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Home , Johannes Baader, Piet Mondrian

Dadaism and In Europe The Emergence of Dadism during WW1 and the Rebirth of Order with the De Stijl Design and the World in Transition:

Before and after WW1 , new concepts and forms emerged in the form of and design movements:

1. Art Nouveau 2. 3. 5.

Influencing these emergent trends were new ideas, technologies, materials and political and social change and upheaval. Seen as part of a desire to return to order, the De Stijl movement was a natural response to the chaos that corresponded with the events of WW1.

The Emergence of Dadaism

• Dadaism was a cultural movement that was concentrated on anti-war politics which then made its way to the art world through art theory, art manifestoes, literature, poetry and eventually graphic design and the visual . The movement, although Dadaists would not have been happy calling it a movement, originated in Switzerland and spread across Europe and into the United States, which was a safe haven for many writers during . An anti-, Dadaists attempted to break away from the styles of traditional art aesthetics as well as rationality, of any kind. They produced a great many publications as a home for their writings and protest materials which were handed out at gatherings and protests. The visual aesthetics associate with the movement often include found objects and materials combined through . , 1917 Quite literally inverting Reality, a urinal upended and signed by Duchamp with the Name ‘Mott’, the plumbing supply chain that sold it to him.

He began a long running argument over the nature of art and the role of the artist. Can Art Simply be the Concept? • The Society of Independent artists in New York, accepted a fee for which any art might be displayed in their exhibition, Duchamp’s upended urinal did not make the cut despite this, in 1919. This willful artistic protest was what linked the artist with the traditions of , and rocked the world of the visual art. Don’t be fooled by this replica however, the original was lost or discarded, to be replaced by a sibling in the 1960s.

John Harfield and the Dadaist Movement

• , original name in full Helmut Franz Josef Herzfeld (born June 19, 1891, Berlin, —died April 26, 1968, East Berlin, East Germany), German artist best known for his — of text and imagery found in mass-produced media—and his role in the development of the Dada movement in Berlin. In response to the rampant German nationalism, which engendered extreme anti-British sentiments, in 1916 Helmut Herzfeld Anglicized his name to John Heartfield, a new persona that he inhabited fully through his artistic and political expression. Grosz, who also had changed his name by then, had a profound impact on the direction of Heartfield’s art. It was at least partly due to his relationship with Grosz that Heartfield arrived at the conclusion that the only art worth creating was that which depicted and commented on social and political issues. He destroyed all of the art that he had created before the war. Heartfield joined the German Communist Party in 1918. In that same year he and Grosz became founding members of the Berlin Dadists, which included avant-garde artists such as Hannah Hoch, , and Johannes Baader • As an anti-art movement, Dada allowed Heartfield the freedom to experiment with new materials and forms of expression. Starting with a clean slate and a fresh outlook, Heartfield voiced his political and social views through . • John Hartfield Adolf the Superman: Swallows Gold and Spouts Tin 1932. Hartfield worked in the politically motivated Dadaist style and was personally affected by war and exile through much of his life, he took the art of photomontage to the next level. • The work of the Dadaists such as Hartfield ridiculed the notion of the Imperial Third Reich, exposing what they believed o be the real motives behind the war. The poster of Hitler on the left was mad years prior to his rise to power The ABCs of Dadaism

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqkIJ0odFxA De Stijl or Neo Plasticism In Europe

The Foundation of De Stijl • The De Stijl movement originated in the in the summer of 1917, the founder of the movement, (1883-1931) was joined by painters Piet Mondrian, Bart Anthony van der Leck and Vilmos Husznar and architect Jacobus Johannes among others. • Working in an abstract geometric style, De Stijl artists sought universal laws of balance and harmony for art, which could be used as a pattern or prototype for a new social order. Explain the context behind this ideology? • Not only this, but the movement was intended to remove all traces of the • The of artist Piet Mondrian are the wellspring from which the De Stijl philosophy and its visual forms developed. By 1911, Mondrian had moved from traditional landscape to a symbolic style influenced by Van Gogh that expressed the forces of nature. It was at this point that he came under the influence of Cubism. In early 1912 he relocated to and began to introduce txhe vocabulary of Cubism into his work. Gradually he began to remove representative elements from his art

• Philosopher MHJ Schoenmakers was an influence on the thinking of Mondrian. He defined the horizontal and vertical as the two fundamental opposites that shape our world, and called red, ble and yellow the tree principal colours. Mondrian began to create purely abstract colours using only the combination of the above elements. He believed that the Cubists had not fully accepted the logical consequences of their discoveries-the evolution of abstraction toward its ultimate goal, the expression of pure reality. He believed that true reality in visual art is attained by “The dynamic movement in equilibrium”….established by what he called the balance between unequal but equivalent elements.

