Research The romantic elements in De Stijl theory Runette Kruger* * Runette Kruger teaches Art Theory in the diminutive house the moveable walls of the Department of Fine and Applied Arts at the upper story, the bright, painted squares and Tshwane University of Technology rectangles that simultaneously dissolve and integrate the interior space, as well as the A furniture (also designed by Rietveld), attest to the original intentions of the architect and The aim of this essay is to focus on and analyse his collaborator, owner Truus Schröder. In the romantic aspects of De Stijl theory. It this way, Rietveld’s Red/Blue Chair (1919) is argued that these romantic aspects have conforms to the matrix of the house, in terms received less detailed analysis than the of concept as well as form. Acclaimed as an classicising tendencies within this movement’s optimally considered object (Burton in Friedman underlying theory. The terms ‘classic’ and 1982, 134), the Red/Blue Chair is sculptural ‘romantic’, as used within the context of De Stijl as well as utilitarian, ergonomic as well as theory, will be clarified for the purposes of this able to evoke contemplation by virtue of its analysis. The article focuses on De Stijl theory, composition. as reflected in the writings of the founding When writing about art or design, this members of the movement, with specific relationship between form and content (in reference to artist Piet Mondrian. Examples of other words the ability of form to embody, De Stijl art and design are mentioned in order communicate and engender concepts) is to contextualise certain ideas as formulated sometimes accepted, sometimes ignored, and by Mondrian in particular, but this article sometimes denied altogether. For instance, does not focus on a discussion of the artworks formalist critics, such as the early twentieth themselves. Careful analysis of (as argued century critic Roger Fry, and the mid-twentieth here) neglected aspects of De Stijl thought, century critic Clement Greenberg, dismiss the makes a broader, more inclusive contextual role of content in the making or critiqueing interpretation of De Stijl art and design of art as marginal, or completely refute its possible. Whilst acknowledging the existence existence. For Fry (1961, 180) a response that of Western romantic thought and its influence takes into account form alone, and discounts on early twentieth-century abstract painting, content, which ‘never claims our attention on its this article focuses on a more specifically own account’, is not only possible, but indeed Eastern romantic notion of monism and anti- preferable. Expressed emotions, narrative or materialism as the basis for the formulation of any associated ideas that a work of art might De Stijl abstraction. engender, become unimportant in responding to the work. Not only the critic’s, but also the artist’s concern is, according to Fry (1961, 166), exclusively with form, making the artist The De Stijl movement is an early Modern impervious to ‘melodrama’ and ‘sentimentality’. manifestation. Founded in 1917 in the Similarly, Greenberg (1940, 556) ascribes to Netherlands, the movement was an the Abstract Expressionists such as Jackson amalgamation of the ideas, beliefs, aims and Pollock, an urge to disentangle themselves practices of a small group of Dutch artists, from the ‘ideological struggles of society’, an architects and theorists. The most prominent attempt to ‘escape from ideas’ which led to members include painters Piet Mondrian and ‘a new and greater emphasis upon form, and Bart van der Leck, painter, architect, poet, ... the assertion of the arts as … absolutely and publisher Theo van Doesburg, as well autonomous’. Thus, the Modernist, formalist as the architect and furniture designer, Gerrit critics felt themselves, in some cases, justified Rietveld. De Stijl art and architecture occupy in reacting to the abstract paintings they a central role the history of Modernist art and studied as entirely autonomous objects – works design. Critic Robert Hughes (1996, 202) is that refer to themselves rather than to anything not alone in his view of Mondrian as ‘one of external, and, sometimes, works that refer only the supreme artists of the twentieth century’, to formalist concerns. and, in terms of design, the Schröder House in When approaching art from the opposite Utrecht (1924), designed by Gerrit Rietveld, is angle, discounting (temporarily) its formal unparalleled in its preservation of an integrated aspects, and focusing on its content, a different early Modernist design environment. In the interpretation emerges. Such an approach, © University of South Africa Press ISSN 0004–3389 pp 3–14 de a r t e no 75 2007 3 Runette Kruger which can be called ‘contextual’, is proposed