Avant-garde

In the arts and literature, the term avant-garde comes from the French words meaning 'advance guard' or 'vanguard'. It describes experimental kinds of art or writing, and the artists who create them. These works are usually new and different in style, but at first, they might not be accepted by the established art world.

The idea of the avant-garde is like a military advance guard. It refers to artists and writers who use new styles, forms, and subjects to challenge what is traditionally accepted in art and literature. For example, artists who created the anti-novel and surrealism were ahead of their time in this way.

Some avant-garde artists also care about making society better. They believe that through their art, they can help bring about social, political, and economic changes. In the early 1800s, a writer named Henri de Saint-Simon said that artists have a duty to lead the way in helping people.

In culture, avant-garde art often pushes the limits of what society considers normal. This happened in many areas like poetry, fiction, drama, painting, music, and architecture, especially in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In art history, the influence of avant-garde art can be seen from movements like Dada in the 1910s and 1920s, to the Situationist International in the 1950s and 1960s, and even to postmodernism in the later 20th century.

History

The word avant-garde comes from French and originally described a group of soldiers who explored the land ahead of a big army. Later, in the 1800s, it was used for people in France who wanted big changes in politics and society. Around the middle of the 1800s, the idea of avant-garde started being used for art that was new and different, trying to bring change to society.

In the United States during the 1960s, big changes in culture let artists create works that talked about important issues of the time. These artists often went against common ways of thinking and living, which were strongly tied to popular culture and buying things as a way of life and seeing the world.

Theories

In The Theory of the Avant-Garde, an academic named Renato Poggioli looked closely at the avant-garde in art and as a movement. He studied the history, society, psychology, and philosophy of these new ideas in art. Poggioli showed that artists who make this kind of art share similar values and dreams, much like people called bohemians today.

Another writer, Peter Bürger, wrote Theory of the Avant-Garde in 1974. He talked about how some people think that when big institutions accept art that criticizes society, it loses its power. He believed that this can happen because institutions can take away the strong messages in the art.

Benjamin H. D. Buchloh wrote about these ideas in his book Neo-avantgarde and Culture Industry: Essays on European and American Art from 1955 to 1975. He suggested looking at these political ideas in a special way, called a dialectical approach, to better understand the art.

Society and the avant-garde

See also: Media culture and Spectacle (critical theory)

Avant-garde artists and writers create new and different kinds of art and books. They often go against what most people in society think is normal or good. This means their work can seem strange or unusual to many people.

Some thinkers have said that big companies and media often make simpler, less thoughtful kinds of art just to sell more copies. This can make true, thoughtful art harder to find. Others have talked about how some avant-garde artists have worked with powerful political groups, which caused problems. Overall, the avant-garde is about trying new ideas in art, even if it means challenging what is commonly accepted.

Examples

Music

Avant-garde music includes any style that pushes the limits of traditional music. It can mean music that breaks all rules of the past. Some famous avant-garde musicians from the 1900s are Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, John Cage, Philip Glass, and Laurie Anderson.

In the 1960s, jazz artists like Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane created free and experimental music. In the 1970s, some rock bands were called "art rock" because they were very experimental.

Theatre

Main article: Experimental theatre

Avant-garde ideas were very strong in theatre and performance art, often mixing with new music and visual designs. Important movements included Fluxus, Happenings, and Neo-Dada.

Architecture

Brutalist architecture was heavily influenced by avant-garde ideas.

Photography

Avant-garde photography tries new things with how photos are made and seen. Early photographers linked to the Bauhaus tested new methods, like making images without a camera using light and paper, called photograms. They used unusual angles and close-ups to show everyday things in fresh ways. Artists like László Moholy-Nagy and Man Ray were known for these experiments. In Japan, groups like the Nagoya Photo Avant-Garde also explored new photography styles.

Avant-garde types

Here are some different types of avant-garde art and literature. Each one is a special way artists and writers tried new things that were different from what people usually did before.

• Abstract expressionism – An art style from the United States after World War II
• Art film – A kind of movie
• Artivism – Using art to stand up for what is right
• Beat Generation – A group of writers
• COBRA – A group of artists
• Conceptual art – An art style that uses ideas
• Constructivism – An art and building style from Russia
• Creationism – A way of writing that began around 1912
• Cubism – An art style from the 1900s
• Dadaism – An art style from the early 1900s
• De Stijl – An art style from the Netherlands
• Expressionism – An art style that shows strong feelings
• Fauvism – A style of painting
• Fluxus – A group of artists, musicians, and designers from many countries
• Futurism – An art and social style
• Happening – A type of performance art
• Heta-uma – A style of Japanese comic books
• Imaginism – A Russian poetry style
• Imagism – A poetry style from the 1900s
• Impressionism – An art style from the 1800s
• Incoherents – An art style from France in the 1800s
• Land art – An art style from the 1960s and 1970s
• Les Nabis – A group of French artists
• Lyrical Abstraction – An art style
• Massurrealism – An art style that began in the 1990s
• Minimal art – An art style
• Neo-Dada – An art style from the late 1950s
• Orphism – An art style related to Cubism
• Pop art – An art style that began in the mid-1950s
• Precisionism – An art style
• Primitivism – An art style
• Rayonism – An art style from Russia
• Situationism – A group working for change from 1957 to 1972
• Suprematism – An art style from Russia in the early 1900s
• Surrealism – An art and culture style from the 1920s to 1950s
• Symbolism – A way of art that shows hidden meanings
• Tachisme – A French style of abstract painting
• Universal Constructivism – An art style from 1930 to 1970
• Viennese Actionism – A short art style from Austria
• Vorticism – A British art style that began in 1914
• Nadaism – A cultural style from Colombia
• Stridentism – An art style from Mexico
• Ultraist – A way of writing
• Zenitism – An art style from Yugoslavia from 1921 to 1926