Neoplasticism (or Neo-plasticism), originating from the Dutch Nieuwe Beelding, is an avant-garde art theory that arose in 1917 and was employed by the Dutch De Stijl group of artists. The most notable advocates of the theory were the painters Theo van Doesburg and Piet Mondriaan.[1] Neo-plasticism advocated for a purified abstract art, by applying the most elementary principles through rational means. Thus, a painting that adhered to neo-plastic theory would typically consist of simple geometric shapes, right-angled relationships and primary colors.[2]
Van Doesburg, Mondrian and others first set out the philosophical basis for the movement in a new journal, De Stijl in which they coined the term nieuwe beelding. The term appears in an editorial by van Doesburg in the first issue of the journal[4] and in the first of a series of articles by Mondriaan entitled De Nieuwe Beelding in de schilderkunst.[5] The expression "nieuwe beelding" is believed to derive from the work of Mathieu Schoenmaekers, who used the term in his 1915 book Het Nieuwe Wereldbeeld.[6][7] (Copies of books by Schoenmaekers were found in Mondrian's library.[8]) In his book "De Stijl", Paul Overy reflects on the confusing terminology for English readers:[9]
The terms beeldend and nieuwe beelding have caused more problems of interpretation than any others in the writing of Mondrian and other De Stijl contributors who adopted them. These Dutch terms are really untranslatable, containing more nuances that can be satisfactorily conveyed by a single English word. Beeldend means something like ‘'image forming'’ or ‘'image creating'’; nieuwe beelding means ‘'new image creation'’, or perhaps new structure. In German, nieuwe beelding, the term is translated as neue Gestaltung, which is close in its complexity of meanings to the Dutch. In French, it was rendered as néo-plasticisme, later translated literally into English as Neo-Plasticism, which is virtually meaningless. This has been further confounded by the editors of the collected English edition of Mondrian's writings, who adopted the absurd term the New Plastic.[9]
"The editors" (Holtzman and James) wrote
The Dutch verb beelden and substantivebeelding signify form-giving, creation, and by extension image– as do gestalten and Gestaltung in German, where Neo-Plastic[ism] is translated as Die neue Gestaltung. The English plastic and the French plastique stem from the Greek plassein, [meaning] to mold or to form, but do not quite encompass the creative and structural signification of beelding.[10]
Some authors have translated nieuwe beelding as new art.[11][2], and others as new design.[12]
The term néo-plasticisme first appears in Mondrian's 1920 essay published in French, Le Néo-plasticisme: Principe Général de l'Equivalence Plastique,[3][Neo-plasticism: the general principle of plastic equivalence].[13][lower-alpha 1] Mondrian described the essay as a "condensed adaptation of the ideas in the Trialogue".[13][lower-alpha 2]In German, the term is translated as Neue Gestaltung for Mondrian's book, the fifth in the BauhausBauhausbücher series.[19]
By 1936, writing in English for the Nicholson, Gabo and Martin book Circle, An International survey of Constructive Art, Mondrian affirmed the intentionality of the word 'plastic' in an essay he called "Plastic Art and Pure Plastic Art".[20] In a 1942 article "New Plastic Art" for a New York exhibition catalogue, he repeated the term.[21]
Every work of art (painting, sculpture, building, piece of music, book, etc.,) is created intentionally. It is the product of a series of aesthetic choices and, to a lesser extent, of what the work of art represents. For example, the event depicted in the painting Et in Arcadia ego, by Nicolas Poussin, never took place. Even though the postures of the figures are unnatural, it is convincing and forms a harmonious whole. [22][23]
Every artist manipulates reality to produce an aesthetically and artistically pleasing harmony. The most realistic painters, such as Johannes Vermeer or Rembrandt van Rijn, use all kinds of artistic means to achieve the greatest possible degree of harmony.
