Theo Van Doesburg

Theo Van Doesburg was born in The Netherlands in 1883 and passed away in 1931. He was an artist practicing as a typographer, architect and writer however He preferred writing about art rather than practicing it.

He is the founder of De Stijl, dating back to 1917. De stijl was a movement which emphasised construction and function. The Guggenheim collection described this as being appropriate for every aspect of life. All that was used in De Stijl were vertical and horizontal lines and primary colours alongside black and white. in 1921, Van Doesburg, along with Mondriaan, designed the new Logo for De stijl. This logo consisted simply of a Sans Serif type.

An influential work in the world of Type is that of Van Doesburg - The Square Alphabet. It consists entirely of even-weighted strokes. Each letter is design based on a 5x5 raster. Infact the K, R and X were considered illegible to some due to this design. The finished type was then utilised first in 1919.

Square Alphabet 

1919 

Van Doesburg's alphabet revived as Architype Van Doesburg

Bond van Revolutionaire Socialistische Intellectueelen
1919
logodesign

                        

Along his line of work, from 1922 we notice Dadaist influence in his work. He even worked alongside constructivists and took upon great interest in the Bauhaus. In fact in 1924, The De Stijl movement started fading away as Van Doesburg started to introduce Bauhaus and Dadaist influences. Even though he took a great interest in the Bauhaus work, Walter Gropius didn't fully take him on as a lecturer/professor. Due to this Van Doesburg opened up his studio right next to the Bauhaus building to attract as many students as he could with his designs based on constructivism, Dadaism and De Stijl. 

Kleine Dada Soirée
1922
30,2 × 30,2 cm
New York,
Museum of Modern Art 

For many years to come Van Doesburg has influence many graphic designers with his theories and simplified geometric style.

Painting by Theo Van Doesburg.

Theo Van Doesberg : Design Is History. 2014. Theo Van Doesberg : Design Is History. [ONLINE] Available at: <http://www.designishistory.com/1920/theo-van-doesberg/.> [Accessed 20 January 2014].

A History of Graphic Design: Chapter 45; Dadaism; The meeting point of all contradictions. 2014. A History of Graphic Design: Chapter 45; Dadaism; The meeting point of all contradictions. [ONLINE] Available at: <http://guity-novin.blogspot.com/2011/08/chapter-44-dadaism-meeting-point-of-all.html.>[Accessed 20 January 2014].