Theo van Doesburg, Simultaneous Counter-Composition, 1929-30, oil on canvas, Digital image © 2009, The Museum of Modern Art, New York/ Scala, Florence
Van Doesburg was a multi-disciplinary artist. He was a painter, architect, designer, typographer, art critic, poet, editor and publisher. He was in pursuit of changes in all these disciplines, and, above all, of a synthesis of art and life. He wanted to be a ‘constructer of the new life’. In 1917 he founded the periodical De Stijl, a platform for the art movement by the same name, in which artists and architects, such as Piet Mondrian, Bart van der Leck, Vilmos Huszár, J.J.P. Oud and Gerrit Rietveld, searched for a harmonic and universal style. As the editor of the periodical, Van Doesburg soon became the group‘s spokesman, and from 1920 onwards he travelled to Belgium, France and Germany to promote De Stijl. He lectured, wrote articles in international publications, gave De Stijl courses in Weimar to students of the Bauhaus, organised congresses and exhibitions, founded magazines and artists’ collectives, befriended foreign artists, such as the constructivist El Lissitzky and the Dadaist Kurt Schwitters. His forte was the ease with which he managed to connect with many artists. His varied activities soon made Van Doesburg one of the pivotal people within the European avant-garde.
Design is fine. History is mine. 