avant-garde
Quick Summary
The term "avant-garde" refers to innovators in art, new concepts, styles, and techniques. It describes artists and their work that are at the forefront of new developments, often challenging traditional norms.1
Historically, avant-garde movements emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, pushing the boundaries of what was considered art. Movements like Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, and Cubism explored new ways of representing reality, emphasizing form, color, and perspective. Later movements, such as Dadaism and Surrealism, reacted to societal upheaval by questioning the definition of art itself and exploring the subconscious.234
While initially radical, avant-garde art has often been assimilated into mainstream culture and the art market, leading to an irony where its "resistance" becomes a marketable commodity.5
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art criticismThe avant-garde problemPainter Gustave Courbet’s rebellious Realism was the case par excellence of new avant-gardism that threw off the centuries-old debate between classicism and radicalism. In 1855 two of his paintings—the now famous Burial at Ornans (1849) and The Artist’s Studio
Read MorePainter Gustave Courbet’s rebellious Realism was the case par excellence of new avant-gardism that threw off the centuries-old debate between classicism and radicalism. In 1855 two of his paintings—the now famous Burial at Ornans (1849) and The Artist’s Studio
Read More- art criticismAvant-garde art comes to America
As the century progressed, art criticism grew in part because of the explosive growth of avant-garde art but also because the new art became newsworthy enough to be covered by the media, especially when big money invested in it. The…
Read MoreAs the century progressed, art criticism grew in part because of the explosive growth of avant-garde art but also because the new art became newsworthy enough to be covered by the media, especially when big money invested in it. The…
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- Trisha Brown
Brown was influenced by the avant-garde style developed most prominently by Merce Cunningham during the 1960s and ’70s. Although grounded in Martha Graham’s technique (Cunningham had been a student of Graham’s), avant-garde dance evolved as a reaction to the more structured and formal classical ballet and classical modern dance. Avant-garde…
Read MoreBrown was influenced by the avant-garde style developed most prominently by Merce Cunningham during the 1960s and ’70s. Although grounded in Martha Graham’s technique (Cunningham had been a student of Graham’s), avant-garde dance evolved as a reaction to the more structured and formal classical ballet and classical modern dance. Avant-garde…
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jewelry20th century…the new forms used in avant-garde jewelry.
Read More…the new forms used in avant-garde jewelry.
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novelAvant-gardismMany innovations in fiction can be classified under headings already considered. Even so revolutionary a work as Joyce’s Finnegans Wake represents an attempt to show the true nature of a dream; this can be regarded as a kind of Impressionism pushed so far that…
Read MoreMany innovations in fiction can be classified under headings already considered. Even so revolutionary a work as Joyce’s Finnegans Wake represents an attempt to show the true nature of a dream; this can be regarded as a kind of Impressionism pushed so far that…
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French literatureThe avant-gardeThese dislocations and disruptions were the dynamic that generated a violent and vigorous resurgence of the avant-garde, attacking the bourgeois rationalist certainties they held responsible for Europe’s decay. The Dada movement, founded in Zürich in 1916, joined forces with the writers clustering round the…
Read MoreThese dislocations and disruptions were the dynamic that generated a violent and vigorous resurgence of the avant-garde, attacking the bourgeois rationalist certainties they held responsible for Europe’s decay. The Dada movement, founded in Zürich in 1916, joined forces with the writers clustering round the…
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- George Antheil
…artistic circles of the Parisian avant-garde. Antheil’s most celebrated work, Le Ballet mécanique, scored for player pianos, automobile horns, electric bells, and airplane propellers, produced a hostile outcry in Paris (1926) and New York (1927); on its revival in 1954 it was considered fairly tame. In 1936 Antheil moved to…
Read More…artistic circles of the Parisian avant-garde. Antheil’s most celebrated work, Le Ballet mécanique, scored for player pianos, automobile horns, electric bells, and airplane propellers, produced a hostile outcry in Paris (1926) and New York (1927); on its revival in 1954 it was considered fairly tame. In 1936 Antheil moved to…
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Luciano Berio…leading representatives of the musical avant-garde. His style is notable for combining lyric and expressive musical qualities with the most advanced techniques of electronic and aleatory music.