The artists of De Stijl called these 'visual means' "beeldend" (plastic). However, the artist determines to what extent he allows these 'plastic means' to dominate or whether he remains as close as possible to his subject. There is therefore a duality in painting and sculpture– and to a lesser extent in architecture, music and literature– between the idea of the artist and the matter of the world around us.[24]
The Dutch neo-plasticists, imbued with Calvinism and Theosophy,[25] emphasised the universal over the nominal, the spiritual over the material, the abstract over the natural, the non-figurative over the figurative, the objective over the subjective, the rational over the intuitive; summarised by Mondrian as the pure plastic over the plastic.[20] The neo-plasticists of De Stijl expressed their vision (plastic) in terms of "pure" elements, not found in nature: straight lines, right angles, primary colours and precise relationships. This disassociation from nature created a new art, whose essential qualities were spiritual, entirely abstract, and rational.[26]
In his Principles of Neo-Plastic Art,[27] van Doesburg distinguishes between two types of visual art in art history: works that arise from an internal idea (ideo-plastic art), and works that arise from external matter (physio-plastic art).[28] He demonstrates this with an abstract model of the Egyptian god Horus and a realistic statue of a Diadumenos respectively. When an artist experiences reality, his aesthetic experience can be expressed as either a material depiction, or an abstact formation. Van Doesburg regards depiction as an 'indirect' form of artistic expression; only abstract formation based on an artist's true aesthetic experience of reality represents a pure form of artistic expression, as expressed by Mondrian in all his essays.[29][9]
According to the new visual art, every work of art consists of a number of basic elements, which they called 'visual means'. According to the artists of De Stijl, these 'visual means', unlike representation, are entirely inherent to art. If one wanted to produce a work of art 'according to art', one had to use only these basic elements. Mondriaan wrote:
If the pure visual expression of art lies in the proper transformation of the plastic means and their application - the composition - then the plastic means must be in complete accord with what they express. If they are to be a direct expression of the universal, then they cannot be other than universal i.e. abstract.[30]
While Mondriaan limited himself to painting, van Doesburg believed in the collaboration of all arts to achieve a new Gesamtkunstwerk [total work of art]. To achieve this, it was necessary for each art form to establish its own 'visual means'. Only then was the independence of each art form guaranteed.[31] In 1920 he arrived at the following definition:
The painter, the architect, the sculptor and the furniture maker each realize that they have only one essential visual value: harmony through proportion. And everyone expresses this one essential and universal value of visual art with his or her art medium. One and the same but in a different way. The painter: through colour ratio. The sculptor: by volume ratio. The architect: by ratio of enclosed spaces. The furniture designer: through unenclosed (= open) space relationships.[32]
Synthesis
Theo van Doesburg (color design) and Gerrit Rietveld (furniture). Interior. 1919. Colorized black and white photo.
The artists of De Stijl strove for more and better cooperation between the arts without each art form losing its independence. The reason for this was what they saw as the architect's role being too great. The greatest results were expected from the collaboration between the architect and the painter. It was then the painter's task to 'recapture' the flat surface of architecture. Van Doesburg wrote about this:
Architecture provides constructive, therefore closed, plastic. In this she is neutral towards painting, which provides open plasticity through flat colour representation. In this respect, painting is neutral towards architecture. Architecture joins together, binds together. Painting loosens, dissolves. Because they essentially have to perform a different function, a harmonious connection is possible.[33]
In 1923, following the De Stijl architectural exhibition in Paris, van Doesburg also involved the 'unenclosed (= open) space relationship' of furniture art on architecture. He subsequently regarded architecture as a 'synthesis of new visual expression'. 'In the new architecture, architecture is understood as a part, the summary of all the arts, in its most elementary appearance, as its essence', according to van Doesburg.[34]
Background
Theo van Doesburg and Piet Mondriaan
