THE 10 MAIN THEMES OF THE AVANT-GARDE - LITERATURE - 2025

The topics of the avantgarde seek to challenge the established rules, supporting and promoting social, political, economic and even scientific reforms. Likewise, avant-garde proposes to experiment to discover new modes of expression.

The avantgarde, also known by the French term avant-garde, is an artistic movement that is characterized by innovative ideas, which are at the forefront (to the front) of all other 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 rather houses other movements called “isms”. Some of these movements are Cubism, Fauvism, Futurism, Expressionism, and 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 specific to the movement.

Thus, 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, punctuation marks could be removed to give the impression of speed.

Next, the main themes of the avant-garde are presented, making reference to the isms.

The Vanguards: General Topics

The avant-garde movements emerged in the first decades of the 20th century, a period marked by wars, the illusion of progress and the superficiality of societies in terms of contemporary problems.

Because they arose around the same time, the avant-gardes had the following themes in common:

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.

2- 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 vanguards was deformation. This is evident at all levels of artistic representation: in sculpture and painting, the objects depicted are often 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 due to war conflicts, the impossibility of recovery, social and economic problems, among others.

5-The modern

As its name indicates, the avant-gardes are ahead of other artistic movements. This is because they deal with contemporary issues.

Specific topics of each ism

Dadaism

Dadaism began in the 1910s in Zurich, Switzerland, thanks to the work of Tristan Tzara. From there, the movement spread to other areas of Europe (Paris, Berlin) and even reached the United States.

This movement emerged as a reaction against the conflicts that would have resulted in the start of the First World War and against the nationalist governments of the time.

The topics covered in Dadaism were:

1. The rejection of bourgeois values ​​within the visual arts.
2. The aversion to nationalism, which was considered one of the causes of the First World War.
3. The rejection of materialism and rationalism, which also influenced the war.
4. The absurd.
5. Disregard for 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, the following stand out:

1. Alienation. Members of the Fauvist movement felt rejected by society, which did not understand their mode of expression.
2. The simplicity and spontaneity. In painting, these two themes were transmitted through color (which was used pure, to emphasize simplicity) and brushstrokes (which were quick and imprecise, to give them the character of spontaneous).
3. The feelings. Color and shape are manipulated so that the receiver perceives the artist's feelings in the work.
4. The rebellion. They favored disrespect for conventions, which was revealed in their creations.

Cubism

Cubism emerged 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, the following stand out:

1. The struggle between what the eye sees and the underlying basic shapes that make up the structure. For example, if the eye sees a lamp, under it there may be a rectangle, a circle, and a triangle.
2. The multiplicity. This was achieved through the representation of different angles of the same object at the same time.
3. Deep understanding of reality. By representing the underlying structure of reality, Cubists demonstrate that they understand reality beyond what the human eye sees.

Futurism

Futurism emerged between 1910 and 1920, in Italy. It was founded by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. This movement is based on the Futurist manifesto (1909), where it is stated that:

Among the most important themes of Futurism are:

1. Movement and its elements: time, space, speed, rhythm, force.
2. It promotes speed and violence, two elements that are related to war.
3. The machine: automobiles, submachine guns and any other mechanical instrument that involves speed or movement.
4. The rejection of the old. Futurism detaches itself from past events and proposes themes that refer to the future, such as technology.
5. The original. By breaking ties with the past, Futurism also rejects everything that is not new, original and authentic.

Expressionism

Expressionism emerged in Germany, almost at the same time as French Fauvism. The most outstanding themes of this movement were the deformation of reality (which gave the work a subjective character), the loneliness of the artist (who was isolated) and the misery in which they lived because of the war.

References

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2. Avant-garde Art. Retrieved on August 8, 2017, from visual-arts-cork.com
3. Cubism. Retrieved on August 8, 2017, from metmuseum.org
4. Futurism Movement, Artists and Major Works. Retrieved on August 8, 2017, from m.theartstory.org
5. Avant-garde. Retrieved on August 8, 2017, from tate.org.uk
6. Given Art. Retrieved on August 8, 2017, from thoughtco.com

7.Expressionism Movement, Artists and Major Works. Retrieved on August 8, 2017, from m.theartstory.org.