destijl artist book

7/28/2019 Destijl Artist Book

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www.artmotionmagazine.com


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01ISSUE 01

1917

19

31


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05 07

11

13CONTEN

TS

03ISSUE 01

WHEN DID IT ALL BEGIN?

WHO WERE THE PIONEERS?


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15

27 27

29 31

THEDESTIJ

LTYPEFACE

04ISSUE 01

WHENDIDTHE

MOVEMENTSTART?

CHARACTERISTIC

S

OF

NEO-PLASTICIS

M

ARCHITECTURE INSPIRED BY DESTIJL

WHO ELSE WAS INSPIRED BY DESTIJL?

HOW HAS DESTIJL CHANGED?


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05ISSUE 01

Twentieth century art is seen bymany as a series of movements

evolving from either an oppositionto or an extension of concepts ofprevious movements. While some

movements quickly pass the newnessstage in their lifespans, theirphilosophies continue to live on,even though greater attention maybe given to even newer movements.In the case of De Stijl and Neo-Plasticism, the theoretical end

of this life span came with thedeaths of two of its founders, PietMondrian and Theo Van Doesburg.Here we explore the fascinatingart movement and its influences on

contemporary culture.


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WHENDIDTHE

MOVEMENTS

TART?


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1872-1944

Dutch pioneer of abstractart, who developed from early

landscape pictures to geometricabstract works of a most rigorouskind. Born in Amersfoort, Utrecht.

Studied painting at the AmsterdamAcademy 1892-4 and again, part-time, 1896-7. Friendship withthe painter Simon Mans andpainted landscapes in theHague School tradition.

He joined the TheosophicOrganisation in 1909 andmade some works of a Symbolistcharacter. First one-man exhibitionwith C.R.H. Spoor and Jan Sluyters

at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam,1909. Lived in Paris 1912-

14; was influenced by Cubism,which he carried to the point ofabstraction. Returned to Hollandin 1914 and step by step evolveda more simplified abstract stylewhich he called Neo-Plasticism,restricted to the three primarycolours and to a grid of black

vertical and horizontal lines ona white ground; associated withvan Doesburg in the de Stijlmovement 1917-25. Lived 1919-38 in

Paris where he joined the groupAbstraction-Cration in 1931.

Moved to London 1938-40, livingnear Gabo and Ben Nicholson,then in 1940 to New York wherehe started to develop a morecolourful style, with colouredlines and syncopated rhythms.Died in New York.

p i etmondr i an

WHO WERE THE PIONEERS?


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12ISSUE 01

Theo vanDoesburgDutch painter, architect,designer and writer. Little

is known of his early life,but he began painting naturalisticsubjects With the mobilisation

of the Dutch forces followingthe outbreak of World War I, vanDoesburg was sent to Tilburgnear the Belgian front. Almostimmediately he began to contemplateand organize a new periodical,De stijl: Maandblad voor nieuwe

kunst, wetenschap en kultuur,not to be fully realised foranother two years.

In 1916 van Doesburg

participated in the foundationof the artists' associations De

Anderen and De Sphinx. He metother like-minded artists, andeven such architects as J. J.P. Oud. In August 1916 Oudcommissioned him to designa stained-glass window. Thiscommission was followed bynumerous others in stained glass.

He produced series of drawingsfrom a single subject where theheavy, emphatic outline wasprogressively essentialised'

to a minimum of horizontal andvertical lines bounding colouredplanes. This technique of painterly

composition lent itself admirablyto the creation of stained-glass windows.

From 1925 van Doesburg intended tobuild a studio-house. It markedhis transition from painter to

architect. Unfortunately, beforethe house was finished, he died ofa heart attack following a bout ofasthma. Shortly before his death hepublished his

first and only issue of Art concretand was involved in planning a new

group of artists, the emergentAbstractionCration.

18831931


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AB CI JK L

R S TU

Za a a

3 4 56

b

13ISSUE 01

Theo van Doesburgand Richard KeglersDe Stijl typeface, is

rooted in the geometricconcept of the square.

THE

DESTIJL

TYPEFACE


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EFG HN O P O

W X Y

i 0 1 2

89 s

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CHARACTERISTICS

OF

NEO-PLASTICISM


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The rules of this artform

were designed to produce pure,uncompromising, heavily structuredabstraction, in accordance withMondrian's view that verticaland horizontal patterns wereinherently harmonious.


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Onl

y

geom

etri

c

sh

apesm

ay

be

used;i

gn

or

en

atur

alf

orm

an

d

col

our

.


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Main compositional elements to be

straight lines or rectangular areas.


