Theo van Doesburg

Theo van Doesburg , 1883-1931, Dutch painter, teacher, and writer. Together with Mondrian he founded the magazine De Stijl and successfully proselytized in Europe for the new aesthetic of abstraction, simplicity, clarity, and harmony. He influenced Gropius and taught at the Bauhaus and in Berlin from 1921 to 1923. In 1926 he developed a more dynamic version of De Stijl principles, called elementarism. The Museum of Modern Art, New York City, has several of his compositions.

Doesburg, Theo van (1883–1931). Born Christian Emil Maries Küpper in Utrecht, Netherlands. Though not an architect, he had considerable influence on modern architecture. With Oud and others he established the periodical De Stijl (see stijl, de), taught at the Bauhaus in Weimar (1921–4), and, with van Eesteren, designed houses for a De Stijl exhibition in Paris (1923). With the painter Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp (1886–1966) and Arp's wife, Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889–1943), he designed and decorated the interior of the Café de l'Aubette, Strasbourg (1926–8—destroyed). He also designed a studio and house at Meudon-Val-Fleury, France (1929–31—incom-plete), based on Le Corbusier's Citrohan houses of the early 1920s. He influenced Rietveld's Elementarist designs for the Schroeder House, Utrecht.

Bibliography

Chilvers, Osborne, & Farr (eds.) (1988);
Danzker et al. (eds.) (2000);
Doig (1986);
Hedrik (1980);
Straaten et al. (1993);
Straaten (1994)