Het Vlas

VAN DER LECK, Bart. Het Vlas. Uit het deensch vertaald door Marie Nijland-0van der Meer de Walcheren. By H.C. Andersen. [1], 10, [1] ff., illustrated and decorated throughout by Bart van der Leck. 8vo, 245 x 165 mm., bound in original printed wrappers, in a new cloth folding box. Amsterdam: De Spieghel, [1941].

An important but little-known document of the De Stijl movement, and the only example of an illustrated book from the movement. Bart van der Leck (1876-1958), Dutch painter, designer, and ceramicist, joined forces with Theo van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian to found the De Stijl art movement in the Netherlands. Van der Leck sought to translate physicality into flatness without concern for representing the appearance of things in the natural world. A book of stunning simplicity and almost magical charm. One of 550 copies. From Manet to Hockney 109. De Stijl: Visions of Utopia 68-79. Johnson, Artists' Books in the Modern Era, 1870-2000, No. 114.