Trailblazers of the Abstract. De Stijl versus Modern Art Circle

Antwerp, 13 February1920. At the invitation of Jozef Peeters, the spiritual father of the Modern Art Circle, Theo van Doesburg, the face of De Stijl, delivered a lecture in Antwerp titled Classic –  Baroque – Modern. That evening many Flemish artists came to realize where this new geometric abstract art could lead.

With their geometric forms in full colour, the artists were looking to create a clear, abstract visual language that would be legible by everyone in the same way. The idea was that art would transcend borders and forge new communities, not only in painting, but also in architecture, graphic art, furniture and even interiors. Art, they believed, should relate to daily life with everything from house to coffee table following the same clean-cut principles.

Although the Modern Art Circle is less well-known than De Stijl, it was an equally valuable link in the European network of constructivism. This exhibition gives the Antwerp group the stage it deserves, alongside De Stijl. Even if members of De Stijl regarded the work of their southern neighbours as too flamboyant, ultimately both avant-garde groups believed in the same dream: that of building a better, post-war world. After the destruction of the First World War, it was time to let go of all those regional differences and nationalistic emotions.      

The real highlight of the exhibition has to be Theo van Doesburg’s rare maquette of the interior of Café L’Aubette in Strasbourg. This extraordinary object, from the Nieuwe Instituut’s collection in Rotterdam, is the starting point for a remarkable dialogue with the work of Jozef Peeters and his Antwerp circle.

Also on show, and in this case for the first time, is an early, recently recovered work by Georges Vantongerloo, the only Belgian to sign the De Stijl manifesto and become an internationally influential pioneer of abstract art.   

In the Print Room you will see how together all these paintings, drawings, architectural designs, graphics, furniture and even magazines diffused a new artistic idiom. With work by Theo van Doesburg, Cornelis van Eesteren, J.J.P. Oud, Vilmos Huszár, Jozef Peeters, Jos Léonard, Huib Hoste, Georges Vantongerloo and others.

Trailblazers of the Abstract is mounted by the KMSKA in partnership with the Nieuwe Instituut, museum of architecture, design and digital culture in Rotterdam.