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==<font color=black>Abstract</font>==
 
==<font color=black>Abstract</font>==
I am aiming to inform readers about the art avant-garde. Art is a really important part of my life since I was really little. I attended art classes since I was 6 years old. I have always like to express myself in Art. With all my background in art I never fully understood what this type of art meant. My goal is for the readers to understand what Avant-Garde is and who are some of the most famous artists in this movements. At the end, I will provide a guide to Avant-Garde Art in London. Many of this works are within huge art galleries such as National Art Gallery and Tate Modern. Some are really famous work of art and some may go unnoticed but they all impacted the world being avant-garde.  
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The aim of this project is to inform readers about the art, especially Avant-Garde. Art has been a big part of my life since six years old when I started taking art classes. I have always like to express myself in Art. However, with all my background in art, I never fully understood what this type of art meant. This project is for everyone who wants to learn more about art, from novices that have never encountered art in their lives to experts that have been painting all their lives but never fully understood this concept of art.  My goal was for the readers to understand what Avant-Garde is and who are some of the most famous artists in this movements. At the end, I provided a guide to Avant-Garde art examples in London. Many of these works are within famous art galleries such as National Art Gallery and Tate Modern. Some pieces are really famous works of art while some pieces may go unnoticed however, they all impacted the world by being Avant-Garde. The guide includes four galleries in this city. I considered this to be the top places to observe avant-garde. My contribution to this guide was my opinion towards each magnificent gallery and pictures I took in each gallery.
 
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==<font color=black>Introduction</font>==
 
==<font color=black>Introduction</font>==
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The term avant-garde comes from the military usage and means 'advance guard'. Small groups of particularly bold and attentive soldiers explore the terrain and investigate the conditions. In art, the term 'avant-garde' denotes individuals and/or small groups that in their works and actions, open up new, unexplored territory. The 'avant-gardists' can develop the capacity of impact with particular efficiency. At the center of exhibitions the unparallel energy of the international  'avant-garde' on the threshold of the new century. With Impressionism and Post-Impressionism in London and Paris, Constructivism in Russia and with individual artists such as Edvard Munch and Marcel Duchamp, they have an unprecedented potential of brilliant, creative personalities.<ref name="lannoo">Bischoff, U., Lozo, K., Wit, G. D., & Theerlynck, S. (2016). The power of the avant-garde: now and then. Tielt: Lannoo .</ref>
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Avant-Garde means ''advance guard'' or Vanguard. In the military, they're the ones out front. They are usually small groups of particularly bold and attentive soldiers that see what's ahead, explore the terrain and seek out enemy soldiers. But what does it mean in art? In this milestone, I wrote about what is Avant-Garde, its history and some very prominent artists that have been considered Avant-Gardists. As my deliverable, I created a [[#Guide to Avant-garde in London|Guide to Avant-Garde in London]]. In this guide, I provide many examples of works of art that the Avant-Gardists that I mentioned before. In addition, I also included two galleries that show more recent artists using this style.  
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In art, the term 'Avant-Garde' denotes artists that open up new and unexplored territory in their works and actions. The 'Avant-Gardists' are able to impact society with their ideas through the various painting that they create. "At the center of exhibitions and the most the unparallel energy of the international  'Avant-Garde' on the threshold of the new century." <ref name="lannoo">Bischoff, U., Lozo, K., Wit, G. D., & Theerlynck, S. (2016). The power of the avant-garde: now and then. Tielt: Lannoo .</ref> Artists within Avant-Garde are probably the best-known artists in history; Monet, Picasso, Van Gogh and much more. From Impressionism and Post-Impressionism in London and Paris to Constructivism in Russia and with individual artists such as Edvard Munch and Marcel Duchamp, Avant-Gardists have left an impression in the world. <ref name="lannoo">Bischoff, U., Lozo, K., Wit, G. D., & Theerlynck, S. (2016). The power of the avant-garde: now and then. Tielt: Lannoo .</ref>
 
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Avant-garde is originally a French term, meaning in English vanguard or advance guard (the part of an army that goes forward ahead of the rest). It first appeared with reference to art in France in the first half of the nineteenth century and is usually credited to the influential thinker Henri de Saint-Simon, one of the forerunners of socialism. He believed in the social power of the arts and saw artists, alongside scientists and industrialists, as the leaders of a new society. In 1825 he wrote:
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::::::''We artists will serve you as an avant-garde, the power of the arts is most immediate: when we want to''
 
::::::: spread new ideas we inscribe them on marble or canvas. What a magnificent  destiny'' for the arts
 
:::::::: is that of exercising a positive power over society, a true priestly function '' and of
 
::::::::: marching in the van [i.e. vanguard] of all the intellectual faculties!''
 
