Exhibition: Van Doesburg and the International Avant-Garde, Tate Modern, London, until May 16 2010
When Theo van Doesburg first produced De Stijl magazine in 1917, his aim was to inspire a new avant-garde generation, creating a universal art regimented by geometric abstraction.
An ambitious new blueprint for typography and design which was as conceptually radical as it was aesthetically linear, Van Doesburg proceeded to encourage artists to take a subversive approach to everything they’d known. In his Dada-orientated Mecano journal, he challenged the world to dispense with traditional approaches to art and embark on a revolution to create the future.
Van Doesburg, Stained-Glass Composition: Female Head (1917). Stained glass. Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands, Van Moorsel donation to the Dutch State, 1981
This exhaustive run-through showcases a total of more than 350 works, perfectly plotted across 11 galleries. It kicks off with cubism and winds through the clinical rigidity of neo-plasticism, schematic modernisation of typeface styles and acclaimed architecture formed with the most simple of colours and shapes.
It takes a pragmatic approach to scoping the influence of De Stijl’s mission. The impact his ideas had upon everything from housing in Utrecht to the structure of poetry, film and theatre suggests his networking skills were on a par with his powerful proposals.
Van Doesburg, Counter-Construction, Axonometric, Private House (1923). Gouache on lithograph The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., 1947
The further you go into the show, the heavier his shadow becomes – by the middle, a cast of names ranging from Sophie Taeuber-Arp to El Lissitzky have got in on the act, and Van Doesburg disappears entirely under his IK Bonset pseudonym for his Dada works.
It’s a maddeningly thorough chasm of one-dimensional diagonals, even scattering scribbled notes and queries among a deluge of supporting ephemera.
Van Doesburg, Counter-Composition VI (1925). Oil on canvas. Courtesy Tate
It can feel intimidating, like meandering through a maze of densely-stacked lines, squares and circles, rehashed and re-aligned over and over again, visiting every conceivable angle, pattern and boundary between primary colours.
Unerringly rational and scientifically precise, Van Doesburg demanded absolute control. In the redevelopment of a “party room” and cinema dancehall in Strasbourg in 1926, his designs covered every last detail, from the look of the building itself to the tables and ashtrays inside it.
Simultaneous Counter-Composition (1929-30). Oil on canvas. Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Sidney and Harriet Janis Collection, 1967. © MoMA
Everything is pure and rigorously executed, right up until the final art concret phase, which suggested that art should be fully realised in the mind first. Given the timing of it, in the 1920s, that idea sounds a bit like a prelude to conceptualism.
If you’re the sort of person swayed by the blood and thunder many artists throw at their work, this timeline of a cool, calculating era is liable to leave you cold.
Sentiment and flamboyance were never much of a consideration for these pioneers of modernism, but spectacular stained glass, a dissolving cow and models for modern European housekeeping shine among a legacy full of passion and illuminating verve.
Open 10am-6pm (10pm Friday and Saturday). Admission £10 (concessions available), book online or call 020 7887 8888.
Exhibition events:
Abstract Connections
Starr Auditorium, March 25, 2pm-5pm, and March 26, 11am-5pm. Accompanying Study Day March 27, 11am-5pm. Joint ticket £25/£20, or £15/£12 each.
Symposium considering broader issues associated with 20th century abstract art, in collaboration with the University of York.
Film Series: The Square, the Line and the Light
Starr Auditorium, April 9-11. Admission £5/£4.
Examining connections between Van Doesburg, De Stijl and experimental film, visit the programme online for details.
Frame and Plane
April 9, 7pm
Talk: Philippe-Alain Michaud
April 10, 3pm
Object, Line and Light
April 10, 7pm
Square and Vertical: Surface
April 11, 3pm
Curators’ Conversation
In exhibition, Level 4. April 26, 6.30pm-8pm. £15/£12 (includes exhibition entry).
Curators Gladys Fabre and Michael White discuss key aspects of the show.
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