Although countless artists embraced and applied the ideas of neo-plasticism during the interwar period, its origins can mainly be attributed to Theo van Doesburg and Piet Mondriaan. They have worked to publicize their ideas through a stream of publications, exhibitions and lectures. Moreover, from 1917 to 1924 they were the constant factors in the otherwise quite turbulent history of the Style Movement. Their views on art were so close that some works by van Doesburg and Mondriaan are almost completely interchangeable. In 1971, van Doesburg's widow, Nelly van Doesburg, commented: "I further remember that Mondriaan and Does once made a painting together, with the express intention that all traces of the individual share would be removed".[35]
Theosophy
When Van Doesburg and Mondriaan first made public their ideas about the new visual arts, both painters were very interested in theosophy.[36] Mondriaan wrote his first theoretical treatises in his then hometown Laren, North Holland. Here he met the theosophist-author Mathieu Schoenmaekers. Mondriaan adopted some of Schoenmaekers' terminology, including the Dutch term beeldend.[37][lower-alpha 3] Van Doesburg and Mondriaan's ideas about the spiritual come from Kandinsky's autobiography Über das geistige in der Kunst [On the spiritual in art] published in 1911. Mondriaan remained interested in theosophy until his death. Van Doesburg distanced himself from theosophy around 1920 and focused on quasi-scientific theories such as the fourth dimension and what he called 'mechanical aesthetics' (design by mechanical means). However, he continued to use the term 'spiritual' in his articles.[36]
Philosophy
But even before van Doesburg distanced himself from theosophy, he leaned more on the philosophical tradition of, for example, Hegel. Unlike Mondriaan, van Doesburg was better informed of the latest developments in theory and adopted many ideas from other theorists, including Wilhelm Worringer. But although Worringer regarded abstraction as the opposite of naturalism, according to van Doesburg, art history as a whole developed towards abstraction. Van Doesburg borrowed the idea that art and architecture was composed of separate elements from WölfflinsKunstgeschichtliche Grundbegriffe from 1915. In his lecture Klassiek-Barok-Modern[Classical-Baroque-Modern] (1918), van Doesburg elaborated on Wölfflin's concept of the contrast between the classical and the baroque, using Hegel's idea of thesis, antithesis and synthesis, where the classical is the thesis, baroque is the antithesis, and modern is the synthesis. [38]
Evolutionary thinking
Schematic overview of the balance between spiritual and natural in different art periods (De Stijl Vol.5 No.2 1922). Legend: E = Egyptians, G = Greeks, R = Romans, M = Middle Ages, R = Renaissance, B = Baroque, B = Biedermeier, IR = Idealism and Reform, NG = Neoplasticism (Neue Gestaltung)
Within neo-plasticism, evolutionary thinking plays an important role. From 1915 onwards, through lectures and publications, van Doesburg worked to demonstrate that art slowly developed as a means of expression from the natural to a means of expression of the spiritual.[39] According to him, the spiritual and the natural in art were not always in balance in the past and neo-plasticism would restore this balance. The diagram reproduced here, which van Doesburg probably drew up as a result of the lectures he gave in Jena, Weimar and Berlin in 1921, clearly indicates the extent to which van Doesburg thought how nature and spirit were related in the various Western European cultural periods. He begins on the far right with the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, where nature and spirit were still in balance. The ancient Romans focused on the natural, while in the Middle Ages the spiritual predominated. In the Renaissance, art again turned towards the natural, only to be surpassed by the Baroque. The Biedermeier and the Idealism and Reform in the nineteenth century restored the balance somewhat, ending in the time of Neoplasticism (Neue Gestaltung), in which the polarity between the natural and spiritual was completely abolished. However, van Doesburg did not see his Neo-plasticism as an ideal final stage or as a utopia. As he states in the same lecture: "Never, anywhere is there an ending. The process is unceasing."[40]
Fourth dimension
A number of contributors to De Stijl mention the fourth dimension several times in passing – for example Gino Severini, "Mesuration de l'espace et 4e dimension",[41] These types of passages also occur in other avant-garde movements and have never really led to concrete results– except for the tesseractical studies by Theo van Doesburg from 1924. Joost Baljeu wrote in 1968 that the fourth dimension can be compared to the expansion or contraction of objects due to the action of universal forces (temperature) and that thus the four-dimensional view is nothing other than the conclusion that all things are constantly on the move. "Reality is not static, but a dynamic process in space and time. ... When one uses the term spatio-temporal, one says nothing more than that an object form changes spatially during a certain period of time as a result of the action of some universal force".[42]
Neoplasticism in painting
The elementary means of expression of painting. Left: visual plane (passive). Right: color (active).