Read More…leading representatives of the musical avant-garde. His style is notable for combining lyric and expressive musical qualities with the most advanced techniques of electronic and aleatory music.
Read More- Earle Brown
…the leading American composers of avant-garde music, best known for his development of graphic notation and the open-form system of composition.
Read More…the leading American composers of avant-garde music, best known for his development of graphic notation and the open-form system of composition.
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György Ligeti…composer of the branch of avant-garde music concerned principally with shifting masses of sound and tone colours.
Read More…composer of the branch of avant-garde music concerned principally with shifting masses of sound and tone colours.
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Krzysztof Penderecki…a leader of the European avant-garde. His later works include the two-part Utrenja (1969–71; Morning Prayer), Magnificat (1973–74), Polish Requiem (1980–2005), Cello Concerto No. 2 (1982; Grammy Award, 1998), the opera Ubu Rex (1990–91), and the choral work Phaedra (2002).
Read More…a leader of the European avant-garde. His later works include the two-part Utrenja (1969–71; Morning Prayer), Magnificat (1973–74), Polish Requiem (1980–2005), Cello Concerto No. 2 (1982; Grammy Award, 1998), the opera Ubu Rex (1990–91), and the choral work Phaedra (2002).
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Erik Satie…his musical aesthetic, epitomized the avant-garde ideal of a fusion of art and life into an often startling but unified personality. He sought to strip pretentiousness and sentimentality from music and thereby reveal an austere essence. This desire is reflected in piano pieces such as Trois Gnossiennes (1890), notated without…
Read More…his musical aesthetic, epitomized the avant-garde ideal of a fusion of art and life into an often startling but unified personality. He sought to strip pretentiousness and sentimentality from music and thereby reveal an austere essence. This desire is reflected in piano pieces such as Trois Gnossiennes (1890), notated without…
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Karlheinz Stockhausen…serial music who strongly influenced avant-garde composers from the 1950s through the ’80s.
Read More…serial music who strongly influenced avant-garde composers from the 1950s through the ’80s.
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Jack of Diamonds…years the leading exponents of avant-garde art in Russia. The group’s first exhibition, held in December 1910, included works by the French Cubists Albert Gleizes, Henri Le Fauconnier, and André Lhote; other paintings were exhibited by Wassily Kandinsky and Alexey von Jawlensky, both Russian artists then living in Germany. The…
Read More…years the leading exponents of avant-garde art in Russia. The group’s first exhibition, held in December 1910, included works by the French Cubists Albert Gleizes, Henri Le Fauconnier, and André Lhote; other paintings were exhibited by Wassily Kandinsky and Alexey von Jawlensky, both Russian artists then living in Germany. The…
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Wassily KandinskyMunich period…an active animator of the avant-garde movement in Munich, helping to found in 1909 the New Artists’ Association (Neue Künstlervereinigung). Following a disagreement within this group, he and the German painter Franz Marc founded in 1911 an informally organized rival group, which took the name Der Blaue Reiter (“The Blue…
Read More…an active animator of the avant-garde movement in Munich, helping to found in 1909 the New Artists’ Association (Neue Künstlervereinigung). Following a disagreement within this group, he and the German painter Franz Marc founded in 1911 an informally organized rival group, which took the name Der Blaue Reiter (“The Blue…
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Western theatreAvant-garde in FranceAt the beginning of the 20th century, France was the international centre for innovation in the visual arts, but such was not the case with the theatre. In Paris theatres were dominated by wealthy patrons eager for the farces of Georges Feydeau…
Read MoreAt the beginning of the 20th century, France was the international centre for innovation in the visual arts, but such was not the case with the theatre. In Paris theatres were dominated by wealthy patrons eager for the farces of Georges Feydeau…
Read More- Western theatreOff-Off Broadway and regional theatre
During the 1960s, a strong avant-garde theatre movement known as Off-Off Broadway emerged in New York City. The name is a play on the term Off-Broadway as well as a geographic description: most of these venues tend to be far removed from Broadway theatres—indeed, some have argued that all American…
Read MoreDuring the 1960s, a strong avant-garde theatre movement known as Off-Off Broadway emerged in New York City. The name is a play on the term Off-Broadway as well as a geographic description: most of these venues tend to be far removed from Broadway theatres—indeed, some have argued that all American…
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