CommDe - Final Response De Stijl

Please do some research on De Stijl online, or by looking up books, and discuss the way this movement is relevant to modernism and the idea of 'grid'. Not the GRID the notion of 'grid' in order to do this you should go back and read the Rosalind Krauss essay I e-mailed a download link to for all the grid groups and site her in your reply.

Additionally, you might mention the way this movement bleeds into industrial design and architecture unlike most of our prior movements.

De Stijl is also known as Neoplasticism, proposed simplicity and abstraction by composing a work using only straight horizontal and vertical lines and rectangular shapes and is limited to use only the three primary colors (RED,BLUE,YELLOW) and the three primary values (BLACK,WHITE,GREY). It is grounded in the idea that the true purpose of art is not to reproduce real objects, but to express the absolutes of life.

Neoplasticism was influenced by a variety of other elements, therefore is it a mixture of Picasso and Braque's Cubism, Tatlin's Constructivism, and Malevich's Suprematism. Neoplasticism can also be described as Dutch’s modernism. It has, I would say, taken the next step from Cubism, Constructivism and Suprematism by simplifying shapes and colors and developing new rules. “The New Art” used the same basic principles as minimalist of shape and colors.

Neoplasticism with it’s used of rectangular shapes and straight lines have created the idea of “grid” which is very relevant to us now. Pixels on TV or computer screens are made out of millions of “grid”. The platform of a city is based on the idea of “grid”, but that is not the main objective of De Stijl, ". . . the bottom line of the grid is a naked and determined materialism. But that is not the way that artists have ever discussed it. Mondrian and Malevich are not discussing canvas or pigment or graphite or any other form of matter. They are talking about Being or Mind or Spirit." (Rosalind Krauss, 1979)

Even though Minimalistic shapes and principles may appear to be created long before modern art, but the Minimalist movement had started in the 50s, after De Stijl. De Stijl for me is pressing the start button to the engines of minimalism and other movements such as the Bauhaus Movement.

Not only Neoplasticism was influenced by other elements, but vice versa. It has influenced industrial design and architecture tremendously. De Stijl movement greatly influenced the Bauhaus Movement which has influence in design of architecture, furniture, typography and weaving has lasted to this day. Bauhaus buildings have flat roofs, smooth facades and cubic shapes. Colors are white, gray, beige or black. Floor plans are open and furniture is functional. No other prior movement has this much influence on industrial design and architecture. It allows mass production and opens a new door to industrial designers and architects that have to not only keep in mind the concept of simple shapes and colors, “less is more”, but to also make everything functional and not just “decoration”.

Reference
Rosalind Krauss: "Grids" 1979. [Reprinted in: The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1985, pp. 9-22]

Johnson, Michael. “A Brief Guide to De Stijl: Modernist Design from the Netherlands”. A Brief Guide to De Stijl: Modernist Design from the Netherlands. Dec 9, 2010. http://factoidz.com/a-brief-guide-to-de-stijl-modernist-design-from-the-netherlands/ . 30 November, 2011.

Jirousek, Charlotte . “De Stijl”. De Stijl. Cornell.1995. http://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/decart/destijl/decstijl.htm . 30 November, 2011

De Stijl is the group of art or the style of movement art in neoplasticism started in England created by Theo van Doesburg (Dutch painter, designer and writer) in the year 1917 the best known artist name Piet Mondrian. This kind of art is the art that reducing the forms and colors to be only geometric forms play with the positive and the negative elements and using only pure red, blue, yellow and also black, grey and white for the decorations part. Focusing on the straight lines like in Piet Mondrian’s artwork which created the line separate the space to remove the balance but the overall of its make it as a symmetrical balance and that’s make it to be grid forms. This kind of art influences the architecture by using it to develop the idea of creating the living space. In the past De Stijl influenced to Bauhaus which you might know the word “Less is more” and "Doing more with less".
I like how Titirat response that “De Stijl for me is pressing the start button to the engines of minimalism and other movements such as the Bauhaus Movement.” It is true that De Stijl is like the starting point for following style of art just like minimalism.
“The term minimalism is also used to describe a trend in design and architecture where in the subject is reduced to its necessary elements. Minimalist design has been highly influenced by Japanese traditional design and architecture. In addition, the work of De Stijl artists is a major source of reference for this kind of work. De Stijl expanded the ideas that could be expressed by using basic elements such as lines and planes organized in very particular manners.”
Bauhaus is the group of artist created by Walter Gropius in the year 1919 which also influenced by De Stijl they developed their thinking and use it in the term of architect, designer and painter and develop it to become the new style of art called Modernism (Functionalist approach to design) and in the period of Machine Age.