Neoplasticism assumes that when the painter tries to shape reality (or truth), he never does this from what he sees (object, matter, the physical), but from what originates within himself (subject, idea, the spiritual),[43] or as Georges Vantongerloo puts it: "'La grande vérité, ou la vérité absolu, se rend visible à notre esprit par l'invisible".[44] Mondriaan calls this process 'internalization'.[5] In addition, no painting is created by chance. Each painting is an interplay of space, plane, line and color. These are the plastic (visual) means in painting. If the artist wants to approach the truth as closely as possible, he dissolves the natural form into these most elementary visual means. In this way the painter achieves universal harmony. The role of the artist (the individual or the subjective) is limited to determining the relationship between these visual means (the composition). The artist thus becomes a mediator between the spectator and the absolute (the objective).[45] Following Schoenmaekers - who associated the physical with the horizontal, and the spiritual with the vertical - the neo-plastic painters applied horizontal and vertical lines with rectangular areas of color in order to radically simplify painting, purifying art of those elements that are not directly related to expressing "pure reality".[46]
Neoplasticism in sculpture
According to van Doesburg, the sculptor is concerned with 'volume ratio'.[47] He applied a similar principle to architecture, concluding that the sculptor is concerned with 'volume ratio' and the architect with 'ratio of enclosed spaces'.[48] In his 1925 book "Grundbegriffe der neuen gestaltenden Kunst", van Doesburg distinguished two elements for sculpture: a positive element (volume) and a negative element (void).
Neoplasticism in architecture
Theo van Doesburg. Architecture Analysis. 1923.
Architecture, unlike painting, has less 'burden' of meaning. Architectural beauty, according to van Doesburg, is mainly determined by mass ratio, rhythm and tension between the vertical and horizontal (to name just a few visual means in architecture). Many of these ideas come from the German architect Gottfried Semper, for example the great emphasis on walls as a plane and as a divider of space and the principle of 'unity in the multiplicity' (the realisation that buildings, furniture, sculptures and paintings can be seen not only as units, but also as assemblages of separate elements).[49] Semper's ideas were spread in the Netherlands by Berlage, the spiritual father of modern architecture in the Netherlands. It was also Berlage who, after a visit to the United States in 1911, introduced the Netherlands to the work of the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright's ideas found favour with the architects of De Stijl, not least because of 'his mystical contrast between the horizontal and vertical, the external and internal, nature and culture'.[50]
Van Doesburg's first definition of architecture comes from his series of articles The new movement in painting from 1916, in which he writes that "for the architect, space is the first conditions for composition" and that the architect "breaks up space through size proportions realized in stone". He added two elements to this starting point in 1925: an active element (mass) and a passive element (space). He then divides the visual media of architecture into positive elements (line, plane, volume, space and time) and negative elements (void and material).[51]
The architect J. J. P. Oud talks about the primary means of representation and, like van Doesburg, sees a strong similarity with modern painting in that respect. According to Oud, the secondary visual means, decoration, do not contribute to a harmonious architecture. Moreover, he is of the opinion that material must be used in a pure manner (reinforced concrete as reinforced concrete, brick as brick, wood as wood) and that the architect should not be guilty of seeking effect.[52] Restrictions were also imposed in architecture, so that a symbolic or decorative application of the visual means was virtually impossible.[53]
Neoplasticism in film
In 1920, van Doesburg met the filmmakers Hans Richter and Viking Eggeling. They worked on short, abstract films, based on the relationship of shapes, and the development of shapes over time. After this he made films that consisted of moving compositions with squares and rectangles, which were in line with the principles of neo-plasticism. In 1923, van Doesburg wrote that film should not be seen as a two-dimensional art form, but has its own visual means: light, movement and space.[54]
According to van Doesburg, poetry, just like painting, was also 'visual'.[55] According to him, poetry is not only about the meaning of the word, but also about the sound. Just as in painting, van Doesburg strove for a poetry that was not narrative. The New Visual poet used the word directly, without associations with the world around us. This resulted in a series of sound poem and typographical poems. Through typography he created sonority and rhythm, which draws the reader's attention to a particular word. Van Doesburg also published so-called Letter-sound-images under the pseudonym I.K. Bonset; poems that consist only of letters.[56]
