De Stijl was an artistic movement
which was founded in 1917 by the painter Theo Van Doesburg. This movement was
also known as neoplasticism and adopted the elements of cubism and suprematism.
The De Stijl movement was restricted to the use of: right angles, straight
lines, primary colours and non colours. The style of De Stijl included the use
of rectangular blocks and creative asymmetrical layouts.
Composition
with Yellow, Blue, and Red,
1937–42, Piet Mondrian.
Gestalt was one of the artists
that was influenced by the De Stijl movement. Piet Mondrian was another famous
artist who was also inspired and influenced by the movement. His works included
a lot of horizontal lines and vertical line and were severely abstract. Then
there was the founder. Theo Van Doesburg was a Dutch painter and designer, he
was also the editor of De Stijl. Van Doesburg also experimented with visual
typography and also designed a geometrically constructed alphabet. Van Doesburg
practiced painting, writing, poetry and architecture. Van Doesburg recommended
an art of absolute purity. Van Doesburg wanted to make an impression on the
Bauhaus head, Walter Gropius. He managed and established contacts with Van Der
Rohe, Le Corbusier and Gropius.
De Stijl Font, Van Doesburg.
One designer who was inspired by
the works of Mondrian and Van Doesburg was Gerrit Rietveld. Rietveld was the
son of a cabinet maker and he influenced the development of the 20th
century design. Rietveld is famously known for his Red and Blue chair which was
produced in 1917 and also the Schroder house which was built and designed in
1925. The red and blue chair is mainly made up of horizontals and uprights and
is regarded as an icon to the De Stijl movement. The chairs harmonious shapes
and primary colours reflect the work of Piet Mondrian who was part of the De
Stijl group. However this chair was first produced with plain and undecorated
wood and was later painted in the early 1920’s. This chair was not the most
comfortable and this was the reason as to why the chair was never produced on a
large scale. Rietveld said that “it’s not really a chair: it’s a
manifesto.”
Red, Blue Chair, Gerrit Rietveld.
The Schroder House design is also
inspired from the works of Piet Mondrian. The house stands out due to the fact
that it is the only modern house in the neighbourhood. The house is made up of
horizontal and vertical lines and the red and blue colours are found inside and
outside the house. There are rooms inside the house that can be opened up at
anytime. This is because there are no walls in certain room, but just panels
that are moved on a rail and can turn 180 degrees. The house was used by Mrs.
Schroder who lived in the house for about 60 years. Rietveld gave much
attention to functionality. The house has two floors; it is painted in basic
colours which consist of: yellow, blue, red, black, white and some shades of
grey. The upper floor is one open space around the staircase and can be divided
into three bedrooms and a sitting room by sliding panels. The ground floor has
five rooms and is grouped around a small hall.
The Schroder House.
De Stijl style influenced and inspired todays designers.
References:
Abuzeedo. 2013. De
Stijl Influence. [ONLINE] Available at: http://abduzeedo.com/de-stijl-influence.
[Accessed 27 October 14].
entoen. 2007. De
Stijl 1917-1931. [ONLINE] Available at: http://entoen.nu/stijl. [Accessed 27
October 14].
Wiki. 2014. Founding
of De Stijl. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Stijl.
[Accessed 27 October 14].
Central museum. 2014. Rietveld
Schröder House. [ONLINE] Available at: http://centraalmuseum.nl/en/visit/locations/rietveld-schroder-house/.
[Accessed 27 October 14].
Pinterest. 2013. Pinit.
[ONLINE] Available at: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/261068109620828199/.
[Accessed 27 October 14].
Design is history. 2014. De
Stijl. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.designishistory.com/1920/de-stijl/.
[Accessed 27 October 14].
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