Contra-construction in a Circle

1916–1921 · Wirkungsort

Leiden

1921–1924 · Wirkungsort

Weimar

1922

Weimar: trying to win over Gropius

In 1922 van Doesburg moves to Weimar, hoping to impress the Bauhaus director Walter Gropius and to spread the influence of De Stijl. Gropius does not think he should become a Bauhaus master, so van Doesburg settles near the Bauhaus buildings and begins to attract students interested in Constructivism, Dadaism and De Stijl.

1922

Congresses of the International of Arts

Together with El Lissitzky and Kurt Schwitters, van Doesburg pioneers the efforts towards an International of Arts at two congresses, in Düsseldorf and Weimar.

1922

The Dada magazine Mécano under the name I. K. Bonset

During a brief infatuation with Dada van Doesburg publishes the Dada magazine Mécano; under the heteronym I. K. Bonset (possibly from the Dutch “Ik ben zot”, “I am foolish”) he also publishes Dada poetry in De Stijl. Under a second pseudonym, Aldo Camini, he publishes anti-philosophical prose inspired by Carlo Carrà.

1924

The break with Mondrian and Elementarism

As they interact more closely, the introvert Mondrian and the flamboyant, extravagant van Doesburg fall out over their characters, and in 1924 a temporary split occurs; the usual reason given is the diagonal — Mondrian never accepted it, van Doesburg insisted on its dynamism — though the art historian Carel Blotkamp points to their different concepts of space and time. After the split van Doesburg launches “Elementarism”, built on diagonal lines, as a rival to Mondrian’s Neo-Plasticism.