AHIS BC 3626y Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Theo Van Doesburg, Piet Mondrian, Antoine Pevsner
25 Aug 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Abstract, Concrete and Kinetic Art
De Stijl: Manifesto I
• Founded in Holland in 1917 dedicated to a synthesis of art, design and architecture
• Founded by Theo Van Doesburg
• De Stijl is the journal where Doesburg published the manifesto
• The struggle of the individual against he universal is revealing itself in the world
war as well as in art
• The new art has created a balance between individual and universal
• Traditions, dogmas, and the domination of the individual are opposed to this
realization
• New plastic art calls for the reformation of art and culture to eradicate obstacles to
development
Theo van Doesburg, from Principles of Neo-Plastic Art, Art in Theory, 281-284
• human figures portrayed in physical attitudes not true to daily life
• in realist paintings, everything is governed by fixed laws
• because the author is working because of artistic and aesthetic laws the artist is
considered about aesthetic and not natural forms.
• The true artists use only natural forms as a means of attaining his aim i.e.: a
harmonious whole in which the equilibrium of the whole is aesthetic unity.
• The essence of the formative idea is expressed by the term cancellation ie not every
element needs to be expressed
• The truly exact work of art is a metaphor of the universe obtained with artistic
means
• The aim of the artist is to create a formative harmony to give truth in the way of
beauty
• The work of art becomes an independent artistically alive (plastic) organism in
which everything counterbalances everything else
Naum Gabo and Anton Pevsner, “The Realistic Manifesto,” Art in Theory, 298-300
• The aim of New Plastic is to express relationships through oppositions of color and
line
• Expression is by means of nature moving away from naturalism to plastic
expressionism
• Plastic expressionism is the idea that something other than mere representation of
actual appearance is important
• New Plastic is about creating unity between man and nature but nature cannot
predominate therefore it must remain abstract
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