 
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==<font color="black">History</font>==
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As mentioned above Avant-Garde is the movement in the 19th-century and 20th-century that was recognized by artists who didn't follow tradition.
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Many of the world's most prominent artists are considered Avant-Garde, but when and where did this term arise from? 
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===The Beginning===
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The term Avant-Garde was first used in art by Henri de Saint-Simon, a Socialist.  As the art historian Donald Egbert said, "It has never previously been pointed out, I believe, that the figurative use of the word Avant-Garde to denote radically progressive leaders of both art and society." <ref>Egbert, D. (1970). The Idea of avant-garde in Art and Politics. Leonardo, 3(1), 75-86. doi:10.2307/1572057</ref> Saint-Simon was a French Utopian Socialist and predecessor of Karl Marx. <ref>Egbert, D. (1970). The Idea of avant-garde in Art and Politics. Leonardo, 3(1), 75-86. doi:10.2307/1572057</ref> In Egbert's paper, The Idea of Avant-Garde in Art and Politics, he explains how Saint-Simon believed that artists were best fitted to change the society and how in his book, ''Opinions littéraires, philosophiques et industrielles'', he said:
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::::::''It is we, artists who will serve you as an Avant-Garde, the power of the arts is, in fact, most immediate and most rapid: when ''
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::::::: ''we wish to '''spread new ideas''' among men, we inscribe them on marble or canvas. What a magnificent  destiny''
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:::::::: ''for the arts is that of exercising a positive power over society, a true priestly function and of''
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::::::::: ''marching in the van [i.e. vanguard] of all the intellectual faculties!'' <ref> T. (n.d.). Avant-garde – Art Term. Retrieved June 18, 2017, from http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/a/avant-garde </ref>
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In this simple quote, Saint-Simon talks about the power art, in general, has and how Avant-Garde plays a very important role in the world of art. Art has been a method of communication of ideas, ideas that artists want to spread and that is why it has power. Avant-Garde is a type of art that spreads new ideas that are going to change society and being in this movement is a smart choice. The key word in this quote is ''new'', as it is what defines artists in this movement and even though many artists don't follow or believe in Saint-Simon's beliefs of Socialism, they still consider themselves a part of this movement.
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Avant-Garde started with realism, most prominently seen with Gustave Courbet. He was strongly influenced by the ideas of Socialism. <ref> Szabolcsi, Miklós. “Avant-Garde, Neo-Avant-Garde, Modernism: Questions and Suggestions.” New Literary History, vol. 3, no. 1, 1971, pp. 49–70. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/468380. </ref>  Realism is also known as first modern art movement followed by Impressionism and because of this, we can conclude that Modern Art and Avant-Garde go hand in hand.
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==<font color="black">History</font>==
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===The Movements and Protagonists===
===The Beginning===
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The nontraditional work of the Avant-Garde is influenced a lot by the environment around it. Each city, each state, each government, has their own social and political issues. Artists absorb those issues and express themselves through art, affecting their attitude through their paintings. The movement may have surged by Socialist ideals but during the years it changed to be just a form to identify art. No matter what the painter tries to express, if he pushes boundaries, uses their creativity as much as possible, and tries to express new ideas, they can be considered part of this movement. <ref> T. (n.d.). Avant-garde – Art Term. Retrieved June 18, 2017, from http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/a/avant-garde </ref>  
Avant-garde art can be said to begin in the 1850s with the realism of Gustave Courbet, who was strongly influenced by early socialist ideas. This was followed by the successive movements of modern art, and the term avant-garde is more or less synonymous with modern. The Period 1851 to 1929 witnessed the rise of the major European avant-garde/modern groups: the Realists, Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, Symbolists, Cubists, and Surrealists. In the time period, it was also a time of rapid social, economic, and political change, encompassing a revolution in communication systems and technology, and an unprecedented growth in the availability of printed images. <ref name="Oxford">Brettell, R. R. (2006). Modern art: 1851-1929: capitalism and representation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.</ref>
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Some avant-garde movements such as Cubism, for example, have focused mainly on innovations of form, others such as Futurism, De Stijl or surrealism have had strong social programs.
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Avant-Garde art is characterized by going against everything that is mainstream and hatred for the outdated and this is why most movements appear in reaction previous ideas. It all started with Expressionism going against Impressionism. After that, most movements appeared in reaction to Impressionism. <ref> Szabolcsi, Miklós. “Avant-Garde, Neo-Avant-Garde, Modernism: Questions and Suggestions.” New Literary History, vol. 3, no. 1, 1971, pp. 49–70. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/468380. </ref> Each movement has a unique technique and pattern to oppose past ones and by intentionally confronting traditional schools their works become Avant-Garde. Because of nontraditional style, many times Avant-Garde is classified as meaningless and without purpose. However, each artist has an objective, and most want to impact the society. Below I wrote about some of the movements and artists within this category and a little of their story.  
 
 
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===The Development===
 
Although the term avant-garde was originally applied to innovative approaches to art making in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it is applicable to all art that pushes the boundaries of ideas and creativity, and is still used today to describe art that is radical or reflects originality of vision.
 
 
 
The notion of the avant-garde enshrines the idea that art should be judged primarily on the quality and originality of the artist’s vision and ideas.
 
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===The Protagonists of this Period (Avantgardists) ===
 
The protagonists of this tendency were united by the urge to break free from tradition and win social acceptance for a new art. Most of them produced their works of art during the first third of the twentieth century until fascism and Stalinism crushed their movements in Europe. <ref name="Feminist">Schor, G. (2014). Woman: the feminist avant-garde of the 1970s: Works from the Sammlung Verbund, Vienna. Brussels: Bozar Books.</ref>  <ref name="Avant Garde">Bürger, P., & Shaw, M. (1984). Theory of the avant-garde. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.</ref> Because of its radical nature and the fact that it challenges existing ideas, processes and forms; avant-garde artists and artworks often go hand-in-hand with controversy. Read the captions of the artworks below to find out about the shock-waves they caused.
 
