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DE STIJL WAS A DUTCH ARTISTIC MOVEMENT. FOUNDED IN 1917, DE STIJL

REFERS TO A BODY OF WORK CREATED BY A GROUP OF DUTCH ARTISTS, FROM 1917

TO 1931, AND A JOURNAL PUBLISHED BY THE PAINTER AND CRITIC THEO VAN DOESBURG, PROMOTING THE GROUP’S

THEORIES. NEXT TO VAN DOESBURG, DE STIJL’S PRINCIPAL MEMBERS WERE THE

PAINTERS PIET MONDRIAN AND BART VAN DER LECK, AND THE ARCHI-

TECTS GERRIT RIETVELD AND J.J.P. OUD.

MEMBERS OF DE STIJL SOUGHT TO EXPRESS A NEW UTOPIAN IDEAL OF SPIRITUAL HARMONY AND ORDER. THROUGH A REDUCTION TO THE

ESSENTIALS OF FORM AND COLOR, THEY PROMOTED PURE ABSTRACTION AND

UNIVERSALITY. VISUAL COMPOSITIONS WERE SIMPLIFIED TO THE VERTICAL AND

HORIZONTAL DIRECTIONS, AND ONLY PRIMARY COLORS, BLACK AND WHITE

WERE UTILIZED IN WORKS.

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IJL THEO VAN DOESBURG (1883 – 1931)

PAINTER, DESIGNER AND WRITER, PUBLISHED “DE STIJL “ 1917 – 1931

CORNELIS VAN EESTEREN (1897 – 1981) ARCHITECT

ROBERT VAN’T HOFF (1887 – 1979) ARCHITECT

ANTHONY KOK (1882 – 1969) POET

BART VAN DER LECK (1876 – 1958) PAINTER

PIET MONDRIAN (1872 – 1944) PAINTER

MARLOW MOSS (1890 – 1958) PAINTER AND SCULPTOR

J. J. P. OUD (1890 – 1963) ARCHITECT

AMÉDÉE OZENFANT (1886 – 1966) PAINTER

GERRIT RIETVELD (1888 – 1964) ARCHITECT AND DESIGNER

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GTHEO VAN DOESBURG WAS BORN AS CHRISTIAAN EMIL MARIE KÜPPER ON AUGUST 30 1883 IN UTRECHT. HE WAS THE SON OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER WILHELM KÜPPER AND HENRIETTA CATHERINA MARGADANT.

IN HIS EARLY TWENTIES, KÜPPER STARTED USING THE NAME OF HIS STEPFATHER THEODORUS DOESBURG TO SIGN HIS EARLY PAINTINGS.

IN 1915 VAN DOESBURG BECAME FAMILIAR WITH THE WORKS OF PIET MONDRIAN. MONDRIAN WAS EIGHT YEARS OLDER THAN VAN DOESBURG, AND HAD ALREADY GAINED ATTENTION WITH HIS PAINTINGS. IN MONDRIAN’S PAINTINGS, VAN DOESBURG SAW AN IDEAL PORTRAYAL: A COMPLETE ABSTRACTION OF REALITY. VAN DOESBURG REACHED OUT TO MONDRIAN, AND TOGETHER WITH RELATED ARTISTS BART VAN DER LECK, ANTHONY KOK, VILM-OS HUSZAR AND J.J.P. OUD, THEY FOUNDED THE MAGAZINE “DE STIJL” IN 1917.

APART FROM PAINTING AND PROMOTING DE STIJL, VAN DOESBURG DESIGNED HOUSES FOR ARTISTS. HE ALSO PUBLISHED THE MAGAZINE ‘DADA HOLLAND’ UNDER THE FALSE NAME OF I. K. BONSET, AND DADA POETRY UNDER THE SAME NAME IN DE STIJL.

AS A PROSE WRITER, VAN DOESBURG USED THE PSEUDONYM ALDO CAMINI. THESE WORKS OF LITERATURE HEAVILY OPPOSED INDIVIDUALISM. HE SOUGHT FOR A COLLECTIVE EXPERIENCE OF REALITY; HE WANTED TO STRIP WORDS OF THEIR FORMER MEANING, AND GIVE THEM A NEW MEANING AND POWER OF EX-PRESSION, THUS EVOKING A NEW REALITY, INSTEAD OF DESCRIBING IT.

IN HIS FINAL YEARS, VAN DOESBURG STAYED ACTIVE IN ART GROUPS SUCH AS CERCLE ET CARRÉ AND ART CONCRET, AND IN 1931 HE FOUNDED ABSTRAC-TION- CRÉATION.

VAN DOESBURG WAS FORCED TO MOVE TO DAVOS IN SWITZERLAND BECAUSE OF HIS DECLINING HEALTH IN FEBRUARY 1931. ON MARCH 7, 1931 HE DIED OF A HEART ATTACK.

AFTER VAN DOESBURG’S DEATH, THE LAST ISSUE OF DE STIJL WAS RELEASED AS A MEMORIAL ISSUE, WITH CONTRIBUTIONS BY OLD AND NEW MEMBERS FROM DE STIJL.

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COMPOSITION X, OPUS 18 (THE CARDPLAYERS). 1917.

COMPOSITION X. 1918.

COMPOSITION XI. 1918.

COMPOSITION IN GRAY (RAG-TIME). 1919.

COUNTER-COMPOSITION IV. 1924.

ARITHMETIC COMPOSITION. 1929-1930.

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COMPOSITION X, OPUS 18 (THE CARDPLAYERS). 1917.

COMPOSITION XI. 1918.COMPOSITION X. 1918.

COMPOSITION IN GRAY (RAG-TIME). 1919.

COUNTER-COMPOSITION IV. 1924.

ARITHMETIC COMPOSITION. 1929-1930.

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