The Avant-garde themes Seek to challenge pre-established norms, supporting and promoting social, political, economic and even scientific reforms. Likewise, the avant-garde proposes to experiment to discover new modes of expression.
He Avant-garde , Also known by the French term avant-garde, is an artistic movement characterized by presenting innovative ideas that are at the forefront of the rest of contemporary movements.
From left to right: Jorge Luis Borges, Oliverio Girondo, José Ortega y Gasset
It should be noted that avant-garde is not a homogeneous artistic movement, but also hosts other movements called"isms".
Some of these movements are the cubism , Fauvism, the Futurism , Expressionism and the Dadaism , to name a few.
These minor movements move within the theme of the challenge of norms and conventions. However, each of them presents specific themes, which are characteristic of the movement.
For example, in futurism one of the themes is speed and aggressiveness. To represent these two elements, avant-garde artists employ certain techniques that"violate"the regular parameters.
For example, in a futuristic text could be suppressed the punctuation marks to give the sensation of speed.
Next, the main themes of the avant-gardism are presented, referring to the isms.
The Vanguards: General Topics
The vanguard movements emerged in the first decades of the twentieth century, a period marked by wars, the illusion of progress and the superficiality of societies in terms of contemporary problems.
Because they emerged more or less at the same time, the avant-gardes had in common the following themes:
1- Pessimistic view of the world
This is due to the damage generated by wars. The avant-garde movements considered that it was impossible to recover from the ravages caused by these warlike conflicts.
Apocalyptic tone
In a way, the war represented an apocalypse, since it meant the end of the world that these artists had known.
3-Loss of forms
One of the common themes in the avant-gardes was deformation. This is evident in all levels of artistic representation: in sculpture and painting, the objects represented are usually amorphous. For its part, in writing, the formal parameters of art are not respected.
4-Existentialism
This theme is reflected through the anguish of the artists. Anguish by the warlike conflicts, by the impossibility of recovery, by the social and economic problems, among others.
5-The modern
As its name indicates, the avant-gardes are in front of the other artistic movements. This is because they deal with contemporary issues.
Specific themes of each ism
Dadaism
Dadaism began in the 1910s in Zurich, Switzerland, thanks to the work of Tristan Tzara. From there, the movement expanded to other parts of Europe (Paris, Berlin) and even came to the United States.
This movement emerged as a reaction against the conflicts that would have resulted in the First World War And against the nationalist governments of the moment.
The themes dealt with in Dadaism were:
- The rejection of bourgeois values within the visual arts.
- The aversion to nationalism, which was considered one of the causes of the First World War.
- The rejection of materialism and rationalism, which also influenced the war.
- The absurd.
- I disappoint the rules.
Fauvism
Fauvism arose around 1905. It is characterized by being fierce, like a beast (hence its name, Fauves Means beasts), colorful, energetic.
Among the topics discussed, we highlight:
- The alienation. The members of the Fauvist movement felt rejected by society, which did not understand their mode of expression.
- Simplicity and spontaneity. In painting, these two themes were transmitted through color (which was used pure, to emphasize simplicity) and brushstrokes (which were fast and imprecise, to give them the character of spontaneous).
- The feelings. The color and form are manipulated so that the receiver perceives the artist's feelings in the work.
- The rebellion. They favor respect for conventions, which was revealed in their creations.
Cubism
Cubism arose between 1900 and 1910, thanks to the works of Pablo Picasso. This movement is characterized by representing a fragmented reality, through the use of basic geometric figures.
Among the themes of Cubism, we highlight:
- The struggle between what the eye sees and the underlying basic forms that make up the structure. For example, if the eye sees a lamp, below it there may be a rectangle, a circle, and a triangle.
- The multiplicity. This was achieved through the representation of various angles of the same object at the same time.
- Deep understanding of reality. In representing the underlying structure of reality, Cubists demonstrate that they understand reality beyond what the human eye sees.
Futurism
Futurism arose between 1910 and 1920, in Italy. It was founded by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. This movement is based on the Futurist manifesto (1909), which states that:
... the magnificence of the world has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed...
Among the most important themes of futurism are:
- The movement and its elements: time, space, speed, rhythm, force.
- It promotes speed and violence, two elements that relate to war.
- The machine: cars, submachine guns and any other mechanical instrument involving speed or movement.
- The rejection of the old. Futurism is disconnected from the events of the past and proposes topics that refer to the future, such as technology.
- The original. By breaking ties with the past, futurism also rejects everything that is not new, original and authentic.
Expressionism
Expressionism arises in Germany, almost at the same time as French Fauvism. The most outstanding themes of this movement were the deformation of reality (which gave a subjective character to the work), the solitude of the artist (who was isolated) and the misery in which they lived because of war.
References
- Avant-garde. Retrieved on August 8, 2017, from wikipedia.org
- Avant-garde Art. Retrieved on August 8, 2017, from visual-arts-cork.com
- Cubism. Retrieved on August 8, 2017, from metmuseum.org
- Futurism Movement, Artists and Major Works. Retrieved on August 8, 2017, from m.theartstory.org
- Avant-garde. Retrieved on August 8, 2017, from tate.org.uk
- Given Art. Recovered on August 8, 2017, from thoughtco.com
7.Expressionism Movement, Artists and Major Works. Retrieved on August 8, 2017, from m.theartstory.org.