Theo van Doesburg founded de Stijl. The importance of this movement to the grid is that it explored form as determined by function, and placed this in a political context. Arguing that simplicity of form was accessible and democratic, its members advocated minimalism, using only rectilinear forms, and eradicating surface decoration other than as a byproduct of a limited color palette: the primaries plus black and white.
In my opinion,between de Stijl and minimalism is also using the simple elements to make the art work look great.I do agree with Chanapak that “The term minimalism is also used to describe a trend in design and architecture where in the subject is reduced to its necessary elements. Minimalist design has been highly influenced by Japanese traditional design and architecture. In addition, the work of De Stijl artists is a major source of reference for this kind of work. De Stijl expanded the ideas that could be expressed by using basic elements such as lines and planes organized in very particular manners.”.
I like her con text that say " In the past De Stijl influenced to Bauhaus which you might know the word “Less is more” and "Doing more with less".".

De Stijl, or Neo-Plasticism, is an art movement developed in 1917 by a group of Dutch artists. In that time, Cubism arose as the new influential movement and Piet Mondrian, one of the founders, felt that Cubism doesn't represent the pure abstraction and simplicity enough. So he and the team created De Stijl. Mondrian had said about the principles of De stijl that:
-Only use the primary colors: Yellow, red, Blue and the non-colors: White, Gray, Black
-Only use Rectangular planes or prisms
-Aesthetic balance must be achieved through the use of opposition
-Only use straight lines and rectangular areas
-Symmetry is to be avoided
-Balance and Rhythm are enhanced by relationships of proportion and location.

The movement philosophy can refer to the desire of standardization in the contemporary age of machine and industry in that time via its precise principles. Also, it can represent well the ideal society on harmony and order. And by focusing on using rectangular shapes and lines, it performs grid instantly. Also, to create such an aesthetic balance, the use of grid is involved. Moreover, the grid itself represents format, standard and simplicity, which are the purpose of the movement.

As Titirat and Chanapak have said, De Stijl has a great influence on many kind of arts and what made it important is its idea and concept. “Less is more” is a timeless rule. Fashion idea may hit on people greatly, but still, the concept of simplicity and minimalism can last longer than the mode do. That’s why industrial design or the architecture love De Stijl, the beauty of design will stand out timelessly on the material.

Krauss, Rosalind. Grids. The MIT Press October, Vol.9 (Summer, 1979): pp.50-64
Watkins, Thayer. "Piet Mondrian, Neoplasticism and De Stijl" Accessed December 6, 2011<http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/mondrian.htm>
Grisham, Kathleen. "Neo-Plasticism" 20th Century Art. Accessed December 6,2011<http://instruct.westvalley.edu/grisham/1d_neoplas.html>

De Stijl, which translates simply to The Style, was founded by a Dutch artist movement in 1917. This movement was also known as Neo-Plasticism. The movement continued from 1917 to 1931. The purpose for this movement was to introduce a new idea of harmony and order through abstract theology; meaning that the key aspect of this movement was focused through the use of primary colours and straight lines. The art works focused on the heavy use of vertical and horizontal lines. Along with these compositions, primaries colours, black and white are also used. The movement also explores the fundamental theme of geometrics and the use of straight lines in their work and the idea of a negative and positive space, the real and unreal space on the canvas. For example, “Composition II in Red, Blue and Yellow” by Peit Mondrian uses black lines with different thickness to form grids and use the primary colours to form the harmony that is the main feature of De Stijl. The negative space or the imaginary space is represented by the use of the primary colour mass. With the idea of the grids and the use of black lines we presume that there should be more of the colour module. This is the way they explore the negative space of a canvas.

