occupies. Two transparent planes extend through its diameter, cross-
ing at right angles at the center of the implied cylindrical column
shape. The opaque colored planes at the base and the inclined open
ring set up counter-rhythms to the crossed upright planes. They estab-
lish the sense of dynamic kinetic movement that Gabo always sought
to express as an essential part of reality.
DE STIJLThe utopian spirit and ideals of the Suprematists and
Constructivists extended beyond Russia. In Holland, a group of
young artists formed a new movement in 1917 and began publishing
a magazine, calling both movement and magazine De Stijl (The
Style). The group’s cofounders were the painters Piet Mondrian
(1872–1944) and Theo van Doesburg (1883–1931). In addition to
promoting utopian ideals, De Stijl artists believed in the birth of a
new age in the wake of World War I. They felt it was a time of bal-
ance between individual and universal values, when the machine
would assure ease of living. In their first manifesto of De Stijl, the
artists declared: “There is an old and a new consciousness of time.
The old is connected with the individual. The new is connected with
the universal.”^41 The goal, according to van Doesburg and architect
Cor van Eesteren (1897–1988), was a total integration of art and life:
We must realize that life and art are no longer separate domains.
That is why the “idea” of “art” as an illusion separate from real life
must disappear. The word “Art” no longer means anything to us. In
its place we demand the construction of our environment in accor-
dance with creative laws based upon a fixed principle. These laws,
following those of economics, mathematics, technique, sanitation,
etc., are leading to a new, plastic unity.^42PIET MONDRIANToward this goal of integration, Mondrian
created a new style based on a single ideal principle. The choice of
the term “De Stijl” reflected Mondrian’s confidence that this style—
the style—revealed the underlying eternal structure of existence. Ac-
cordingly, De Stijl artists reduced their artistic vocabulary to simple
geometric elements. Time spent in Paris, just before World War I, in-
troduced Mondrian to modes of abstraction such as Cubism. How-
ever, as his attraction to contemporary theological writings grew,
Mondrian sought to purge his art of every overt reference to individ-
ual objects in the external world. He initially favored the teachings of
theosophy, a tradition basing knowledge of nature and the human
condition on knowledge of the divine nature or spiritual powers.
(His fellow theosophist, Vassily Kandinsky [FIG. 35-7], pursued a
similar path.) Mondrian, however, quickly abandoned the strictures
of theosophy and turned toward a conception of nonobjective de-
sign—“pure plastic art”—that he believed expressed universal real-
ity. He articulated his credo with great eloquence in 1914:
What first captivated us does not captivate us afterward (like toys).
If one has loved the surface of things for a long time, later on one
will look for something more....The interior ofthings shows
through the surface; thus as we look at the surface the inner image is
formed in our soul. It is this inner image that should be represented.
For the natural surface of things is beautiful, but the imitation of it
is without life....Art is higher than reality and has no direct rela-
tion to reality....To approach the spiritual in art, one will make as
little use as possible of reality, because reality is opposed to the spiri-
tual....[W]e find ourselves in the presence of an abstract art. Art
should be above reality, otherwise it would have no value for man.^43Mondrian soon moved beyond Cubism because he felt “Cubism
did not accept the logical consequences of its own discoveries; it
was not developing towards its own goal, the expression of pure
plastics.”^44 Caught by the outbreak of hostilities while on a visit to
Holland, Mondrian remained there during World War I, developing
his theories for what he called Neoplasticism—the new “pure plastic
art.” He believed all great art had polar but coexistent goals, the at-
tempt to create “universal beauty” and the desire for “aesthetic ex-
pression of oneself.”^45 The first goal is objective in nature, whereas
the second is subjective, existing within the individual’s mind and
heart. To create such a universal expression, an artist must commu-
nicate “a real equation of the universal and the individual.”^46
To express this vision, Mondrian eventually limited his formal
vocabulary to the three primary colors (red, yellow, and blue), the
three primary values (black, white, and gray), and the two primary
directions (horizontal and vertical). Basing his ideas on a combina-
tion of teachings, he concluded that primary colors and values are
the purest colors and therefore are the perfect tools to help an artist
construct a harmonious composition. Using this system, he created
numerous paintings locking color planes into a grid of intersecting
vertical and horizontal lines, as in Composition with Red, Blue, and
Ye l l o w(FIG. 35-56). In each of these paintings, Mondrian altered
the grid patterns and the size and placement of the color planes to
create an internal cohesion and harmony. This did not mean inertia.
Rather, Mondrian worked to maintain a dynamic tension in his
paintings from the size and position of lines, shapes, and colors.Sculpture
It was impossible for early-20th-century artists to ignore the increas-
ingly intrusive expansion of mechanization and growth of technol-
ogy. However, not all artists embraced these developments, as had
the Futurists. In contrast, many artists attempted to overcome the35-56Piet Mondrian,Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow,- Oil on canvas, 1 61 – 8 1 61 – 8 . Kunsthaus, Zürich. © 2008
Mondrian/Holtzman Trust c /o HCR International, VA, USA.
Mondrian created numerous “pure plastic” paintings in which he
locked primary colors into a grid of intersecting vertical and horizontal
lines. By altering the grid patterns, he created a dynamic tension.
950 Chapter 35 EUROPE AND AMERICA, 1900 TO 19451 in.