De Stijl (The Style)1917 - 1931
DUTCH
Launched in the Netherlands
An abstract geometric style
Sought universal laws of
equilibrium and harmony
for art
Artists sought an expression of the mathematical
structure of the universe and the universal harmony of
nature.
Supported the idea that Art should not be reduced to the
lower level of the everyday object, but everyday life
could be raised to the level of art.
Piet Mondrian
De stijl was
developed from the
philosophy and visual
forms seen in
Mondrian’s paintings.
Composition, 1923
Mondrian believed that the true reality in visual art “is
attained through dynamic movement in
equilibrium…established through the balance of unequal
but equivalent oppositions. The clarification of equilibrium
through plastic art is of great importance to humanity…It is
the task of art to express a clear vision of reality.
Theo van Doesburg
Three Graces
1917
Applied de Stijl principles to
architecture, sculpture, and
typography.
Cover for Grundbegriffe
der Neuen Gestalten
den Kunst, 1925
(van Doesburg’s book)
Design by van Doesburg in
colaboration with Laszlo Moholy-Nagy
This Book cover showed the
application of de Stijl principles
to graphic design.
Cover for de Stijl (magazine), 1922
Van Doesburg edited
and published the
journal de Stijl from
1917 until his death in
1931.
Advertisements and announcements from de Stijl, 1921
Five messages are unified by a system of open bars and san serif typography
Dada poetry from de Stijl, 1912
Bart van der Leck
Brought order to the
design by dividing the
space into rectangles
Batavier-Line poster, 1916
Page from Typographie et
Composition de Het Vlas,
1941
Type and image are unified by
their form, for both are
constructed completely of
horizontal , vertical and
diagonal lines separated by
spatial intervals.
Vilmos Huszar
Cover design for de Stijl, 1918
Designed this logo with letters
constructed from an open grid of
squares and rectangles.
Combined logo with his
composition and type to create a
concise rectangle in the center of
the page.
El Lissitzky
Russian designer invited by van Doesburg to make
a Dutch version of his children’s book for de Stijl
From the book “About two squares”
Gerrit
Thomas
Reitveld
De stijl
architectural
theory
Planes in space
The Schroeder House, Utrecht, 1924
J.J.P. Oud
Facade of the Café de
Unie, Rotterdam, 1925
Successfully resolved
problems of structure,
signage, and
identification.
Rietveld
Red/Blue chair
1918
Right angle geometry and primary colors
Meggs, Phillip B. History of Graphic Design, second edition.
1992. Van Nostrand Reinhold. New York
De Stijl
is
everywhere!
De Stijl in Graphic Design
grid systems