As Paphavee said, the grid does form a certain type of order and balance that the human instinct and relate to. The typeface Van Doesburg is a good example. It shows the unique form and balance that can be achieved through precise horizontal and vertical vectors. However it does prove difficult as the letter Z and the number 2 can get confused and to identify the two would have to rely on the context. Other than that, the typeface makes use of the idea of grids and is quite easy to use in most situations.

De Stijil means ‘The Style’ in English. This art movement of De Stijil founded by Theo van Deosburg in 1917 in Leiden. Theo van Deosburg is the painter and architect. De Stijil has three periods between in 1917 to 1931. The first period is the Immature period which lasted from 1917 to 1921. The second period is the Mature period which lasted from 1921 to 1925. Then, the third period is the deterioration period which lasted from 1925 to 1931.

De Stijil was a new aesthetic of art and principles. The movement in this art spread through town planning, fine arts, applied arts and philosophy. De Stijil used the fundamental principles to be one part in its. It used the principles of geometry, for example the rectangle forms, and the straight line. It tired to achieve the pure abstraction. The way it could reach the pure abstraction is it would reduce everything of the form to its essential form. It used the primary colors which were yellow, red and blue plus black and white which were non-colors. It also tried to achieve the aesthetic balance by using the opposition.

De Stijil can be explained as the Modernist movement. Because of its ultimate simplicity and abstraction which De Stijil tried to achieve. I can see it through Gerrit Rietveld’s work that is his experimental Red-Blue chair. He used three dimensions combine with flat planes of color. Then, it makes me see the inspiration of De Stijil. It was inspired by the mathematics. The architecture in De Stijil style was made up of geometric shapes including sphere shaped windows and triangular chairs.

As Titirat, Chanapak, and Paphavee said that De Stijil is the great influence for many kind arts. I totally agree with them. ‘Less is more’ is the phrase that has more worth meaning from Minimalism. As it said in Zen, ‘we realized that there is nothing to realized’ and ‘what you see is what you see’ by Frank Stells in Minimalism. It makes me thinks that one simple thing can give me more meaning in itself. In De Stijil style of work, it also uses the same theories as Zen and Minimalism. They use the simplicity and abstraction in their works.

Reference
All Buy Art.com. De Stijil. n.d.
07. Dec. 2011 <http://www.allbuyart.com/art-movement-Destijl.asp>
Arthistoryguide.com. The De Stijl Movement. n.d. .
07. Dec. 2011 <http://www.arthistoryguide.com/De_Stijl.aspx>
Michael Johnson. De Stijl: Mondrian and His Influence. 01. Mar. 2011.
07. Dec. 2011 <http://factoidz.com/de-stijl-mondrian-and-his-influence/>

The De Stijl, influenced by some of the ideas of Dadaism and basically avoided realism and artist’s emotion.
The De Stijl, ("the style") the new style of art that appearance on Geometric Abstraction with simple shape. It is functioning on The art movement was founded by the painter and architect name Theo van Doesburg in Leiden in 1917and the outstanding artist is the painter name Piet Mondrian ,who had developed several ideas including Neo-plasticism .
The De Stijl, also well known as Neo-plasticism which is an abstraction, so natural form and colours were not a part of Neo-plasticism.
By: Piet Mondrian
Neo-plasticism characteristic has unique fundamentals:
-Must be in the primary colours
-form must be straight line
-asymmetrical

He expression of an ideal of harmony using primary colours which are blue, red, and yellow together with non-colour which are black, and white. Artists used mostly straight horizontal, vertical lines and geometric shapes for their work.The De Stijl movement was very influence in the development of architecture, furniture design, typography, and development of graphic design as well.
Finally, a design of architecture called Bauhaus. This style was got the big influence by The De Stijl. The Bauhaus buildings seem to have a cubic shape with gray or black tone. As Titirat ,Teeranont , and Papahavee said before about the important idea of make everything functional. “less is more and not just decoration”.