Neoplasticism in music
The De Stijl artists also strove for a balanced portrayal of proportion in music. Just as these were determined in painting by size, color and non-color, neo-plastic music is determined by size, tone and non-tone. Mondriaan was of the opinion that music, like painting, should be purified of natural influences by, among other things, tightening the rhythm.[57] The non-tone replaces the old rest, but to be 'visual' it must consist of sound; Mondriaan suggests using noise for this. Just as in painting, tone and non-tone follow each other directly. This creates a 'flat, pure, sharply defined' music.[58]
Neoplasticism in philosophy
The supporters of the new visual art thought that if neoplasticism was consistently implemented, art would cease to exist. The composer Jacob van Domselaer wrote: "Later there will be no need for art; then all images, all sounds will be superfluous!. [59]
Theo van Doesburg saw neoplasticism as a total vision, which he summarized in an article in De Stijl entitled "Tot een Nieuwe Wereldbeelding" [The new worldview]:
Neo-plasticism would not only change the face of the world, but it would also usher in a new way of thinking. With the understanding of the aesthetics of the material, a life-changing experience results in the development of knowledge and wisdom.[60]
↑ Historically the term plastic arts pre-dates neo-plasticism, denoting the visual arts (painting, sculpture, ceramics), as opposed to the art of writing (literature, music).[14] In academic art, the word plastic means physically shapeable materials.[15] As a graduate of the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten [State academy of fine art], it is reasonable to assume that Mondrian was familiar with this usage. In an essay for De Stijl, he wrote "The freedom to make changes in the plastic position of the means of expression is unique to painting. The sister arts, sculpture and architecture, are less free in this respect".[16] (The modern meaning of the word plastic,a synthetic polymer, was unknown at the time.)
↑ By "trialogue", Mondrian means his set of articles for De Stijl.[17][18]
Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world.
De Stijl, incorporating the ideas of Neoplasticism, was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 in Leiden, consisting of artists and architects. The term De Stijl is also used to refer to a body of work from 1917 to 1931 created in the Netherlands. Proponents of De Stijl advocated pure abstraction and universality by a reduction to the essentials of form and colour. They simplified visual compositions to vertical and horizontal, using only black, white and primary colors.
Theo van Doesburg was a Dutch artist, who practiced painting, writing, poetry and architecture. He is best known as the founder and leader of De Stijl. He was married to artist, pianist and choreographer Nelly van Doesburg.
Jan Wils was a Dutch architect. He was born in Alkmaar and died in Voorburg.
Mathieu Hubertus Josephus Schoenmaekers was a former Catholic priest, philosopher and theosophist who developed an esoteric philosophy called Christosophy.
Vilmos Huszár was a Hungarian painter and designer. He lived in The Netherlands, where he was one of the founding members of the art movement De Stijl.
Bart van der Leck was a Dutch painter, designer, and ceramicist. With Theo van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian he founded the De Stijl art movement.
Harry Holtzman was an American artist and founding member of the American Abstract Artists group.
Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan, after 1906 known as Piet Mondrian, was a Dutch painter and art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He is known for being one of the pioneers of 20th-century abstract art, as he changed his artistic direction from figurative painting to an increasingly abstract style, until he reached a point where his artistic vocabulary was reduced to simple geometric elements.
Dutch architecture has played an important role in the international discourse on architecture in three eras. The first of these was during the 17th century, when the Dutch empire was at the height of its power. The second was in the first half of the 20th century, during development of modernism. The third is not concluded and involves many contemporary Dutch architects who are achieving global prestige.
Concrete art was an art movement with a strong emphasis on geometrical abstraction. The term was first formulated by Theo van Doesburg and was then used by him in 1930 to define the difference between his vision of art and that of other abstract artists of the time. After his death in 1931, the term was further defined and popularized by Max Bill, who organized the first international exhibition in 1944 and went on to help promote the style in Latin America. The term was taken up widely after World War 2 and promoted through a number of international exhibitions and art movements.
Robert van 't Hoff, born Robbert van 't Hoff, was a Dutch architect and furniture designer. His Villa Henny, designed in 1914, was one of the earliest modernist houses and one of the first to be built out of reinforced concrete. From 1917 he was an influential member of the De Stijl movement.
