Theo van Doesburg

The livewire van Doesburg not only founded de Stijl together with Mondrian, van der Leck and Oud, but was influential within Dada circles (under the pseudonym I. K. Bonset) and at the Bauhaus (as a kind of unofficial satellite), and led moves to promote an International of Arts with Schwitters and Lissitzky. He knew the dadaists Höch, Hausmann and Tzara, met Mies van der Rohe through Richter, designed houses with Vantongerloo, collaborated on projects with Arp, Taueber-Arp and Rietveld, and was delighted by Calder’s ‘Circus’. He split with Oud over a colour-scheme, and with Mondrian over the acceptability of diagonals.