Reference
"Neo-Plasticism." West Valley College, Saratoga CA. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. <http://instruct.westvalley.edu/grisham/1d_neoplas.html>.
"De Stijl." Art, Design, and Visual Thinking. Charlotte Jirousek. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. http://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/decart/destijl/decstijl.htm
"Neo-Plasticism." Upload & Share PowerPoint Presentations and Documents. Revision pg. 2-6 Web. 07 Dec. 2011. <http://www.slideshare.net/mfresnillo/neoplasticism>.

De Stijl is also known as an art movement called Neoplasticism, which was founded in 1917 by Theo van Doesburg (and his group), a Dutch painter, designer, and writer. The movement continued from 1917 to 1931, which there are three periods during those years of the movement. The first period is the Immature period which lasted from 1917 to 1921. The second period is the Mature period, lasted from 1921 to 1925. Lastly, the third period is the Deterioration period, lasted from 1925 to 1931. The idea of this movement was to proposed simplicity and abstraction by composing a work using straight horizontal and vertical lines, rectangular shapes and is limited to use only the three primary colors which are red, blue, and yellow and also the three primary values which are black, grey, and white.


De Stijl spread into arts and design field like applied arts, fine arts, and architecture. Many artist and designer has been influenced by this movement. Moreover, it also explore fundamental theme of geometrics and the use of straight lines in their work and the idea of a negative and positive space, the real and unreal space on the canvas.

I totally agree to Titirat, Chanapak, Paphavee, and Dhitiphan that De Stijl has a great influence on many kinds of art. The phrase “Less is More” is an all-time famous phrase for art and design because the concept of simplicity and minimalism could never be out of trend, it is simple and beautiful.

Reference
Jirousek, Charlotte. “De Stijl” De Stijl. Cornell.1995. http://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/decart/destijl/decstijl.html . 6 December, 2011
Grisham, Kathleen. "Neo-Plasticism" 20th Century Art.
http://instruct.westvalley.edu/grisham/1d_neoplas.html . 6 December, 2011

De Stijl translated as 'The Style' is also known as neoplasticism, an art movement founded by a Dutch artist named Theo van Deosburg in 1917. The art works are expressed abstractly giving an anonymous feel, using straight lines and primary colors including black and white tones. The De Stijl was based on geometry of the straight line like the square and rectangle and the relationship between positive and negative elements, also asymmetrical form balancing by its proportion and location. The movement was developed from the Cubism paintings and had created grid due to its used in geometry of straight lines forming squares and rectangles, represent simplicity and basics like Minimalism.

As Titirat had said in the earlier post saying that "Less is more", making things timeless and beautiful as it always been, which greatly influenced Bauhaus style of architecture in Germany having flat roofs and cubic forms. Even the Bauhaus architecture was since in the 1920’s but the buildings doesn't become obsolete over time, the architecture still looks fresh and modern. As well as in industrial design and fashion so their work will never be out of trend and last forever.

References
Krauss, Rosalind. Grids. The MIT Press October, Vol.9 (Summer, 1979): pp.50-64
"De Stijl architecture, De Stijl pictures, De Stijl paintings, & De Stijl artists" Accessed December 8, 2011<http://www.arthistoryguide.com/De_Stijl.aspx>

De Stijl is a modern art movement which started in Netherlands in 1917 and ended in 1931. De Stijl is also known for "The Style" or Neo-plasticism (new plastic art). Theo van Doesburg is the founder of this movement, he started the Grid art or Simplified Compositions, the points he focused on were the geometry; the vertical and the horizontal, and basic colours; black and white and primary colours. Because of this movement, art has turned itself away from the nature; baroque, renaissance and those movements that came and went before De Stijl.

I am also agreed with Nataporn on De Stijl spreading into arts and design. It is inevitable that arts and design is influenced by this movement. As time passed, people are more into structures and buildings. So, we must have a basic understanding of architecture before constructing a building. In order to understand, grid is used, grids are used in perspective drawing, map and many more. In conclusion, we might not have what we have today if we did not use the grid system or if De Stijl do not exist.

