Avant-garde and Kitsch

Postmodernism brought some significant changes to the development and of cultural values. Art, in particular, became more mass oriented and commercial than ever. Based on that, the ideas of high an low art started to merge and interchange their qualities. At some point, the views of the society that were mostly concentrated on the academic values, started to obstruct art forms from further evolving. Avant-garde movement appeared as a means to change this paradigm to a different one which pioneered 'art for art's sake'. 

In his famous article 'Avant-garde and Kitsch', written in 1939, American critic Clement Greenberg pointed tried to answer the main questions around the two movements.According to the critic, avant-garde artists tried to detach art from the contexts imposed by society and politics and create something absolutely independent and self-validated.  He pointed out that the prior investment of avant-garde movement to art was putting forward non-objective or abstract form. Even though abstract implied the domination of form over the content, so that it could not be associated with anything else, avant-garde artists still had their own aesthetic values dictated by preceding to their time. It is impossible that an artist who works in certain sphere has never turned to the past masters in the sphere. Therefore, no matter how original the abstract art forms could be, they still were, at least to some extent, a replication of certain relative values, the 'imitation of the imitation'. Nevertheless, it can't be said that avant-garde had stuck in this historic trap, rather it was open for development and movement. 

Speaking about contemporary representatives of avant-garde As Greenberg put it, avant-garde artist turns attention  'away from the subject matter' and concentrates it 'upon the medium of his own craft'. This statement can be pretty useful when attempting to outline the contemporary representatives of the movement of our pretty art and expression-friendly age. Here I would like to mention young Belgian designer Manon Kundig. Even though she works in quite a standardized sphere as fashion, she manages to preserve her unique approach to designing. Her works are very honest and look more like the real-life representation of every random thought in her head. It is definitely possible to see the signs of abstract approach in her designs. The weird combinations of colors and patterns together with the manner of presentation - the models are totally (even the eyes) covered in textile. All in all I would say that every artist who expresses him/herself genuinely for the sake of creating and expressing ideas to the world can be considered as avant-garde.

Manon Kundig

 2012

In his article, Greenberg also considers another cultural phenomenon that went hand-in-hand with avant-garde - kitsch. Kitsch is told to be a result of industrial revolution and increase of literacy among people who lived outside of big cities. It merged quickly with capitalistic values and spread quickly through mechanical reproduction. Kitsch could not appear without matured cultural tradition. I can be seen as a parasite of the formal culture - taking the valuable parts of art and bringing them to a level of mass understanding. It can be said that kitsch was invented by lower classes for lower classes. According to Greenberg, kitsch always 'changes according to style, but remain always the same'. This leads to the idea of kitsch as something very adaptive and flexible to cultural shifts. Similarly like avant-garde, it is moving in chronological progression. As an example of contemporary kitsch, I would like to mention pop music. Even though the trends in pop music can change quite often, the main structure of the songs stays pretty the same, so as the high popularity of this songs. Another example can be song covers, particularly those that are new versions of very old songs, that became incredibly popular at their time even though the original is little known among the listeners.  

At the time when the phenomenon of kitsch actually emerged, it  Being easily-digestive and 'close' to the people, kitsch had become a tool for propaganda in Germany, USSR and Italy. For example, kitsch was the dominant culture in the USSR and popularized such politically fitting style as social realism. For strict political regimes, it was essential to keep order and maintain understanding of the masses needs. Therefore, it was much easier to lower the cultural plank to the level of middle classes and use art for transmission of political propaganda. What concerns modern politics, kitsch seems to be still actual in the sphere. It can be reflected in the patterned ideas of a valid politician, the sets of rules that they have to follow, including everything that forms their public image. 

Reference list

Greenberg, C. (1939). 'Avant-garde and Kitsch'