n De Arte - Editorial

Abstract

de arte 75 includes four research articles. In 'The romantic elements in De Stijl theory', Runette Kruger focuses on romantic aspects of the theoretical underpinnings of the De Stijl movement, concentrating on the writings of founder member Piet Mondrian. She argues that, while early modernist movements like De Stijl have come to be seen as largely classicist by later historians, important artists and theorists were not only romantic in outlook, but moreover were influenced by a specifically Eastern romantic system of monism and its rejection of materialism. These beliefs formed the basis for De Stijl's abstraction, rather than any mere rejection of figuration and decoration or the search for a formalist, functionalist or intellectual abstraction. Although examples of De Stijl art and design are referred to only in order to clarify certain arguments, this kind of re-reading of historical movements is an important contribution to contemporary historical revisions.