De Stijl - the Dutch word for 'the style' was an artistic movement founded by Theo Van Doesburg in Amsterdam in 1917. Essentially it was a movement which, like many others, was responding to the destruction left behind by the first World War. The artists wanted to remake society - a return to order. They believed that through simplicity and abstraction, they could express a Utopian idea of harmony and order.
Along with Van Doesburg, Piet Mondrian was another artist who was highly influential in the movement. Being an artist himself, he pushed the limits of artistic styles such as Cubism and rejected the idea of ornamentation, such as was popular in movements such as Art Nouveau. Harmony and order were established through total abstraction with the use of basic forms and straight lines, and an excessive use of the primary colours red, blue and yellow along with the non-colours, black, white and grey.
The importance of ridding society from the distinctions between fine art and applied was evident in the works produced during the time period. For example, Piet Mondrian's world-renowned painting Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow (seen below) was a source of inspiration for architects such as Gerrit Rietveld, who was responsible for the design of the famous Red and Blue Chair as well as the Shroder House.
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| Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow - Piet Mondrian |
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| Red and Blue Chair - Gerrit Rietveld |
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| The Shroder House - Gerrit Rietveld |
De Stijl was a movement which also was a source of inspiration for other movements such as the Bauhaus, and more importantly with regards to architecture, the International Style, which is said to have evolved from De Stijl.
The influence of De Stijl can also be seen in today's world in different areas of the artistic sector. For example, one can mention the relatively recent design of Windows 8 by Microsoft. As can be seen in the image below, there are several aspects which are taken directly from De Stijl: absolute simplicity in layout, minimal in design, the use of the grid and the balance between solid and empty spaces.
Another reference to De Stjl can be seen in the design of the poster of the movie Inception (second image below). The first image shows the cover of the journal which takes the name of the same movement.The designer made use of essentially the same idea, although altered to fit the needs of the movie it was promoting.
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| Cover of De Stijl journal number 1 |
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| Poster for the film Inception |
The fashion industry was also inspired by De Stijl. More than once, designers such as Yves Saint Laurent, Prada and Gucci created fashion pieces which literally scream out the style they were sporting. More-over, a new style in fashion know as colour-blocking was also born thanks to the influence of this style.
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| The Prada Fall/Winter 2011 Runway Collection, Milan |
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| The Gucci Spring/Summer 2011 Runway Presentation, Milan |
References
Bigman, A. (2012). A brief visual history of the utopian De Stijl movement. [online] The Creative Edge. Available at: http://99designs.com/designer-blog/2012/12/18/know-your-design-history-the-utopian-de-stijl-movement/ [Accessed 10 Dec. 2014].
Flask, D. (2015). De Stijl : Design Is History. [online] Designishistory.com. Available at: http://www.designishistory.com/1920/de-stijl/ [Accessed 10 Dec. 2014].
style syllabus, (2011). The De Stijl Influence. [online] Available at: https://stylesyllabus.wordpress.com/2011/04/30/the-de-stijl-influence/ [Accessed 10 Dec. 2014].
Theartstory.org, (2015). De Stijl Movement, Artists and Major Works | The Art Story. [online] Available at: http://www.theartstory.org/movement-de-stijl.htm [Accessed 10 Dec. 2014].
Willette, J. (2015). De Stijl. [online] Arthistoryunstuffed.com. Available at: http://www.arthistoryunstuffed.com/de-stijl/ [Accessed 10 Dec. 2014].