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3

Surfacesshouldberectangularpla

nesorprisms.


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No curves, no diagonals, no circles.


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Primary colours only (red, blue, yellow),

plus black, grey and white.


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6

Nosymmetr

y:instead

,strive

for

stron

gasymmetricality.


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Balance is attained by relationships

between geometrical motifs.

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In addition, bold colours should

balance bold direct lines.


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Caf De Unie, JJP Oud

Home

Des

ign

by

Hug

hes

Um

ban

howa

r

Arc

hitects

27ISSUE 01

ARCHITECTURE INSPIRED BY DESTIJL

The Rietveld Schrder House


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The

Bau

haus

Grop

ius

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Carmel by PitsouKedem Architects


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29ISSUE 01

WHO ELSE WAS INSPIRED BY DESTIJL?

BurgoyneDi llerDe Stijl and Neo-Plasticism werelate arrivals to the American art

scene in terms of its developmentas an art movement. Only througha few select gallery and museum

exhibitions were American artistsintroduced to the works of Europeanartists including that of PietMondrian and Theo Van Doesburg.The few drawn to the new plasticway of seeing had alreadyestablished roots in Impressionist

and Post-Impressionist painting.

Burgoyne Diller was the firstnoteworthy American painterto embrace the tenets of Neo-

Plasticism. Diller was alreadyon his way to making an important

contribution to the developmentof non-objective art in the UnitedStates and his works were thefooters in the foundation thatlead to the development of theMinimalism movement of the mid20th century.

Born in New York in 1906, yetraised in Michigan, he began

painting and drawing as ateenager. Periodic trips to the

Art Institute of Chicago provedmonumental in his development he found himself drawn to the

Impressionist paintings and theiruse of color and composition tocreate volume on a two dimensionalsurface. Moving to New York Cityin 1929 and enrolling in the ArtsStudents League exposed him toprogressive working artists work

and the growing popularity ofCubism, German Expressionism andother Avant-garde styles.

As is true with many artists,

Dillers work did not receivegreat recognition until after

his death in 1965. His work isnow considered a fundamentaladdition to the development ofAbstract art and has been thesubject of a number of importantmuseum exhibitions throughoutEurope and the United States.For the contemporary collector;

Diller works are hard to getones hands on with works on

paper (usuallyink and/or

gouache) rangingfrom $5000-$40000. Original

paintings and wallconstructions at$40000and up.

Diller createdno limited editionprints, limiting

the entry levelpurchase to a workon paper usuallyonly available atauction Houses

and fineart galleries.


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I lyaBolotowsky

30VvISSUE 01

Ilya Bolotowsky constantlysearched for order through his

visual expressions. However, unlikethe earlier adapters of the tenetsof Neo-plasticism Bolotowskys

visual language was fueled by thenow popular Suprematist, Cubist,Constructivist, and AbstractExpressionist art movements.Born in St. Petersburg, Russia,he immigrated to America in 1932and attended the National Academy

of Design. He quickly associatedhimself with The Ten WhitneyDissenters, a group of artistswho, unhappy with academy andmuseum structures soon began to

mount their own exhibitions.It was here that he credits his

magnetic draw to Mondrians work.

Bolotowsky was also a foundingmember of American Abstract Artistwhere he met other artists such asBurgoyne Diller. It was Diller whogave him the commission for themural for the Williamsburg Housing

Project which was one of the firstpurely abstract murals createdunder the Federal Art Project.Bolotowskys career was temporarily

put into suspension while he servedhis country, stationed in Alaska.

From 1946-48 he was a teacher atBlack Mountain College where hewas not only influenced by hisfellow teachers, but also by hisstudents.One may suspect by lookingclosely at Bolotowskys late workthat clear, precise control of his

images was of utmost importance.He did however emphasized therole of intuition over formula indetermining his compositions andin many of his interviews states

that the pieces are just as muchan abstract composition as they

are what the viewer saw in them.After all, one mans Neo-plastic

composition in yellow and bluewas another mans reduced aerial

depiction of a farmers pasturedissected by roads and propertylines! Ilya Bolotowskys works are

in multiple important public andprivate collections worldwide.Thankfully, since he was steadilyproducing work through the mid20th century, he created manyvaried serigraphs and prints whichare relatively easy to find from

galleries, resellers, auctionhouses and online.


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31ISSUE 01

Pi erreClerkPierre Clerk was born in Atlanta,Georgia in 1928. He studied fine

arts at McGill University, LoyolaCollege and at the MontrealMuseum of Fine Arts in Montreal,

Canada. He traveled to Europe toseek further instruction at theAcademy Julien in Paris, Franceand the Accademia di Belle Arti inFlorence Italy.

