Bauhaus, De Stijl and Russian constructivism – abstract art for a better world

 From 1913 to 1930

Abstract art:

It was influenced by everyday life. The First World War was shocking to the artists of this time and that is why it was influenced by everyday life. This art was to show your emotions and not return to the realistic and taking over abstraction. Piet Mondrian began abstract art by making a painting which is nothing that you see and compare to the world.  Art will show life but will show peace and balance.

 Abstraction now became to move into the style of architecture and this was called functionalism.  It was called functionalism because now they started to add a function to the artwork which had no meaning at all.

In 1917, In Holland, Theo van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian had made a journal called the De Stijl. This journal gave a chance to every artist, poets, sculptures and architects to show their work in this journal.

In 1919, the German Bauhaus artists began to re-unite art and crafts together.

The actual place of constructivism was in Russia. The style constructivism showed emotions and their painting only followed by triangles, perfect rectangles, straight lines meeting somewhere and colours put randomly. This now became Dutch constructivism. Piet Mondrian painted a lot of similar paintings with rectangles, squares and straight lines but he managed to make something different in every single one and show the character.

De Stijl: the journal

 In the 20’s De Stijl had an influence on the school Bauhaus, they were influenced by the expressionists and the work of the Bauhaus students became more geometrical and more technical.  Kandinsky fell in love with the painting of Malevich el Lissitzky which was showing the Avant garde.

In 1917 after the October revolution the young Soviet Union gave the chance for artists to take part in the shaping of society. From the art which is technical and aesthetic they started to construct work from engineers.  Here another art began to be invented poster design, fabric and fashion design, typography, photography, interior design and architectural design.  They wanted to chance from the traditions of the visual art and many architectural projects were being made.

Composition in red yellow and blue Piet Mondrian 1922

 

El Lissitzky Malevich Avant Garde

Bibliography:

1998. The Story of Painting (Compact Knowledge). illustrated edition Edition. Konemann.