Avant Garde
Avant Garde
Avant Garde
In terms of art, Avant-garde is traditionally used to describe any artist, group or style, which is
considered to be significantly ahead of the majority in its technique, subject matter, or
application. The term was reportedly first applied to visual art in the early 19th century by the
French political writer Henri de Saint-Simon, who declared that artists served as the avant-garde
in the general movement of social progress, ahead of scientists and other classes. However, since
the beginning of the 20th century, the term has retained a connotation of radicalism, and carries
the implication that for artists to be truly avant-garde they must challenge the artistic status, that
is, its aesthetics, its intellectual or artistic conventions, or its methods of
production to the point of being almost subversive. Using this interpretation,
Dada (1916-24) is probably the ultimate example of avant-garde visual art,
since it challenged most of the fundamentals of Western civilization.
The most iconoclastic movement of all time is perhaps Dada, founded by Tristan Tzara (1896-
1963) which ignited in Zurich in 1916 before spreading to Paris,
Berlin and New York. Dadaists rejected most, if not all, bourgeois
values of visual art, in favor of a heady mixture of anarchism and
hypermodern innovation. The latter
included a number of subversive ideas
which are now seen as relatively
mainstream, such as the creation of
junk art from 'found objects'
(Duchamp's 'ready-mades'), and the
introduction of 3-D collage (Schwitters' Merzbau).
The next really avant-garde school was Impressionism. The first major movement of modern art
which turned color conventions upside down. All of a sudden, grass could be red and haystacks
could be blue, depending on the momentary effect of sunlight as perceived by the artist. Today,
Impressionism may be seen as mainstream, but back in the 1870s the public, as well as the arts
hierarchy, were scandalized. As far as they were concerned, grass was green, and haystacks were
yellow and that was that.
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Reference:
https://www.widewalls.ch/avant-garde-movement-theater-music-photography-contemporary-art/
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/a/avant-garde