Neoplasticism

Neoplasticism

Artistic Movements, Periods and Styles in 5 Points

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Neoplasticism

• Dutch movement created in 1917 and whose main referents are Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg. Both founded the magazine De Stijl, a publication to disseminate their ideas. In its first issue, they published the Neoplasticist manifesto. The movement is also called “De Stijl” or “Dutch Constructivism,” because of its parallelism with Russian Constructivism. It also greatly influenced the birth of the Universal Constructivism developed by Torres García in Uruguay.
• It is part of abstract art (it is one of the first manifestations of geometric abstraction). Abstraction, in general, consists of not imitating external reality. In an attempt to reach the essence, everything superfluous is eliminated until only the elemental prevails, the synthesis. Absolute abstraction, such as that proposed by Neoplasticism, is based on the idea that color and form have their own artistic value.
•  The work of art then becomes a reality independent from the outside world, from “nature,” and by combining shapes and colors, expresses the harmony of the Universe. The Universe and life itself as an abstraction.
• It is a movement that ultimately seeks “pure beauty.” This, according to Mondrian, manifests purely the universal force contained in all things.
• Every composition is reduced to lines and color planes. For the neoplasticists, this “pure beauty” is in the simplicity of geometric forms and in the primary colors plus white, black, and gray. Magic takes place when the simplest elements are combined.

Representative Artists: Mondrian, Van Doesburg, Huszár.

Image: Tableau II (1921/25). Piet Mondrian.

Recommended links:

In the Mind of Mondrian.

The Suprematist Compositions of Malévich.

Timeline: Artistic Movements from Classical Antiquity to Rococo.

Artistic Movements from Neoclassicism till the End of the 19th Century.

When does Modern Art Start?

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