Thursday, 13 December 2012

OUGD401 - Lecture Notes: High Culture/ Low Culture - Avant-Garde


  • Avant-garde - idea of doing art/deisng work that is progressive - innovative
  • Being avant-garde in the work you do - challenging, innovating etc
  • Being part of a group - being a member
  • Avant-garde - group of artists who were radical - rebellion, challenge, experiments
  • Marcel Duchamp
  • Innovation
  • Experimentation
  • Originality
  • Creative Genius
  • Romanticism - Chatterton - putting the artist above everyone else - too smart for the general public
  • Whistler - The falling rocker, 1875 - seeking to look Avant-garde - not to be political - caused controversy
  • Two approaches in 19C - 20C
  • Art that is socially committed (artist being the avant-garde of society) Pushing forward political objectives
  • Art that seeks only to expand/progress what art us (in itself & for itself_ art for arts sake
  • Subjective form - the relations & combinations of lines & colours, which when organised give the power to move someone aesthetically - Clive Bell - Critic - Cezanne Mount St. Victorie (1900) - his argument is that this painting is significant orm & if you don't get it, you're stupid. He 'understands' & is 'educated'
  • Had avant-garde art in russia - Stalin stopped it
  • A major problem for the avant-garde is that it seems to necessitate elitism
  • So the members who want to be understood can't be experimental
  • Avant-garde & Kitch
  • Kitch - is commercial art - designed to be sold & mass produced - used to split high culture & low culture
  • Jack Vatriano - Tate won't recognise him as an artist
  • Carl Andre - 'Equivalent VIII' - in celebrating works like this, you are being elitist because people don't commercially understand it
  • K-foundation award - Bill Drummen
  • Radical artists - burnt £1 million
  • 1994 - Turner prize winner also won this award - public vote for for worst artist

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