 
 
 
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===Impressionism===
 
 
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|title = Impression, Sunrise
 
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====Impressionism====
Impressionism started in the early 1870’s as an interval of time between Realism and Symbolism. Artists were detached from objectivity and based their ideals upon sensation. Ideas such as expression of sensations derived from nature without any preconceived knowledge of nature. Many artists used short brush strokes and unblended vivid colors focusing on the effects of light. This style gave many works of art in this period a sense of spontaneity and modernity. <ref name="Art Criticism">Venturi, L. (1941). The Aesthetic Idea of Impressionism. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 1(1), 34-45. doi:10.2307/426742..</ref>
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Impressionists based their style on sensation instead of copying the subject. It started in early 1870's after Realism. In contrary to the realist details, impressionists were objective and expressed their ideas through emotions and sensations. Many artists used short brush strokes and unblended vivid colors focusing on the effects of light. This style gave many works of art in this period a sense of spontaneity and modernity. This new form of art was not traditional and they had to be as creative as they could to give art this new style. Revolutionary artists within this movement include Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre Renoir, among others.  
Impressionism was founded by revolutionary artists such as starting with Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre Renoir, among others. Accused by critics as sketches or impressions and not finished art this artist painted the appearance of reality. Impressionist was too fond of free imagination and rejected objectivity and intellectualism.  
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*'''Claude Monet'''
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**As a French artist, he is one of the best-known artist in this movement and in the entire art history. He was actually so influential to Impressionism that this movement was named after one of his paintings called ''Impression, Sunrise''. The painting was named like that because "you can only see an impression of the sunrise and the person in it because he changed a lot his subjects and how he depicted them". <ref> House, J. (1988). Nature into art. New Haven: Yale University Press.</ref>You have to analyze the painting and interpret what Monet wanted to express. This exactly what Monet and most Impressionists wanted, to make us interpret the impression, as this was his new style. Monet painted many of the same landscapes during different times of the day. This original technique helped him become famous. Each painting is unique, but we can see how can his idea ever-changing image, the indefinite and freely painted forms also point the way toward the more expressive painting techniques.  
 
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*'''Camille Jacob Pissarro'''
====[[Claude Monet]]====
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**Pissarro was one of the of the greatest Impressionist. He used high vivid colors and illumination in landscapes. Following Monet's example, he started painting the same landscape at different times of the day. In many of his paintings, his brushstrokes are very defined making the outline of the model not as defined. This is definitely not abstract art but it is not what was traditional at that time. In most of his paintings, he focused on locals and cities.  
It can be said that Monet is the father of Impressionism with his new technique of immediate perception. We can admire this technique in a painting in the Worcester Art Museum called Water Lilies (1908). You can easily recognize Monet’s “Water Lilies” as he painted approximately 250 of them. Each painting is unique, but we can see how can his idea ever-changing image, the indefinite and freely painted forms also point the way toward the more expressive painting techniques. He painted at different times of the day the same landscape. In the Worcester canvas, we observe how he captures the light and pastel colors possibly indicating that it is early morning. He created this close up of the pond as he was observing with the cluster of lilies in the left bottom corner of the painting. Is easy to recognize them as lilies with his use brushstrokes of warm pinks and pastel green. In the rest, we can find an impression of a reflection of a tree with scattered lilies on it.  By capturing the moment as quick as possible the pond seems realistic but with not as clearly defined contour lines. "My only merit lies in having painted directly in front of nature, seeking to render my impressions of the most fleeting effects,” said Monet in a letter to Evan Charteris. <ref name="Jstor">Francis, H. (1960). Claude Monet Water Lilies. The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 47(8), 192-198.</ref>
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*'''Renoir'''
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** While Pissarro depicted cities and locals, Renoir focused on the topics of rural life. He mainly painted people in their environment with an artistic irregularity. As part of this movement, most of his paintings barely outlined characters and objects in nature. He gave the impression that his subjects were there but he was not precise with the details. These instantaneous brushstrokes of paint and vivid colors fits perfectly in the Impressionistic style.  
 
 
====Pissarro====
 
As Monet, Pissarro used high vivid colors and illumination in landscapes. Camille Jacob Pissarro one of the greatest Impressionist. His paintings were dominated with bluish-green color and small alternating patches. One great example of this is The Boulevard Montmartre at Night (1897) currently located at The National Gallery, London.  With the use of paint strokes and intense colors, Pissarro leaves use with an impression of a boulevard. The use of dark shades of blue and Cadmium yellow lets us know that it is a night view.  The Boulevard Montmartre as he saw it from his hotel room at the Hôtel de Russie on the corner of the Boulevard des Italiens and the Rue Drouot. Another thing Monet and Pissarro did in common was producing a series of paintings of this view at different times of the day. He was quite impressed with the boulevard and every single object in it. He ended up creating an appearance of an aerial view of this boulevard with unclear figures and bright colors, a key Impressionist theme.  
 