Pierre Clerk first gained

recognition in the UnitedStates and Canada with hislarge sculpture and paintinginstallations the mostrecognizable of these is still

installed outside the Toledo ArtMuseum in Toledo, Ohio. Clerk

was often quoted as having beenstrongly influenced by De Stijl.Well into the 21st century (inhis 80s) he continues to producean astounding array of large-scaleabstract geometric paintings fromhis studio in France. One can seean obvious tie to the fundamental

rules of Neo-plasticism and DeStijl in Clerks work howeverthey beg to call these rulesinto question.

Subsequently, he not only callsthem into question, but disregards

these rules just enough to definehis work as a unique addition.Absent from his work arecompositions adhering to strictprimary color usage. Althoughblack lines and shapes are oftenpresent in his work, rarely are

they horizontal or vertical.Big, bold and commanding hiswork is a perfect combination ofart movements such as De Stijland Minimalism as they presented

themselves and evolved in hislifetime. The Clerk image shown

is from his Africa Suite. As withBolotowsky, Clerk often produceswork that is not just pure

abstraction. Although abstractin nature the work often represents

a theme, a place, an idea that isonly known to Clerk and only slightlyalluded to in a brief title.

Lucky for collectors, Pierre Clerkis still producing work (and largepowerful work at that) to this day.For the beginning collector thereare an array of serigraphs ofexcellent quality available atauction houses, galleries and online.

Be sure to check out these recentpaintings, on exhibit through hisgallery representation at CortexAthletico in France.


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BryceHudsonBryce Hudson is among a small setof contemporary artists presently

working to decipher the boundariesof geometric abstraction as theyrelate to past art movements and

the present day. Hudson, whois biracial, began his careerwith the production of symbolicworks in which he would combinethis geometric abstraction withan underlining tie to race andclass stereotypes in American

society. His black and white colorfrequently represented Black andCaucasian races, yellow and orangerepresented Asian and Latin races.

Hudsons work has alwaysbeen weighted on its compositional

structure he also producesmultimedia prints and altereddigital representations from thegraphic advertisementsand images of the 20th century.In his paintings the reductionistinfluences of De Stijl and thelater Minimalism movement of the

mid 20th century cannotgo unnoticed.

Presently, Hudson has withdrawn

from his original approachto these either tongue-in-cheek representations or direct

reinterpretations from Americancensus surveys and allowed his workto follow a more abstract nature.

Are they purely abstractgeometric compositional worksor are they interiors reduced

to their most basic elements ofshape, light and color? Whicheverthe case they, too, are part ofthe new plastic reality that hiscontemporaries set out to explore

and define a century ago.


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De Stijl has morphed today into a

more modern and ambiguous term called

color-blocking. And while some

creatives like Yves saint Laurent took

direct inspiration from De Stijl, its

no longer only about straight vertical

and horizontal lines, it could be

about zig-zags, concentric circle,

indescribable shapes, and just plain

patches of color.and to boot, the

colors used in modern-day De Stijl ,so

to speak, are no longer primary, they

come in all crayola hues from rich gem

hues to pastels.

HOW HAS DESTIJL CHANGED?


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THE RED AND BLUE CHAIRdesigned by Gerrit Rietveld in 1917

ABSTARCT PAINTINGsignature style by Piet Mondrian


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GUCCI SPRING/SUMMER COLLECTION 2011Runway Presentation in Milan

MONDRIAN INSPIRED DRESS

(YSL 1960S ARCHIVE)The Metropolitan Museum of Art


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STILLETO HEELSby Nina Hjorth

LACQUERED SUSTAINABLE DANISH

PINE WOOD BASELINE PINE EDITION

Armoire by Soren Rose


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VERSACE SPRING/SUMMER 2011Runway Presentation in Milan

THE TRIP TRUMEAU CHEST OF DRAWSby Selab


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MEXICON PLATTER

by DFC Mexico City

AERIAL7 TANK MONDRIAN HEADPHONES,

created by Josh Madden


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MSHELVING DOUBLE BOOKSHELF

SUSHI IV CHAIR

by Fernando & Humberto Campana


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Thesimplicit

ythat

characterizes

DeStijl

thin

kingand

the

order

that

can

betracedin

Dutch

painting

asf

arbackas

the

seventeenthcen

turysuggest

conceptually

provocative

yet

surprisingly

practical

methods

fororganizing

space

and

for

achievingvisually

enga

ging

solutionsin

amultitude

ofindusties.


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