De Stijl was founded by Theo van Doesburg in 1917. De Stijl is in Dutch which means the style, the movement of art or also known as neoplasticism which mean “the new plastic art”. De Stijl is the simplicity and abstraction of movement by using line, like horizontal lines and vertical lines which is all straight line. De Stijl used a primary color such as red, blue, yellow. Also used non color too like, black and white. However De Stijl shape is only a squares and rectangles and used the color and relationship between positive and negative elements.

I agree with Titirat that “less is more” is the idea that shows the minimalism which is good for design. It makes me think that one design can mean much more and by keep it simple can be interesting. That way De Stijl the design that people known to now a day.

Reference
-Michael Johnson. De Stijl - Mondrian and His Influence. 01. Mar.2011 http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/d/destijl.html

-Charlotte Jirousek. -De Stijl. -De Stijl. Cornell.1995. http://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/decart/destijl/decstijl.htm

De Stijl, which means "The style," was founded in 1917 and continued untiil 1931. This movement brought abstract and simple style by using only the horizontal and vertical lines and rectangular shapes formed by the lines. De Stiji is also known as Neo-plasticism. It tried to express a new utopian ideal of spiritual harmony and order by showing the pure abstraction. In De Stiji there are few important people. First of all, he is the founder of De Stiji, and also De Stiji was named after the Theo van Doesburg’s journal. Another one is Piet Mondrian. He is an artist who painted important Neo-Plasticism images using black and primary colors.
Neo-plasticism gives the idea of grid. Neo-plasticism influenced industrial design and architectural design. De Stijl movement greatly influenced the Bauhaus Movement. As it’s influenced by the Neo-plasticism, Bauhaus buildings are designed in flat roofs, smooth surfaces and cubic shapes in their outlook. No other prior movement has this much influence on industrial design and architecture. This influence began a new design and style in industrial and architectural designs. Also for the interior, it uses the primary colors, and black, white and grey colors. This style is widely spread through the world and many of modern people propose the simple shapes.

De Stijl (or "The Style" in English) is a Dutch artistic movement. It was found in 1917. The members of this movement, Dutch architect and painter, Theo van Doesburg along with Gerrit Rietveld had created this concept which it was one of the very complicated style in art, space and the surface of the truncated form that demonstrated in the work of De Stijl movement are mostly uesd elements of a rectangular shape formed by the lines and ues the three primary colors which are red, yellow and blue along with black and white. De Stijl movement had continued untiil 1931.

I agree with Titirat that De Stijl can describe as Dutch’s modernism and it also influence the idea of "grid". I think that De Stijl is the importance movement to the grid, by its concept of use straight lines to make rectangular areas.In my opinion, De Stijl is a great explored movement which can inspired new generation and influence many kinds of art by its "less is more"

De Stijl which translates to “The Style” in Dutch was founded in 1917 and also known as Neo-plasticism.The proponent for this movement tries to express a new utopian ideal of harmony through pure abstraction using regular quadratic shapes, primary colors, black and white, horizontal and vertical lines. In De Stijl and colors, shapes and line doesn’t have any symbolism meaning as in they don’t refer to anything. For example when you see the color red you might refer to an apple or danger but in a De Stijl the color red is just a color it doesn’t express anything. There isn’t any meaning behind a De Stijl painting just the visual harmony of the composition. Even the name for the art work doesn’t consist any symbolism most of them are named “Composition 1” of something similar This is because like music “symphony 1” the composer doesn’t want the audience to focus on interpreting the music but just to listen to the actual music. This most well known artist of this movement is Piet Mondrian and Theo Van Doesburg. I liked how Piet Mondrain explains De Stijl as “to express general beauty with the utmost awareness”. De Stijl inspired “Grid” which is then used for city planning and inspires artist as a method to exsplore visual art. I agree with Athikom which he agree with Titirat at De Stijl can be known as Dutch Modernism and as I said before influenced the idea of “grid”. I think the De Stijl is a very important movement in modern art it influence visual design in much aspect and also affect architecture. They is no perspective, it anti-real and its limited in form yet it can still be an influence to designers and will keep on being and influence in the future of design.