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====Renoir====
 
While Pissarro depicted cities and locals, Renoir focused on the topics of rural life. Renoir contended that the chief point in any artistic problem was an irregularity. Pierre Renoir paintings were mainly people in different situations. However, w e can observe that during this impressionist period, how in most of his paintings he barely outlined characters and objects in nature. As he saw art and nature beauty in been irregular. A great example of this is when Renoir worked with Monet at the Grenouillère specially Bathers at La Grenouillère. We can see in that the painting gives an impression of water and people as bathers. The details are not precise because of the way he used the brushstrokes of vivid color. This instantaneous brushstroke and vivid colors fit perfectly in the Impressionistic style.
 
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====Edgar Degas====
 
In the emergence of the Impressionists, we can include Edgar Degas. He was a radical painter that created many portraits of modern women and ballet dancers. In the “Dance Foyer at The Opera”, 1872 by Edgar Degas painting, we can observe how he captures the spontaneous gestures of each ballerina. The structure in this painting and many others that have a compositional logic clearly shows how he parted from Impressionism. He parted from the undefined outlines of the Impressionism and replaced them with linear structuralism as we can see clearly in the background with the mirror in this painting.  
 
 
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===Post-Impressionism===
 
 
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Impressionists paid attention to the fleeting effect of light, atmosphere, and movement. They were spontaneous and with sudden brushstrokes, they created an impression of a landscape. Post-Impressionism or Neo-impressionism emerged in reaction against Impressionism. It was led by Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh and Georges Seurat. They rejected Impressionism’s concern with the spontaneous and naturalistic rendering of light and color. They focused on symbols and structure with a formal order. They still had many things in common with the Impressionists but they stressed the artificiality in their landscapes. The Post-Impressionists also used scientific way as Seurat and Both  Post-Impressionism includes some of the most famous works of modern art such as Van Gogh’s Starry Night.
 
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====Paul Cézanne====
 
Paul Cézanne, like Degas, reacted against Impressionism. Cezanne, however, didn’t follow Degas instead he abandoned linear perspective and stayed small dabs of paint to express light.  His paintings were not exactly depicted of nature. He expresses emotions in his paintings as no longer as an illusion but imaginative and idyllic settings. Two good examples of this description of Cézanne’s works are The Basket of Apples and The Large Bathers. They both have a unique style and warped perspective.
 
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In “The Basket of Apples” there is no defined perspective. The edges of the table don’t match and the cookies seem to be in two different views. This is clearly not an immediate perception as Monet used, Cézanne is using his personal and unique view of the elements with an altered perception. In “The Basket of Apples” Cezanne painted a group of objects on a table, in The Bathers, Cézanne painted a group of nude figures. With blue and ochre as dominant colors, he represented his personal ideas about naturalness and an ideal life. His view of this nature always entailed an observation of his own perception.  He obtained as a result harmony and unity of man and nature in his ideal world. He brings together several classics of art history that the artist then combines with his own view of nature. In ''The Large Bathers'' it is art that takes the place of the cultlike-religious dimension represented by the characters. Nature is perceived and defined through the medium and brings a compromise between naturalistic representation and logic.  Encourage by Pissarro Cézanne abandoned his thickly encrusted surfaces and began to address technical problems of form and color by experimenting with subtly graduated tonal variations, or “constructive brushstrokes,” to create dimension in his objects. This rests on his famous ''taches de coulers'' the 'patches of color that are rudimentary in form and to large extent independent of the objects they are supposed to depict. <ref name="Prestel">Kandinsky, W., Friedel, H., Hoberg, A., & Benesch, E. (2016). Vasily Kandinsky. Munich: Prestel Verlag..</ref> Like in The Bathers demonstrates a developed style and tonal scale, which recurs in his composition.
 
  
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===Post-Modernism===
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Impressionists paid attention to the fleeting effect of light, atmosphere, and movement. They were spontaneous and with sudden brushstrokes, they created an impression of a landscape. Post-Impressionism or Neo-impressionism emerged in reaction against Impressionism. It was led by Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh and Georges Seurat. They rejected Impressionism’s concern with the spontaneous and naturalistic rendering of light and color. They focused in symbols and structure with a formal order. They still had many things in common with the Impressionists but they stressed the artificiality in their landscapes. The Post-Impressionists also used scientific way as Seurat and Both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism include some of the most famous works of modern art such as Monet’s Waterlilies, a Series of Waterscapes and van Gogh’s Starry Night. <ref> Nochlin, Linda, ed. Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, 1874–1904: Sources and Documents. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1966. </ref>
 
