Interbellum

July 7 - September 8, 2024

opening Sunday 7 July 16.00 hrs

Gerrit Rietveld, Man Ray, Marianne Brandt, Piet Zwart, Marcel Breuer,László Moholy-Nagy, El Lissitzky, Paul Schuitema, Paul Citroen, Georgy & Vladimir Stenberg, Piet Zwart, Éva Besnyő, Sybold van Ravensteyn,Gerd Arntz, Bruno Weill, W.H. Gispen, Vilmos Huszár

Interbellum
The interbellum period in European history started in 1918 and ended in 1939, the years between some of the world’s most devastating wars. This contradictory era witnessed both the march of Progressivism and the rise of Fascism. The art of this period was also polarized, as movements like Dada and Surrealism responded to the unprecedented death toll of World War I by embracing absurdity, irrationalism, and the unconscious, while other artists “returned to order” by painting in more classical styles. In a similar way, utopian movements like De Stijl, Bauhaus, Russian Constructivism, and Suprematism pushed the limits of abstraction, while populist figuration flourished with American Regionalism, Russian Socialist Realism, and Mexican Muralism. This period was brought to an abrupt end by the rise of the Nazi party in Germany and Fascism in Italy, leading to World War II.
The emphasis on simplicity in structure, shapes and colors, first explored in Constructivism and Suprematism took flower in two European-based movements: Bauhaus and De Stijl. They were, perhaps, the most influential movements in the mass acceptance of modern art and design.