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Theo van Doesburg

Principles of Neo-Plastic Art

Bauhausbücher 6

Theo van Doesburg was a jack of all trades: painter, writer, architect, typographer, and art theorist. In this volume of the Bauhausbücher, he attempts to make elementary concepts in the visual arts generally comprehensible. He was addressing the “modern artist” of his day, who had to deal with both shifting social paradigms and a changing understanding of art and art theory. Van Doesburg describes theory as a necessary consequence of creative practice. Artists, he says, “do not write about art but from within art.”

The series is published with the generous support of the Rudolf-August Oetker-Stiftung.

Author(s): Theo van Doesburg

Edited by Walter Gropius, László Moholy-Nagy (original series), Lars Müller (English edition) in collaboration with Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung, Berlin

Design: László Moholy-Nagy (original German edition), Theo van Doesburg (cover design)

18 × 23 cm, 7 × 9 in

68 pages, 32 illustrations

hardback

2020, 978-3-03778-629-1, English

Design History Bauhausbücher XX The Century of Print

CHF 35.00

Theo van Doesburg

Theo van Doesburg, pseudonym of Christian Emil Marie Küpper, was a Dutch painter, decorator, poet, and art theorist who was the leader of the renowned De Stijl movement. Initially pursuing a career in the theater, he turned to painting around 1900. He was influenced by post-impressionism and Fauvist styles. In 1917, van Doesburg was instrumental in forming the De Stijl group, while also founding the art review De Stijl. Van Doesburg turned his attention away from painting 1920, wanting to promote De Stijl outside of the Netherlands. He lectured at State Bauhaus in Weimar, until 1923, and his theories influenced Modernist Architects like Le Corbusier, Gropius and van der Rohe. Meanwhile, he also developed an interest in Dada. He exhibited as a Dadaist in the Netherlands in the same year. He returned to painting in 1924 and died 1931 in Switzerland.