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*'''Degas'''
====Georges Seurat====
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**Degas was a radical painter that created many portraits of modern women and ballet dancers. He captured the gestures of each ballerina. The structure in his paintings and his new technique of compositional logic clearly shows how he parted from Impressionism. He parted from the undefined outlines of the Impressionism and replaced them with linear structuralism as we can see clearly in the most of his paintings of ballerinas.  
As styles changed a new technique appeared. Georges Seurat was a leader of the Neo-Impressionist technique and this technique is called Pointillism. This approach consisted of the softly flickering surface of small dots or strokes of color. Seurat was the first to construct and compose using his spirit of the investigator. He went to laboratories and disciple of Chevreul, where he got the initiative boldly discarded all attempt at the immediately picturesque. One of this greatest painting is Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grand Jatte. He gives the viewers an aristocratic feeling and the austerity without sterility of modern creation. Seurat was the first who ceased to consider objects according to their apparent existence and preferred their value as a means of expression as we can clearly see in this painting. We can also appreciate the use of Pointillism technique.  He painted this view of Parisians at a park on the banks of the River Seine with vivid unblended colors. He believed in scientific theories about color and expression, with led him to use lines and points in specific directions in his paintings. In this painting, we can observe the tiny strokes of paint in the entire painting. Instead of using different shades he uses the proximity of the points to create shadows. <ref name="Taschen">Holzwarth, H. W., Taschen, L., & Elger, D. (2011). Modern art. Köln: Taschen.</ref>
 
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====Paul Signac====
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*'''Paul Cezanne'''
Another artist that used Pointillism was Paul Signac. We were influenced by Monet but not as much as he was influenced by Seurat. Instead of focusing in the style of impressionism he went a more scientific way with Neo-Impressionism. Golfe Juan in Worcester exhibits this technique of Pointillism. This painting has small dots of color that create a fuse of vibrant colors. This painting was far from informal, Signac gave a system and structure to this painting. The defined various forms silhouetted against the background. Signac used scientific experiments in his paintings. In Golfe Juan, we can see the tones of blue, green and yellow as in nature as he followed one of these experiments.  
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**Cezanne, like Degas, reacted against Impressionism. Cezanne, however, didn’t follow Degas, instead, he abandoned linear perspective and stayed small dabs of paint to express light. His paintings were not exact depict of nature. He expresses emotions in his paintings as no longer as an illusion but "imaginative and idyllic settings".<ref name="Prestel">Kandinsky, W., Friedel, H., Hoberg, A., & Benesch, E. (2016). Vasily Kandinsky. Munich: Prestel Verlag..</ref> In this new style, he created he used alternated perspective and he represented his personal ideas about naturalness and an ideal life. His view of this nature always entailed an observation of his own perception. He obtained as a result harmony and unity of man and nature in his ideal world. This movement may not have started with him but he defenitly became the most infkuential painter in it. <ref> Galenson, D., & Weinberg, B. (2001). Creating Modern Art: The Changing Careers of Painters in France from Impressionism to Cubism. The American Economic Review, 91(4), 1063-1071. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.wpi.edu/stable/2677826</ref>
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*'''Georges Seurat'''
==== Van Gogh and Paul Gaugin====
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**As styles changed a new technique appeared. Georges Seurat was a leader of the Neo-Impressionist technique and this technique is called Pointillism. This approach consisted of softly flickering surface of small dots or strokes of color. Seurat was the first to construct and compose using his spirit of investigator.<ref name="Taschen">Holzwarth, H. W., Taschen, L., & Elger, D. (2011). Modern art. Köln: Taschen.</ref>
As spiritual and romantic Van Gogh and Paul Gaugin were part of this style too. ''The Brooding Woman'', 1891, Paul Gaugin. This painting was owned by Degas. Degas once had this painting in his studio. The painting contains a Tahitian woman that is off center. This Tahitian woman has a withdrawn expression representing an unjust society and how they have no said their lives and have to stay home. He is getting away from a corrupt civilization. We can see in the pink floor and the lack of a vanishing point that he is being less naturalistic than Impressionists and we can see his Japanese influence in his work by scraping away details. Gaugin also painted ''Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?'' of 1897. This canvas, painted in Tahiti, was to be his legacy and a distillation of his experience of life and art. There is no dynamism or striving towards a goal in this work; there is a serenity of being. This epic overview is reflected in the figures, they represent the various age groups, together represent life itself in its totality.<ref name="Prestel">Kandinsky, W., Friedel, H., Hoberg, A., & Benesch, E. (2016). Vasily Kandinsky. Munich: Prestel Verlag..</ref>
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* '''Vincent Van Gogh'''
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**Van Gogh was a great dutch painter. He was keen for precise details and colors.The colors he used was influenced a lot because of this movement. Before Van Gogh was part of post-modernism he used dark pallete of colors as we can observe in ''The Starry Night''. When he encountered this Post-modernism his style changed, he started using brighter colors  and a new unique style of brushstrokes. "Instead of painting realistic paintings with dark muddy colors he started using bright colors with bold, thick brushstrokes. Van Gogh worked hard, and produced more than 2,000 paintings, drawings and sketches in the last ten years of his life."<ref name="Prestel">Kandinsky, W., Friedel, H., Hoberg, A., & Benesch, E. (2016). Vasily Kandinsky. Munich: Prestel Verlag..</ref> His best-known works were created in the last two years of his life including many works found in the National Gallery. <ref> Painter, P. I. (1922). Vincent van Gogh.</ref>
 +
*'''Pablo Picasso'''
 +
**Picasso  "''Les Demoiselles d'Avignon''. This would become the most important painting of the twentieth century, as the forerunner of Cubism, the most complete and radical artistic revolution since the Renaissance," <ref> Galenson, D., & Weinberg, B. (2001). Creating Modern Art: The Changing Careers of Painters in France from Impressionism to Cubism. The American Economic Review, 91(4), 1063-1071. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.wpi.edu/stable/2677826 </ref> Starting this movement and incredible art works within it, Picasso became "the most celebrated artists of the 20th century" <ref> Galenson, D., & Weinberg, B. (2001). Creating Modern Art: The Changing Careers of Painters in France from Impressionism to Cubism. The American Economic Review, 91(4), 1063-1071. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.wpi.edu/stable/2677826 </ref>
  