As impressionism and cubism emerge in the art world, the Netherlands were as well interested in this new form of art. De Stiljl is a movement of new plastic art founded in 1917. Its intention is to bring simplicity and abstraction by generally using only straight horizontal, vertical lines and rectangular forms. Then for it to balance beyond the usage colors which were red, blue, and yellow, along with gray, black and white. Rosalind Krauss stated that "In the flatness that results from its coordinates, the grid is the means of crowding out the dimensions of the real and replacing them with the lateral spread of a single surface.” The most simple and basic feature was exposing the finest function of colors and forms. Theo Van Doesburg and other founders' most significant aim in the movement through the complexion balance was to bring out a new utopian idea and harmony.

The idea of neoplasticism led along to influence the Bauhaus group. It is a group that consists with architects, engineers, and artist. They emphasized the idea of form following function, the direct use of materials as the most functional way to design was their biggest theme. For example in architecture, the structural components of steel, glass, concrete, and other industrial materials were used in their works at the most direct and honest usage as possible.
Source:
http://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/decart/destijl/decstijl.htm
http://www.ex-tempore.org/paccione89/PACCIONE.htm

‘The style’ is called in English but for Dutch, it is called ‘De Stijl”. This Dutch artistic movement is also known as Neo-plasticism. Neo-plasticism (meaning ‘a new plastic art’) was the term adopted by Mondrian to describe the qualities that DeStijl artists attempt to achieve in their work. Theo van Deosburg founded this art movement. In 1917 the first issue of the magazine “Style” was released. The style attempt to show that the overall social development was not yet reached the ideal harmony. As the audience could see that the style appeared as a logical consequence of Cubism. Actually, Cubism was to base on ordering of reality, which comes across as very concordant. However, De Stijl art movement has further implemented by the “order” than those recognizable elements cubist paintings. It shows no recognizable figures. The paintings are understandable with only horizontal and vertical lines and primary colors along with black and white. The style was not limited to the field of painting. The style has harmoniously put in all areas for instance, architecture, sculpture, and furniture designs on.
According to ‘Tableau 2’ (Piet Mondrian’s oil on canvas, 1922) forfeiting the static immutability achieved through stable verticals and horizontals. However, the rotated canvases maintained the desired equilibrium of the grid, while the 45-degree turn allowed for longer lines. Tableau 2 has become synonymous with the word ‘grid’.

Reference
Piet Mondrian, Tableau 2, 1922
http://mundooriginal.blogspot.com/2005/11/mondrian-piet-tableau-2-with-yellow.html
De Stijl, Theo van Deosburg, 2000
http://www.iconofgraphics.com/Theo-Van-Doesburg/
Jan Middendorp, Dutch type, 010 Publishers, Rotterdam (2004).

De Stijl or “the style” was a movement within modernism that combined paintings with architectures, furnitures, and typographies. The principle theoretician was Theo Van Does Burg, moreover the propagation of De Stijl's theories was as well made by him. He was also the author of “the dutch journal”; however, it was Piet Mondrian's paintings which had the greatest influence on architects and designers.

Furthermore, Gerrit Rietveld; an architect and industrial designer whose furnitures were the ones to provide a connection between industrial design and Modrian's paintings. These furnitures existed as sculptures along with the functionality individuals would expect from each specific product; they are as well designed with the use of inexpensive materials. In addition they are decorated with primary colors and bold colors; such as black, grey, white etc.

De Stijl is the simplification of visual compositions, in terms of hows arrangements are conducted and how the colors are composed. The arraignments being horizontal, vertical lines, and geometrics shapes. Moreover this leads to its relation with the style used to construct buildings by De Stijl architects.

De Stijl is a modern movement organized and promoted by Dutch painter, designer, writer, and propagandist, Theo Van Doesburg, from 1917 to 1931. Unlike Cubism and Fauvism, it is not a homogeneous group but a collective of projects. De Stijl magazine is the only element that bonds all the painters of the movement together.