Nieuwe Zakelijkheid, translated as New Objectivity or New Pragmatism, is a Dutch period of modernist architecture that started in the 1920s and continued into the 1930s. The term is also used to denote a (brief) period in art and literature. Related to and descended from the German movement Neue Sachlichkeit, Nieuwe Zakelijkheid is characterized by angular shapes and designs that are generally free of ornamentation and decoration. The architecture is based on functional considerations and often includes open layouts that allow spaces to be used with flexibility. Sliding doors were included in some of the designs.
Cornelis van Eesteren was a prominent Dutch architect and urban planner. He worked for the Town Planning department of Amsterdam (1929–59) and was the chairman of the CIAM (1930–1947). He contributed to the De Stijl movement, with its founder Theo van Doesburg, the artist Piet Mondrian, and others.
Albert Jean Gorin was a French neoplastic painter and constructive sculptor. He was a disciple of Piet Mondrian, and remained true to the concept of rigid geometricism and use of primary colors, but pushed the limits of neoplasticism by introducing circles and diagonals. He was known for his three-dimensional reliefs.
Nelly van Doesburg was a Dutch avant-garde musician, dancer, artist and art collector. She performed under her dadaïst alias Pétro van Doesburg and used the pseudonym Cupera for her work as a painter.
Martine Theodora Bax is a Dutch-Canadian art historian and art critic in modern art. Her specializations are the work of Piet Mondrian and the relationship between art and Western Esotericism, especially Modern Theosophy and Anthroposophy.
Hubrecht (Huib) Hoste was a Belgian architect, designer and urban planner. He is considered the pioneer of modern architecture in Belgium.
The Red Cloud is an 1907 early painting by the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian. It was painted in 1907. Mondrian completed the painting while staying near Oele, in the east of the Netherlands. One art historian has noted that the "hard colour contrasts and charged, expressive brushwork" is part of Mondrian's evolution towards an abstract painter.
The Card Players is a 1916/7 painting by the Dutch artist Theo van Doesburg.
Engel, Henk (2009). "Theo van Doesburg & the destruction of architectural theory". In Fabre, Gladys; Hötte, Doris Wintgens (eds.). van Doesburg & the international avant-garde. Constructing a new world. London: Tate Publishing. pp.36–45. ISBN978-1-85437-872-9.
Fabre, Gladys (2009). "A universal language for the arts: interdisciplinarity as a practice, film as a model". In Fabre, Gladys; Hötte, Doris Wintgens (eds.). van Doesburg & the international avant-garde. Constructing a new world. London: Tate Publishing. pp.46–57. ISBN978-1-85437-872-9.
Mondrian, Piet (2019). Müller, Lars (ed.). New Design - Neo-Plasticism - Nieuwe Beelding. Bauhausbücher. Translated by Holtzman, Harry; James, Martin S. Zurich: Lars Müller Publishers. ISBN978-3-03778-586-7.
Mondrian, Piet (August 1921). van Doesburg, Theo (ed.). "The 'Bruiteurs Futuristes Italiens' and 'the new in music'". De Stijl. 4 (8): 114–118.
Mondrian, Piet (February 1922). van Doesburg, Theo (ed.). "'Neo-Plasticism (the New Plasticism) and its (its) realization in music (final)'". De Stijl. 5 (2): 17–21.
Ocvirk, Otto G.; Bone, Robert O.; Stinson, Robert E; Wigg, Philip R. (1968). Art fundamentals: theory and practice. Dubuque, Iowa: WM C. Brown Company. p.160.
Overy, Paul (1991). De Stijl. Thames & Hudson. p.42.
Frampton, Kenneth (1983). "Neoplasticisme en architectuur: formatie en transformatie". In Jaffé, H.L.C.; Bock, Manfred; Friedman, Mildred (eds.). De Stijl: 1917-1931. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff/Landshoff. ISBN90-2908-052-3.
Huszàr, Vilmos (March 1918). van Doesburg, Theo (ed.). "Aesthetische beschouwingen III (bij bijlagen 9 en 10)" [Aesthetic considerations III (appendices 9 and 10)]. De Stijl. 1 (5): 54-57.
Schoenmaekers, Mathieu H. J. (1915). Het nieuwe wereldbeeld[The new worldview]. Bussum C.A.J.v. Dishoeck – via archive.org.
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