{{Infobox
+
=Guide to Avant-Garde in London=
|title = Fountain
+
Hopefully, by now you understand what Avant-Garde is in art and some artists that form part of it. Now, I aim to show you examples of galleries located in London, that contain artists in this movement, especially the ones above, and Avant-Garde in general. I chose four galleries in London that I believe contain the most Avant-Garde. In continuation with the history of Avant-Garde, I wrote about [[#Artists of the Past| Artists of the Past]] in the first two galleries, The National Gallery and Tate Modern. As you read through this section you will encounter a little information about each gallery and my personal opinion about it. You will also find key works within this galleries with a short explanation and pictures that I took when I visited them. Similarly, in the next section, [[#Galleries of the Present|Galleries of the Present]], you can find information about the gallery and my opinion but instead of artists in history, these galleries contain artists that are currently thriving in their careers in art and that have unique techniques, as true Avant-gardists. I also included pictures and the exact address of each gallery.  
|header1 =  
+
<br><br>  
|bodystyle = width:20em
+
==Artists of the Past==
|image = [[File:AP1.PNG|thumb|thumb|right|400px|]]
+
London has so much history in galleries, museums, and the city itself. I chose two galleries that I believe you must see if you want to see Avant-garde. First, the magnificent National Gallery and the spectacular Tate Modern.  
|label2 =Info
+
<br>
|data2=1917
 
}}
 
=== Cubism===
 
Cubism was a revolutionary new approach to representing reality invented in around 1907–08 by artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. They brought different views of subjects (usually objects or figures) together in the same picture, resulting in paintings that appear fragmented and abstracted. Cubism was one of the most influential styles of the twentieth century. It is generally agreed to have begun around 1907 with Picasso’s celebrated painting Demoiselles D’Avignon which included elements of cubist style. The name ‘cubism’ seems to have derived from a comment made by the critic Louis Vauxcelles who, on seeing some of Georges Braque’s paintings exhibited in Paris in 1908, described them as reducing everything to ‘geometric outlines, to cubes’.Cubism opened up almost infinite new possibilities for the treatment of visual reality in art and was the starting point for many later abstract styles including constructivism and neoplasticism.<ref>T. (n.d.). Cubism – Art Term. Retrieved May 16, 2017, from http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/c/cubism</ref>
 
<br><br>
 
====Pablo Picasso====
 
Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet and playwright who spent most of his adult life in France. As one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, and Guernica. <ref name="google">T. (n.d.). Picasso. Retrieved May 18, 2017, fromhttps://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/search?q=Picasso</ref> He created the work that heralded the advent of uncompromising Modernism and completely changed art with ''Les Demoiselles d'Avignon'' of 1907. this painting burned bridges with the past and how artists used to see reality. After this, almost all avant-garde artists became highly individual and researched instead of just watching their subject. This era is called the 'Golden Age'. <ref name="Prestel">Kandinsky, W., Friedel, H., Hoberg, A., & Benesch, E. (2016). Vasily Kandinsky. Munich: Prestel Verlag..</ref>
 
<br><br>
 
  
====Marcel Ducamp====
+
===[[The National Gallery]]===
Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (French: [maʁsɛl dyʃɑ̃]; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French-American painter, sculptor, chess player and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, conceptual art and Dada, although he was careful about his use of the term Dada and was not directly associated with Dada groups. <ref> Ian Chilvers & John Glaves-Smith, A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art. Oxford University Press, p. 203 </ref> Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, as one of the three artists who helped to define the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts in the opening decades of the twentieth century, responsible for significant developments in painting and sculpture.Duchamp has had an immense impact on twentieth-century and twenty first-century art; and he had a seminal influence on the development of conceptual art. By World War I, he had rejected the work of many of his fellow artists (like Henri Matisse) as "retinal" art, intended only to please the eye. Instead, Duchamp wanted to use art to serve the mind. <ref> Audio Arts: Volume 2 No 4. (n.d.). Retrieved June 17, 2017, from http://www.tate.org.uk/audio-arts/volume-2/number-4 </ref>
+
[[File:MAp.PNG||thumb|center|upright=2.0|alt=Avant-Garde]] <br>  
 +
The well known National Gallery in London one of the most visited art galleries in the world. People from all over the world come to this gallery to admire works of art located here. The National Gallery contains works from almost all the artists mentioned above. It contains artists from all over the world and many time periods. This gallery is divided into time periods, in the map above each specific time period is a different color. My personal favorite is the are from 1700-1930 (green exhibitions in the map in Level 2) because it contains almost all the artists I mentioned above.  
 
