Art Movements in Art History - De Stijl

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De Stijl

Introduction to De Stijl
De Stijl is the name of both a group of artists and a magazine. The group was active during
the years 1917 to 1928 in Holland. In intention and practice De Stijl is concerned with
abstraction. Of the three movements that were influenced by Cubism's potential for
abstraction, De Stijl is, in the opinion of Chipp, "the purest and most idealistic" ...read more

Van Doesburg and De Stijl
Van Doesburg was born Christiaan Emil Marie Kupper in Utrecht in 1883 but chose to adopt
the name of his mother's second husband. He began painting as early as 1899, but his
significant productive period is generally taken as being between 1916 and 1931. However,
in view of the "managerial" position Van Doesburg was to assume in relation to De Stijl, his
intellectual outlook from 1912 is relevant ...read more

Mondrian and De Stijl
Significantly, Mondrian moved to Paris in December 1911 and remained there until
December 1913 (first Paris phase). He then returned to Holland, anticipating a brief sojourn
with his ailing father, but was prevented from returning to Paris by the outbreak of the First
World War. Throughout the war years, he was exposed to Van Doesburg's thinking ...read more

Theosophy and De Stijl
Mondrian referred to theosophy as "another expression of the same spiritual movement
which we represent at present in painting". The confidence expressed by
Mondrian in the equivalence between theosophy and abstraction warrants attention.
Common to both doctrines was the belief in a principle of immaterialism (spirit over matter),
a principle which had already been urged by Kandinsky ...read more