several art and design movements that responded to the chaotic trauma of World War I with a “return to order.”

De Stijl stands out because its aspirations were as social as they were aesthetic.

The 2 Dutch: Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg.

It rejected pre-war decorative trends (like Art Nouveau) and pushed Cubism to new extremes: total abstraction consisting of only the most basic design components, vertical and horizontal lines, primary colors.

De Stijl is also the name of a journal that was published by Van Doesburg (left) , and served to propagate the group's theories.

The cover of the 8th De Stijl publication, 1922

D e S t I j l v s S u p r e m a t I s m

Simultaneous Counter, Theo Van Doesburg, 1929 Kazimir Severinovich Malevich, 1915

Short bursts of lines and colours had already been out there however when you compare the two.

The “De Stijl” way of presentation was calmer, more structured and disciplined.

De Stijl was profoundly influenced by Suprematism and its leader, Malevich, but we believe that it has grown superior to it.

Unlike the Suprematist movement, De Stijl had powerful components like architecture, sculpture and typography which allowed the style to become a lot more commercial.

T y p o g r a p h y

Theo Van Doesburg’s alphabet has become the most influential of all that were produced through the De Stijl.

A sans-serif modular alphabet, constructed entirely of evenly weighted strokes. Each character is based upon a square.

The finished typeface used in 1919

Similarities between:

Early 1900's design movement typography (up)

Squared structureX an Y axis principlebold, upright and proud

WWII propaganda typography that was shown in Russia (down)

different components that come together

to mobiliseto invoke confidence

Bauhaus

Many artists of both movements either studied or taught here.

Paul Klee’s sketches influenced many artists of both movements

Hilma af Klint

Her paintings were amongst the first abstract art.

Anthroposophy leader, Rudolf Steiner, made her believe that her paintings could be understood only by future minds.

Anthroposophy

Complete freedom based on individual judgments and decisions.

Malevich and Mondrian, both pushed towards pure abstraction.

Theosophy

Went against The Bible and the religious norms of the time.

They went against any other form of art and purified their abstraction composed with right-angled geometry.

D e S t I j l a n d S u p r e m a t I s m C o n n e c t I o n

D e S t I j l n o w a d a y s

If we search on the internet how de stijl movement stills nowadays, we get an amount of stuff painted in a neoplasticism way

But the influence that De Stijl has in our days goes much further than this. There are some examples of daily objects which have a relation to De Stijl principes.

PICTURE OF DE STIJL MAGAZINE

TOUCHED UP PICTURE:EXAMPLE 01.

TOUCHED UP PICTURE:EXAMPLE 02.

TOUCHED UP COVER

OF DE STIJL

COVER OF DE STIJL

D e S t I j l n o w a d a y s

RUBIK CUBEBQ CODEWINDOWS’ LOGO

The example of Windows’ logo still preserve the dichotomy between horizontal and vertical lines and diagonal composition, which was a

relevant discussing issue in De Stijl participants.

The fact of simplifying things to pure abstraction of little squares is such a powerfull idea that even the newest things of our days uses it as a main reference.

D e S t I j l n o w a d a y s

T e c h n o l o g I c a l s c r e e n s

The reduction to the essential form and colour culminates with a tiny square which forms every single picture: the pixel

In the first colour screens, pixel where as well in three basic tones. In this case, green substituted the yellow of De Sinjl

Paradogitally, screens have got the globalization that members of De Stijl claimed in their magazine.

Bart van der Leck posters

T y p o g r a p h I e s

The abstraction principles of the movement were also imposed on typography, generating a new geometrical experience of the letter.

“Elastic alphabet” of Theo Van Doesburg distorted the shapes of the letters in order to make them fill out the shape of a square of 5 x 5

Despite the lack of functionalism of their typographies, they have become one of the most notorious influences in the graphical design and typographies of nowadays.

T y p o g r a p h I e s

• http://www.gotquestions.org/theosophy.html• http://designseminar4.blogspot.com.es/p/influence-and-impact.html• https://prezi.com/4mswzmmy8nfx/cubism-futurism-supremativism-constructivism-de-stijl-1/• http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/art-history-

slideshows/modern_art_slideshows/suprematism_constructivism_de-stijl_slideshow.html• http://quizlet.com/21295555/suprematism-constructivism-and-de-stijl-810-flash-cards/• http://www.waldorfanswers.org/Anthroposophy.htm• http://99designs.com/designer-blog/2012/12/18/know-your-design-history-the-utopian-de-stijl-

movement/• Paul Klee’s Pedagogic Sketchbook• http://www.diseno.uma.es/i_diseno/i_diseno_9/moreno.htm• https://www.behance.net/gallery/5509877/Typography-De-Stijl-presentation• http://zaidadi.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/de-stijl-in-general/

S o u r c e s