<br><br>
 
<br><br>
===Abstract Art===
+
All thought the green zone you can find avant-garde artists. For the purpose of this project, I chose three rooms that had the most avant-garde art. In rooms 41,43 and 44, you can see art from Monet's time in London to Van Gogh's famous sunflowers. Each room has an explanation that I took from the galleries website for your better understanding of their location in history and pictures that I took while in the gallery.  
====Vasily Kandisky====
 
{{Infobox
 
|title = Study for Composition VII
 
|header1 =
 
|bodystyle = width:25em
 
|image = [[File:KandiskyY.jpg|x450px|alt=Sofia Reyes]]
 
|caption = Vasily Kandisky
 
|label2 = date
 
|data2 = 1913
 
}}
 
Vasily Kandinsky was among the key pioneers of abstract art, along with the painters such as Piet Mondrian and Kazimir Malevich. He opened up an important new dimension of visual representation that explores another quality in pictures over and beyond portraying the directly apparent reality of the tangible word. <ref name="Prestel">Kandinsky, W., Friedel, H., Hoberg, A., & Benesch, E. (2016). Vasily Kandinsky. Munich: Prestel Verlag..</ref>
 
 
<br><br>
 
<br><br>
The Intuition underlying Kandinsky's art has its origins in sources that rise far beyond all European Art Theory. His travels acquainted him with Modern Artists such as Seurat, van Gogh,
+
====Room 41====
Cezanne, Matisse, and Picasso. Yet the works themselves are devoid of any evidence to suggest that his own painting was influenced by the traditional art of that time. <ref name="Grohmann">Grohmann, W., & Briod, B. (1930). Vassily Kandinsky: sa vie, son oeuvre. Paris: Flammarion.</ref>
+
"The works in this room demonstrate the continued vitality of painting as an artistic medium in the early 20th century. In his later years, Cézanne placed an increasing emphasis on structure and solidity, applying paint in regular, hatched brushstrokes, and using color rather than light to convey forms. Ground-breaking compositions such as his monumental Bathers won the respect of younger artists. Claude Monet had great admiration for Cézanne, whom he had known since the 1860s. Monet’s art, like that of Cézanne, evolved gradually. He explored light and color in series of paintings of specific subjects, undertaken at precise times of the day and recording particular atmospheric conditions. In his garden at Giverny in Normandy, Monet painted near-abstract pictures where forms seem to dissolve to the point of disintegration. These echo the chaos of the First World War when major artistic revolutions were underway." <ref> "Room 41 | Level 2 | Floorplans | Visiting | National ..." N.p., n.d. Web. 21 June 2017.</ref>
 +
<br>
 +
<gallery mode="packed-hover" heights="180">
 +
File:Cezamne.PNG| ''Bathers (Les Grandes Baigneuses)'' <br>Paul Cézanne
 +
Monet_Irises41.PNG| ''Irises'' <br> Claude Monet
 +
Mone_Pond_41.PNG| ''The Water-Lily Pond'' <br> Claude Monet
 +
Monet_Setting.PNG| ''Water-Lilies, Setting Sun'' <br> Claude Monet
 +
</gallery>
 
<br><br>
 
<br><br>
Kandinsky found himself in a controversy to follow tradition and reality. The reality that impressionists like Monet included in their paintings. Kandinsky had new artistic objectives instead of "copying in paint". He sought to capture and represent in his painting a reality behind the visible world. The whole musicality of this paintings becomes evident in the use of the brush, the rhythm of the paint application, the intensity of the colors chosen, and the dimensions of the shapes and color fields were chosen. <ref name="Prestel"></ref>
+
 
 +
====Room 43====
 +
"In the 1880s some of the Impressionist artists were beginning to enjoy success. The cohesiveness of the initial group had waned, and they were exploring new ways of painting. Camille Pissarro began to work in the new style invented by Georges Seurat, whom he met in 1885. Seurat’s approach, based on scientific color theory, involved using countless tiny dots of pure color, placed in close proximity to each other. When viewed at a distance, the eye blends these individual marks into areas of solid color: a technique called divisionism or pointillism." <ref> "Room 43 | Level 2 | Floorplans | Visiting | National ..." N.p., n.d. Web. 21 June 2017.</ref>
 +
<gallery mode="packed-hover" heights="180">
 +
File:SEURAT.PNG|''Bathers at Asnières'' <br> Georges Seurat
 +
File:Gaugin.PNG| ''Bowl of Fruit and Tankard before a Window'' <br> Paul Gauguin
 +
File:VanGough3.PNG| 'Sunflowers' <br> 'Vincent van Gogh'
 +
File:VAnGough2.PNG| 'Farms near Auvers' <br> 'Vincent van Gogh'
 +
File:VAnGough1.PNG|'Van Gogh's Chair' <br> 'Vincent van Gogh'
 +
File:VAnGough.PNG| 'Long Grass with Butterflies' <br> 'Vincent van Gogh'
 +
VanGogh4.PNG|'Two Crabs' <br> 'Vincent van Gough
 +
File:Boulevard_at_night.PNG| ''The Boulevard Montmartre at Night'' <br> Camille Pissarro
 +
File:CP2.PNG| ''The Louvre under Snow'' <br>  Camille Pissarro
 +
</gallery>
 