divinity and the animation of nature, for and implemented here, with specific reference instance). to the writings and ideas of Piet Mondrian. The range of theories and approaches that Contextual critique of De Stijl art and design can be classified as romantic is vast. Lord A. does exist, written by, amongst others, Joost Quinton (1995, 778) states: Baljeu (1974), Linda Henderson (1983), Carel [Romanticism] is not definable in a short Blotkamp (1986), Mark C. Taylor (1992), formula made up of precisely demarcated and Hilton Kramer (1995). Yet analysis of terms. Romanticism is a cluster of the ideology, philosophy and theoretical attitudes and preferences … The Romantic constructs which can be shown to underlie favours the concrete over the abstract, this movement’s art, is attempted here for variety over uniformity, the infinite over the the purpose of clarifying specifically Eastern finite, nature over culture, convention and romantic elements of Mondrian’s thought. artifice, the organic over the mechanical, Neither early twentieth century art in general, freedom over constraint … it prefers the nor De Stijl art in particular, forms the main unique individual to the average man, the focus of this article, as it is the theoretical free creative genius to the prudent man of underpinning of the art in question that is good sense, the particular community or investigated and analysed. nation to humanity at large … feeling to One possible framework by means of thought … intuition to intellect. which De Stijl thought could be analysed, is the classic/ romantic dichotomy which can In this article, the dismissal in Mondrian’s be shown to underlie Neoplastic theory. The writings of materialist doctrines as well as term ‘classic’ generally refers to the culture, the rejection of a Western emphasis on the philosophy and art of ancient Greece, and, dual nature of the universe, are specifically to an extent, of Rome, but in its wider sense emphasised and referred to as the romantic denotes the high esteem accorded to certain aspects of De Stijl, based on contextual analysis qualities, such as harmony, balance and clarity, of De Stijl thought. emphasis on form and underlying structure rather than content, and a respect for tradition. U l The classicist often regards rationalism as the Ironically, a formalist approach to art, which highest human ability, and a focus on objectivity denies or discounts external influence on the and materialism can be seen as concomitant making and viewing of art, is itself not devoid to an emphasis on rationalism. A belief in the of context. Such context includes influences limitless progress of human knowledge and from the ideological meta-structure and societal insight, and the subsequent improvement bias in which a formalist approach is, or has of society, furthermore marks a classicist 1 been, formulated. The formalist approach approach. Classicising aspects of Modernist can be classified as objectivist, based on the (and De Stijl) thought, include an insistence on assumption that objectivity is possible (and rationality and objectivity, and subscription to preferable), and materialist, reacting (when, the notion of progress, i.e. that each Modernist for instance, viewing a painting) only to art movement somehow improves upon the such aspects as the shape of the frame, the former, and is thereby closer to an ‘ideal’ art. texture of the brush marks, the colour of the The term ‘romantic’, by nature less pigment, and the placement of compositional succinctly definable than classicism, elements. This approach is also ultimately manifests in varied (and even opposing) ways. classicist – a means of reacting to art, and Romanticism, in its narrower sense, refers to life, which invariably emphasises rationality.2 the movement in thought, art and politics that The formalist approach, tied here to notions occurred during the late eighteenth and early such as objectivity, materialism, classicism nineteenth centuries. In its more extended and rationality, can be argued to correspond application, the term refers to adherence to to the greater Western positivist paradigm. qualities regarded as antithetical to classicism. Formalism is longer no longer a dominant way These qualities are multifarious, but central of viewing art. Alternatives to formalist critique to the notion of romanticism is the rejection have been propounded by historiographers such of both rationalism (in favour of emotion) and as Wilhelm Worringer (1957, 1967), Erwin materialism (in favour of notions of spirit, Panofsky (1968), and Aby Warburg (1998). 4 d e a r t e no 75 2007 The romantic elements in De Stijl theory In the Postmodern era, re-interpretations of Based on the emphasis on and admiration Modernist art have been based on,