De Stijl is also called as Neuwe-Beelding or Neo-Plasticism in English. It means a new generation of plastic art. Neo-Plasticism replaces lyricism with the purely plastic. It is advocated to the expression of the purely plastic; which is an expression that reduces to the essential components, presenting in an artificial way, and not being lyrical.

De Stiji points out the unstable relationship between individual and universal that could only be overcome by pursuing through harmony and balance. This harmony changes the traditional ways of life such that the arbitrary forms no longer exist and that universal geometrical elements are emphasized. With geometrical elements, people no longer have an obscured view. De Stijl overlooked through the decorations to reveal the vital message hidden behind. Thus, the only importance is purity and not aesthetics. In Dutch, the word “Schoon” sums up the First Manifesto of De Stijl. It means to clean and purify to a word or concept that everything is rooted out of. It is the purification of vital message from the unnecessary.[right]

reference
- http://www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/theos/th-gues.htm
- mediafire.com 2dyj7c06xxwwhta
- www.arthistoryguide.com/De_Stijl.aspx

De Stijl was a radical movement in many arts and designs which can be understood as the Dutch version of Modernism. Modernism was not a monolithic entity. Each of the major European countries produced their own version: Germany had the Bauhaus; France had Le Corbusier; and Russia had Constructivism. The Dutch version was known as De Stijl, which is Dutch for ‘the style.’
In 1917 Dutch architect, designer, and painter Theo van Doesburg founded de Stijl. The importance of this movement to the grid is that it explored form as determined by function, and placed this in a political context. Arguing that simplicity of form was accessible and democratic, its members advocated minimalism, using only rectilinear forms, and eradicating surface decoration other than as a byproduct of a limited color palette: the primaries plus black and white. The typographers affiliated to de Stijl wanted to apply these ideas in the real world, not just for their artistic cause.
De Stijl was not trying to imitate nature. Instead, it tried to achieve pure abstraction by reducing everything down to its essential form. They only used straight lines and rectangular forms. The colour palette was reduced to primary colours, plus black and white. They avoided symmetry and achieved aesthetic balance by the use of opposition. De Stijl can be interpreted as a Modernist movement because it tried to achieve ultimate simplicity and abstraction. De Stijl expressed a utopian ideal of spiritual order by using pure geometric form. The members decided that primary colours represented formal purity, so De Stijl used colour extensively, meaning that it’s more sympathetic than most Modernist design.

De Stijl is an art movement developed in 1917 which also known as Neoplasticism. The movement philosophy most likely refers to the desire of standardization in the industrialization period after the WWI. By using only the essential forms and color, it present the idea that the true purpose of art is not to reproduce real objects, but to express the absolutes of life, relating to the form, color, and space. It tried to express a new ideal of spiritual harmony and order by showing the pure abstraction. Along the way, Grids have become important modes of organization in de stijil movement as well as primary colors. Most of the forms in De Stijil movement always reduced to the horizontal and vertical elements by using grids, as well as apply primary colors balanced the composition through the contrasting effects of colors. With the idea of the grids and the use of black lines, it produces the positive and negative space. Then, the negative space is represented by the use of the primary color mass. Everything in this movement places on the basis of formal relationships between grids and colors. And because of this influence of grids in De Stijil, this movement has also influence in design of architecture, furniture, typography afterward and lasted to this day. De Stijl is the importance movement to the grid, by its concept of use straight lines to make rectangular areas. It can describe as Dutch’s modernism and it also influence the idea of "grid" beyond the general purpose, and expand the understanding of grids in term of art’s composition and harmony.

