Avant Garde - What does it mean?

[sullen_femme]

I know this is going to make me sound dumb, but what exactly is avant garde? So far the only thing I can find is that it is unexpected. I don't know if that's even right.

 

[SiennaInLondon]

Avant garde are the people and things that are progressive. It is always comprised of a small vanguard of intellectuals and aesthetes who are more advanced than the general population (kind of like TFSers! ). The avant garde always prevent stagnation in art by pushing the boundaries

 

[SiennaInLondon]

Oh I just did a Wikipedia search for you and the definitions are pretty good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avant-garde

 

[sullen_femme]

Thank you so much! I read some other stuff about it, but it didn't make any sense to me.

 

[arlekindearrabal]

avant-garde is a cliché

 

[amchan]

usually when i go to fashion exhibitions, e.g pitti immagine uomo, avant-grand always refers to some more sophisticated clothes sections like suits and formal wears...

 

[SiennaInLondon]

avant-garde is a cliché

Well in terms of it being an oft-used expression yes, but not in terms of it being an obsolete term.

 

[PrinceOfCats]

Well in terms of it being an oft-used expression yes, but not in terms of it being an obsolete term.

I suppose you could argue that taking avant garde in the sense of being 'ahead of time', it is impossible to escape time, thus it could be seen as false...

 

[*sayan]

Avant Guarde is a frech words that refers to the position in a sword. The "Garde" is the piece that separated the blade from the handle. Therefore "Avant (la) Guarde" is the state of being before the blade, on the handle, guiding the movement.

 

[faust]

/\ Hmmm, Ok - if we are here to show off our knowledge, then that term really was appropriated by the art world from the military world, where it meant a small group of highly-skilled soldiers that went ahead of the main troops on a scouting-skirmish-recon mission. It was easy to appropriate for the modernist artists because it automatically described them as being ahead of the pack, being highly skilled, and having a vision ahead of everyone. In any case, Sienna's definition is on the dot, I think.

 

[PrinceOfCats]

/\ Hmmm, Ok - if we are here to show off our knowledge, then that term really was appropriated by the art world from the military world, where it meant a small group of highly-skilled soldiers that went ahead of the main troops on a scouting-skirmish-recon mission. It was easy to appropriate for the modernist artists because it automatically described them as being ahead of the pack, being highly skilled, and having a vision ahead of everyone. In any case, Sienna's definition is on the dot, I think.

I think this is a case for CT Onions...

 

[Deleted member 7575]

There is a great essay by Clements Greenburg called "Avante Garde and Kitsch"

It's about why the masses tend to favor cliche and popular art that is perhaps low brow over something truly progressive.

Anyone interested in anything remotely related to to applied art, plastic arts, or visual culture (architecture, art, fashion, advertising, etc) should make a point to read it

 

[Deleted member 7575]

and sienna and faust are right on the money

 

[*sayan]

sounds like a interesting article, can you post it?

 

[dorien]

 

[faust]

sounds like a interesting article, can you post it?

http://www.sharecom.ca/greenberg/kitsch.html

Coincidentally, I just read it two weeks ago for class. It's a very good essay, but don't take it as bible - this is a purely modernist perspective, and it is no longer recognized as the only correct one. (btw, I hope you didn't get offended at my previous comment - now that I am rereading it, it sounds a little rude)

 

[Bidwell]

Although art critics will insist that the Avantgarde died and is obsolete in our post-modernist society where everything has an origin, I would argue that new ideas and movements continue and will always continue to form without the acknowledgement of the general population. As the definition entails.
The half life is just much shorter than it once was with all our instant media. It is a temporal state after all. Perhaps that in itself is a fairly strong argument against it.

 

[andrew]

Bah, Greenbergian formalism is sooo.... yesterday

More seriously, like faust said, it's not the bible of art theory, Greenberg just posited a specific kind of method and purpose of the arts as he saw fit. It's hardly canon, and his influence over the conceptual direction of the arts lasted a very short amount of time. My main problem with Greenberg's position is that it assumes that new/differnt art aesthetics (such as the ones he sold/pimped in the galleries... *whistle*) is intrinsically better than old art, simply by the notion that art moves forward in progression, as opposed to art being a lateral/directionless transition of expression through whichever culture/indivual creates the work.... I think it's terribly elitist and a very narrow definition of what art constitutes.

 

[faust]

I love tFS - we talk about art'n'sh*t , and even engage in Clembashing!!! No, really - this is cool. I just hope this doesn't get moved to the shopping section

 

[tott]

^

Thanks for the laugh faust!