• With their prescribed visual vocabulary, De Stijl artists sought and expression of the mathematical structure of the universe, the rectangular and asymmetrical structure of the works of Mondrian and Theo Van Doesburg were based on the centuries old mathematical formula of ‘The Golden Section’ or the by the repeated use of rectangular sections. Mathematical harmony was the effect achieved by this approach.

Gerrit Reitveld-’The Reitveld-Schroder’ House, designed and build completely in accordance with the theories of De Stijl.

Industrial and Chair Design of Gerrit Reitveld

In the De Stijl or Neo- Plasticism Style

Theo Van Doesburg

• Highly influenced by , van Doesburg shifted his style of painting from one that emphasised less of a direct reflection of everyday life and one that placed more importance on a conceptual style that favored a simplistic geometric style. A Dutch artist, van Doesburg led the artistic style movement "De Stijl" into popularity and influenced graphic designers for many years to come with his theories, which conveyed the idea that there was a collective experience of reality that could be tapped as a medium of communication. Van Doesburg designed a typeface where each character was based upon a square divided into 25 smaller squares, developing long before the Macintosh computer and pixel-based fonts. • Van Doesburg, Cover for De Stijl Journal 1922, Sparse typography influenced by the Calvinist aspect of Dutch culture is evidesnt-called the De Stijl search for purity, as is the influence of the movement on later design trends. • Theo Van Doesburg and , Kleine Dada Soiree, 1922 • This example shows Van Doesburgs Dada tendencies. Theo Van Doesburg Dadaist poetry from De Stijl Journal 1921 • Van Doesburg moved to Weimar, Germany in hopes of impressing the director of the , Walter Gropius. Gropius did not directly oppose his ideas, but did not accept him onto the faculty of the Bauhaus. In reaction to this, Van Doesburg positioned his studio directly next to the Bahaus and attracted many students with the ideas he promoted, most of which were developed out of the ideas of , Dadaism and De Stijl. • It was during these times that Van Doesburg formed a tight bond with the artist Piet Mondrian, And, in 1923, Van Doesburg moved to Paris so that he could communicate directly with Mondrian. However, the two were very much polar opposites in character and it resulted in the dissolution of their friendship. It has been speculated that the breakdown came as a result of a disagreement about the directions of lines in their paintings. Van Doesburg moved to Switzerland in 1931, due to his declining health, and it was there that he died, on March 7th. • Van Doesburg was an artist with a wide range of talents that spanned between painting, , design and poetry.

• • In the Dutch language ‘Schoon’ translates as both “beautiful” and “pure”. De Stijl adherents believed that beauty arose fro the absolute purity of the work. They sought to purify art by banning representative forms and subjective expression.

• The approach of Mondrian to his work has a resounding and far reaching effect on modern design thereafter. A 1925 Book published by Theo Van Doesburg explained the concepts and links behind De Stijl thinking and its application to modern design. This was the café for members of De Stijl in Rotterdam (people like Theo van Doesburg, Gerrit Rietveld en Piet Mondriaan), build and designed by P.J.J. Oud in 1925, destroyed by bombardement 1940, rebuild 500 meters from original site in 1986. was here

• Façade of Café De Unie, Rotterdam by De Stijl architect • The De Stijl Design Period • In the 1960s, YSL made their iconic Mondrian dress Class Task

Research two examples of work by either Van Doesburg or Piet Mondrian. Create an illustrated blog entry and discuss the works in brief. Describe: Style, Subject matter, Context and Impact of Work.

Or Select two Dadaist works and write a short blog addressing theme, idea and the visual approch employed in the work. LINKS The Work of Mondrian- Liverpool and Turner Contemporary

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhv3_nGfETw

Lynda.com: The De Stijl Movement http://www.lynda.com/Design-Color-tutorials/De- Stijl/166781/363062-4.html