Originally a publication, De Stijl was founded in 1917 by two pioneers of abstract art, Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg. Other members of the group included Bart van der Leck, Vantongerloo and Vordemberge-Gildewart, as well as the architects Gerrit Rietveld and JJP Oud.
Piet Mondrain was a dutch painter, as De Stijl was a dutch movement, who created the famous Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow, 1930. The artwork consists of geometric shapes
Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow, 1930
with the basic prime colours in a revolutionary abstract way. The Anit – Materialism movement was ridged with no curves or diagonal lines, mainly featured with geometric squares. This greatly inspired the Cubism movement and changes in the modern art movements at the time. It is a complete contrast to Dada and Surrealism which was founded around the same time, at the beginning of World War 1 (WW1) Where as Dada and Surrealism were closely link to expressionism, De Stijl was a polar opposite.
The artwork however, still used the traditional Oil Paints on Canvas materials and would not explore any other ranges, keeping the style simplistic and minimalistic. However this could be due to a lack of materials in the Netherlands as it was a neutral country in WW1.
The movement was based around magazines primarily however other mediums such as typography, sculpture and music were also used.
Unit 05 - Contextual Influences 