De Stijl
- Magazine for the modern visual arts and architecture -Nationally and internationally, De Stijl is seen as one of the key 20th-century developments in Dutch art. Artists and architects involved in De Stijl looked individually and in collaborative projects for new visual arts and architecture. De Stijl was also the name of the magazine that was published between 1917 and 1932 and in which the ideas, manifestos and projects of Stijl members were published.
Theo van Doesburg, chief editor and driving force behind the magazine, used it as a means of propaganda for the movement. He designed covers, business cards, letterheaded paper and envelopes for De Stijl. However, the logo on the magazine’s cover was designed by Vilmos Huszár, the Hungarian painter who collaborated with many Stijl members on interior designing.
The logo is based on the making of elementary forms, something that was a central concept within De Stijl. The black blocks and the remaining forms are an abstraction of a figurative representation. One or two profiles of faces and arms are vaguely recognisable in the motif. Huszár is also known as the probable designer of the title letters which are built in blocks above the logo. Van Doesburg used the logo on the green paper for the first three volumes only (1917-1920). The last issue was published in 1932 in honour of Van Doesburg, who died earlier that same year.
-K. Broos, 'From De Stijl to a New Typography', in: M. Friedman (ed.), De Stijl 1917-1931. Visions of Utopia, Minneapolis / New York 1982, pp. 147-164
-E. Hoek (ed.), Theo van Doesburg. Oeuvrecatalogus (Catalogue of Works), Utrecht, Otterlo 2000