Founder of the De Stijl art movement and magazine, Dutch artist Theo van Doesburg (1883-1931) is a key figure of Modernism and the avant-garde and, surprisingly, this is the first major exhibition in the UK to be devoted to him.
Paving the way for Dadaism, van Doesburg uses a strict method of abstraction in his works which is underpinned by a rigorous theoretical system. The artworks, posters, furniture, videos and sculptures displayed here are worthwhile because of the illuminating light they shed on the political and philosophical climate of Europe in the 1920s, rather than for their artistic merit alone. The repetitive geometry of black vertical and horizontal lines with primary-coloured cubes is what is most recognisable about the De Stijl movement, and many of the lesser artists represented here seem to have been producing derivative works in the same style. But it is the application of this style to exquisite pieces of furniture and architecture which reveals that there is more to this movement that a slavish adherence to minimalistic form; hence the subtitle of this exhibition, ‘Constructing a New World’.
The De Stijl art movement was a collective enterprise which infiltrated design on a functional level and on a grand scale and this is expertly represented here. After the devastation inflicted by the Great War, van Doesburg and his contemporaries turned to formlessness and extreme abstraction to create a utopian future where distinctive colour and form was abandoned for the perfection of the straight line. Take the opportunity to see these works before the exhibition ends in May because you will be rewarded with a much richer experience than the simplicity of the works themselves suggest.
And if you visit this exhibition it is worthwhile catching the excellent Gorky Retrospective…
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