The Influence of Interpersonal Relationships on the Functioning of the Constructivist Network. A Case Study of Poland and the Low Countries - De invloed van intermenselijke relaties op het functioneren van het constructivistische netwerk. Een case study van Polen en de Lage Landen

Abstract

This case study explores the entangled history of the constructivist network in the course of the 1920s and 1930s in light of the interpersonal relationships between some of its representatives. In order to analyse the evolution and influence of such relationships on the functioning of the network, I present data and details of two seemingly distant areas, namely Poland and the Low Countries, and of the dynamics between chosen members of Polish, Dutch and Belgian avant-garde formations such as Zwrotnica, Blok, Praesens, De Stijl, Het Overzicht and Cercle et Carré. Based on tangible traces of direct and indirect relationships left in avant-garde magazines and private correspondence between the artists, I describe how particular ties were formed, maintained and terminated, and how they influenced the exchange between the analysed nodes. This analysis is partially based on Granovetter’s renown theory of ‘strong and weak ties’, which examined the nature of interpersonal connections within and between given circles of individuals, with specific focus on the so-called ‘marginal’ individuals, particularly relevant for the description of avant-garde artists and their formations.