Is That Art? The Rise of the Avant-Garde

Catalog description

The term avant-garde frequently appears in artistic contexts, referring to practices and practitioners against conventions and established institutions. How did avant-garde, a military term for vanguard in French, come to be associated with radical artistic experiments? Who were (and are) able to become avant-garde, and how? This course addresses these questions through a survey of European art and design from the 1860s to the 1970s, with a particular focus on Paris. We will discuss the “Impressionist” exhibitions, japonisme, abstract art and the dreams of revolutions and utopia, the invention of the ready-made, the death of art according to Dada artists, and more. This roughly chronological survey will be punctuated by examinations of the ways that social categories of identity, including race, gender, class, and sexuality, shaped membership to the avant-garde. Prerequisite: Writing as Inquiry or Sophomore standing. Fulfillment: Humanities Advanced course; IMA elective; IMB major IMA/B elective.