"The Style" translated from the Dutch artistic movement "De Stijl" started in 1917 up until 1931 which was founded by Theo Van Deosburg. Also known as “Neo-plasticism”(new plastic art), “De Stijl was also influenced by some ideas of the DaDa.” and other movements such as Cubism.The De Stijl tried to express harmony through abstraction. It used simple or primary stuff to make simple compositions in both vertical and horizontal ways. Primary colors, red, blue, and yellow, are used in this style or art work along with black and white color, geometry, and line (De Stijl).The example of the Neo-plasticism art work would be that of Piet Mondrian, Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue. As we can see that in this piece of art work, Mondrian used only black vertical and horizontal lines, which form into a ‘gird pattern’, and the primary color, which was the main principle of the movement itself. It was also said that Mondrian’s work was inspired by Picasso and Braque’s cubism, which implied that the Neo-plasticism was also influenced by the works of these great artists.


LaMar, C. Global Art History. Fall 2011. De Stijl. Slideshow.
Krauss, Rosalind. Grids. 9. MIT: The MIT Press, 1979. 50-64. Print
"De Stijl." Art, Design, and Visual Thinking. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. <http://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/decart/destijl/decstijl.htm>.

De stijl movements received its name from the De Stijl journal, first published in the Netherland in 1917. The journal explained the idea and theories of artist such as Theo van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian whom seek to create a forum for artists, designers and architects sharing the same interests in abstract aesthetics. Unlike other preceding movements, De Stijl received influences from architect and designer like the modernist architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright and inspired not by nature but in geometry and shape, which was stated by George Vantongerloo “ There’s no need to express art in term of nature. It can perfectly well be expressed in terms of geometry and science”. De Stijl work prominently used only primary colors, vertical and horizontal line which is the main elements of grid. De stijl movement had added another meaning into grid which before the movement have been seen in only in architectural usage.

According to Bois' argument stated in the book called 'De Stijl and Dutch modernism, by Michael White, De Stijl activity was defined by the proposition that each collaborator, be he painter, architect or sculptor, should effects the reduction of his practice to its irreducuble core. The two principles of elementarisation and integration account for, respectively, the consistent promotion in De Stijl of abstract art and the interaction between painters and architects which its most notable product. De stijl had influences the development of abstract art, the interwar avant-gardes, international style architecture, modern design, modernism. De Stijl was most clearly expressed in the attempt to interplay paintings and architecture, the use of monumental art forms such as stained glass and the production of certain mass market imagery. The search for the common style had introduced the problem of the free-floating nature style in modern culture, which was linked to the notion of the autonomy of art. ('De Stijl and Dutch modernism', by Michael White). Dutch art historian Hans Jaffe, for example, in keeping with the movement itself, characterized De Stijl at the time as a signpost, a beacon, a standard for change in the history of mankind which was forever moving toward perfection, (art in progress : a philosophical response to the end of the avant-gards by Maarten Doorman, Sherry Marx).

"De Stijl" that means “The style” in Dutch and also know as Neo-plasticism which can be known as the Dutch Modernism. In 1917,in the Netherland is the birth of this movement by Theo van Doesburg who was a Dutch painter, designer, writer, and critic . Theo van Doesburg form in group with Piet Mondrian, J.J.P. Oud and Gerrit Rietveld became the member of De Stijl. They believed that the art and design should be aim for ordinary people than the hi-class or the rich and should be internationality.

In my opinion, it is really successful in what they want it to be or should be.

Proponents of De Stijl is to express a new utopian ideal of spiritual harmony and order. By using the basic element like the straight-line, square and primary color as red, blue, yellow along with black and white. It can conclude as 'A reduction of elements to pure geometric forms and primary colors ' or 'Only primary colours and non-colours, only squares and rectangles, only straight and horizontal or vertical line.'

Anyway, Neo-plasticism (De Stijl) influence in many kind of subjects such as fine art, interior design , city planning and philosophy. This ism was develop more than it was. Teaching in term of grid and line in Design section, Learning the modern art , Set the composition and the view of those artist in those time.


Ref.
LaMar, C. Global Art History. Fall 2011. De Stijl. Slideshow.
De Stijl , wikipedia ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Stijl
De Stijl , boonbloc , art&design ; http://boonbloc.blogspot.com/2009/03/de-stijl.html
De Stijl ,Design History; http://www.designishistory.com/1920/de-stijl/
Worksheets of Computer graphic, Art History, T. Smith (2009)