PRINCIPLES OF NEO PLASTIC ART

The De Stijl protagonist’s elucidation of the basics of neoplasticism

Painter, writer, architect, typographer, art theorist and leader of the De Stijl movement, Theo van Doesburg (1883-1931) was one of the great modernist polymaths, and in this volume of the Bauhausbücher, he attempts to make elementary concepts in the visual arts generally comprehensible for a broad audience.

Van Doesburg’s book addresses the “modern artist” of his day, who had to deal with both shifting social paradigms and a changing understanding of art and art theory. Unifying a range of disciplines, van Doesburg describes theory as a necessary consequence of creative practice: artists, he says, “do not write about art but from within art.”

Principles of Neo-Plastic Art is a revolutionary synthesis of practice and theory.