De Stijil, the Avant-Garde in Modern Europe and the Emergence of the Modern Movement : Café l'Aubette by Theo van Doesburg

 Café l'Aubette, Theo van Doesburg, (Strasbourg, France); 1927; De Stijil, the Avant-Garde in Modern Europe and the Emergence of the Modern Movement

Concealed behind an 18th century Baroque façade in Strasbourg’s Place Kléber, the Café L’Aubette is a dazzlingly incongruous expression of the 1920s De Stijl movement. 

Designed by Theo van Doesburg, one of the movement’s founders and leading lights, the Aubette’s minimalist, geometric aesthetic was heavily influenced by the work of contemporary artists such as Piet Mondrian. In designing the café’s interiors, Van Doesburg sought to do more than simply place viewers before a painting; he wanted to envelop them in it.

Van Doesburg saw in the cafe the opportunity to implement his own theories of Elementarism. Much like Mondrian, he designed in a purely rectilinear, orthogonal manner; the walls were covered in large grids of brightly colored rectangles. However, Van Doesburg did not rigorously bind himself to the principles of De Stijl - when it did not suit him; he would break them in the interest of creating more expressive, dynamic spaces.

The 

“Ciné-Dancing” Hall

This approach is perhaps best reflected in what he called the “Ciné-Dancing” hall – a space designed to function as both a film theater and a ballroom or cabaret. Here, the characteristic De Stijl rectangles are tilted at a 45-degree angle to the ground, creating a visual tension with the orientation of the doors, windows, and seating cubicles they envelop. Van Doesburg also employed relief to add emphasis and interest to the walls and ceilings; where color would not satisfactorily activate a surface, the slight extrusion of the rectangular panel would compensate.

The Architect

Born in Utrecht, Netherlands in 1883, Van Doesburg (originally named Christian Emil Marie Küpper) was a self-educated artist and architect. It was Van Doesburg who would, in 1917, begin publishing the journal entitled De Stijl, featuring contributions from many of the artists and designers who had influenced him during his career.

He is additionally known for his 1923 manifesto entitled “Tot een constructieve dichtkunst” (“Toward a constructive poetry”) in the Dadaist journal Mécano, in which he expressed beliefs in line with what would become Surrealism. His own design work was focused on the use of color as a means of activating space. This, he believed, helped viewers to better appreciate abstract form.

Van Doesburg often worked in collaboration with other artists, rejecting the egocentrism of individual artistry. It therefore followed that when he was tasked with designing several new interiors for the Café l’Aubette in central Strasbourg, he did so in tandem with artist Jean Arp and his wife, Sophie Täuber.

Sources

Poulin, Richard. Graphic Design Architecture a 20th Century History: A Guide to Type, Image, Symbol, and Visual Storytelling in the Modern World. Beverly: Rockport Publishers, 2012. P79  

Raizman, David Seth. History of Modern Design. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2004. P184-187