Reading Response 04 Essays - Visual Arts, Modern Art, Dutch Art

Reading Response 04 The article Neoplasticism and Constructivism covers several different artistic movements in the early 1900s which fall under the umbrella of abstraction. Though all of the movements/styles differ slightly, most of those touched on within the reading were a response to industrialization and popularization of machines, the three most discussed being Constructivism, De Stijl, and Neoplasticism. Created by Vladimir Tatlin in 1913, Constructivism is based on the "complete acceptance of the contemporary world of machinery and mass-produced objects."1 This movement heavily influenced graphic design and can be seen prominently in soviet propaganda posters. De Stijl was a Dutch movement brought on by Theo van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian in 1917 Amsterdam. Along with being a group of artists, the De Stijl group also pursued "a spiritual vocabulary capable of describing modernity."2 Beginning in 1917, this group published a journal to broadcast their ideas and beliefs.2 The chief objective of this movement was to be a "model for the perfect harmony they believed possible both for man as an individual and society as a whole."1 This movement was based on Dutch idealism, which is to say an ideology of sobriety, clarity, and logic. Because De Stijl focuses mainly on primary colors and line, it is easily translated from fine art into design work. After Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg ended their professional relationship in 1924, van Doesburg created Elamentarism, a modified version of Neo-Plasticism which included the diagonal line. Van Doesburg believed the diagonal line conveyed a sense of "continuous development."3 Most resources list De Stijl and Neo-Plasticism as synonymous terms, since the two share several visual elements. However, the concept of Neo-Plasticism was principally inspired by a work called The Principles of Plastic Mathematics, which suggested that reality is made up of a string of opposing forces, among which were the "formal polarity of horizontal and v ertical axes and the juxtaposition of primary colors."3 In 1917, Piet Mondrian coined the term Neo-Plasticism to indicate the ideas and style seen in De Stijl. The artist described Neo-Plasticism as a reductive method of art-making which removed traditional elements of art (like perspective) and utilized only primary colors and straight lines.3 Mondrian's vision for this movement was to transition the human environment in accordance with De Stijl beliefs, predicting it to seep into forms of art other than just painting. The ideal and abstract composition present in both De Stijl and Neo-Plasticism was, in Mondrian's mind, well-suited to depict the reality of the modern era. In his words, "pure plastic vision should build a new society, in the same way that in art it has built a new plasticism."3