De Stijl With Examples From the Original Movement

¶ … World War One and World War Two, artists pondered their role in the world. "Largely in response to the horrors of World War I and the wish to remake society in its aftermath," artists, architects, and designers began to view art "as a means of social and spiritual redemption," ("De Stijl," n.d.). The result was a utopian and yet ironically pragmatic and functionalistic movement known by its Dutch name De Stijl, or The Style.

De Stijl was also the name of the printed journal chronicling the ideas and aesthetics of the movement. Architect Theo van Doesburg is credited with founding De Stijl, but Gerrit Rietveld and Piet Mondrian were also key figures in the movement. De Stijl is characterized by the "machine aesthetics of the new industrial age," abstraction, simplicity, and the absence of surface decorations ("Art, Design, and Visual Thinking: De Stijl," n.d.).

Taking its cue from cubism and abstract visual arts, De Stijl artists and designers sought to reduce recognizable forms to create a sort of "universal language" of art and design ("De Stijl," n.d.). Art and design were practically fused in De Stijl, which is why architecture and furniture as well as painting and sculpture, and even literature and music, were all extensions of the central notion of utopic communication via visual forms. In De Stijl work, the only colors used are black, white, and the primary colors.

"The initial source of their ideas came from DaDa notions about dispensing with the pretentious elitist design aesthetics of the pre-war era," ("Art, Design, and Visual Thinking: De Stijl," n.d.). The philosophy of De Stijl is not only utopian but also universalist, as De Stijl was in part a reaction against the perceived excesses of contemporary movements like Art Deco. Elements of De Stijl are still evident in architecture and design around the world.

The most notable examples of the original De Stijl movement include the works of Piet Mondrian, whose dramatic linear compositions exemplified the core aesthetic ideals of De Stijl: only primary colors, black and white, simple forms and lines, and an industrial, universal feel. Another example of the De Stijl aesthetic from the original movement is the "Red Blue Chair" by Gerrit Rietveld. This chair resembles a Mondrian painting in its linear aspects and its use of color, and as a piece of furniture, blends form and function in modern ways.

In contemporary art and design, one can see the influence of De Stijl in the Mondrian buildings in New York, Florida, and Texas. These buildings are actually and deliberately named after the De Stijl artist for that very reason. Another modern example of De Stijl influence can be seen in a pair of Nike trainers designed with Mondrian's signature primary colors and linear segmentation. The Loreal line of products likewise draws from Mondrian and De Stijl.

The differences between these examples is only that the modern examples are divorced from the utopian ideals that underwrote the initial movement; products like Nike, Loreal, and the Mondrian buildings are for commercial and capitalistic purposes only. The original pieces by De Stijl artists and designers were making more of a political and social statement. Different styles and layouts communicate with the intended audience by fusing form and function in meaningful ways. There are both positive and negative elements of De Stijl.

Negative elements include the lack of flexibility in De Stijl approaches due to the eschewing of frivolous decorative.