Theo van Doesburg: Principles of Neo-Plastic Art: Bauhausbücher 6 (Bauhausbucher)

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.”