<br><br>
 
<br><br>
  
=Guide to Avant Gardists in London=
+
====Room 44====
 +
"In the 1860s Edouard Manet shocked exhibition visitors in Paris with his unflinching scenes of modern life, painted boldly and using sober colors. His radical style made a profound impact on many artists.  In the years to come, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Berthe Morisot, Alfred Sisley and other young painters in Paris would display an even stronger interest than Manet in the informal aspects of contemporary life. These artists, who often worked in the open air along the river Seine, experimented with flickering brushstrokes and bright colors to capture the fleeting effects of light. They exploited technical advances, such as oil paint in tubes that could be easily transported. As true avant-gardist, they were ahead of the traditional painters using new techniques. " <ref> "Room 44 | Level 2 | Floorplans | Visiting | National ..." N.p., n.d. Web. 21 June 2017.</ref>
 
<br>
 
<br>
==Artists of the Past==
+
<gallery mode="packed-hover" heights="180">
==[[The National Gallery]]==
+
 
{{Infobox
+
File:MM1.PNG|''The Thames below Westminster''<br> Claude Monet
|title = Snow Scene at Argenteuil
+
File:MM.PNG|''Snow Scene at Argenteuil''<br> Claude Monet
|header1 =
+
File:Manet.PNG|''Woman with a Cat'' <br> Edouard Manet
|bodystyle = width:25em
+
File:Manet1.PNG| ''Music in the Tuileries Gardens''<br> Edouard Manet
|image = [[File:MM.PNG|x450px|alt=Sofia Reyes]]
+
File:Monet_Havre44.PNG| ''The Museum at Le Havre'' <br> Claude Monet
|caption = Claude Monet  
+
File:Monet_Gare_44.PNG| ''The Gare St-Lazare'' <br> Claude Monet
|label2 = date
+
File:Pissarro_Avenue44.PNG|''The Avenue, Sydenham'' <br> Camille Pissarro
|data2 = 1875
+
File:Pissarro_Fox44.PNG|''Fox Hill, Upper Norwood'' <br> Camille Pissarro
}}
+
File:Renoir1.PNG| ''The Skiff (La Yole)'' <br> 'Pierre-Auguste Renoir
<br><br>  
+
File:Renoir_Bay.PNG| ''Moulin Huet Bay, Guernsey'' <br> Pierre-Auguste Renoir
[[File:Boulevard_at_night.PNG|thumb|upright|left|alt=A cartoon centipede reads books and types on a laptop.|]]
+
</gallery>
 
<br><br>
 
<br><br>
Monet spent most of the 1870s in the town of Argenteuil, which is on the Seine just to the north-west of Paris. During this period, leisure activities such as boating made the town increasingly popular with day-trippers from the capital. The exceptionally snowy winter of 1874-5 inspired Monet to paint 18 views of Argenteuil under the snow. Many of them, like this work, focus on the boulevard Saint-Denis where Monet was living.
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==[[Tate Modern]]==
+
===[[Tate Modern]]===
 +
<br>
 
{{Infobox
 
{{Infobox
 
|title =  
 
|title =  
Line 174: Line 164:
 
|data2 = Studio Practice (Room 2)
 
|data2 = Studio Practice (Room 2)
 
}}
 
}}
===Little Dancer Aged Fourteen===
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I consider this Gallery the best place to observe modern and contemporary art. The unique architecture of the building misguide you at first, however, from the lowest level call the "The Tank" to the viewing level where you can see all the city, you can observe incredible works of art. As Modern Art and Avant-garde go together, this place is also great for avant-garde art.  Many of the artists mentioned above can be found here and much more new artists that fall into this category. Below I provide information about three pieces that are irrefutably avant-garde. This pieces will mark this movement forever and being able to admire them in this gallery was amazing.
 +
<br><br>
 +
 
 +
====Little Dancer Aged Fourteen====
 
====Degas====
 
====Degas====
This sculpture was created by [[#Edgar Degas|Degas]]. The model for this sculpture was a ballet student. Degas first made a reddish-brown wax sculpture of her in the nude. Then, aiming for a naturalistic effect, he dressed it in clothing made of real fabrics. When the wax sculpture was first exhibited, contemporaries were shocked by the unprecedented realism of the piece. But they were also moved by the work’s representation of the pain and stress of ballet training endured by a barely adolescent girl. After Degas’ death, his heirs decided to make bronze casts of the wax original.
+
"This sculpture was created by [[#Edgar Degas|Degas]]. The model for this sculpture was a ballet student. Degas first made a reddish-brown wax sculpture of her in the nude. Then, aiming for a naturalistic effect, he dressed it in clothing made of real fabrics. When the wax sculpture was first exhibited, contemporaries were shocked by the unprecedented realism of the piece. He created a sculpture like no one had seen before. Innocent though she may look to us today, Degas's Little Dancer Aged Fourteen caused an outcry when she was first exhibited at the 1881 impressionist exhibition in Paris. The figure was described variously as 'repulsive' and 'a threat to society'. Critics and the public were upset by the realism of the work but also because Degas had represented a provocative modern subject ... dancers were considered part of the seamier side of entertainment and little more than prostitutes. "<ref> Aged Fourteen', Edgar Degas, 1880-1, cast c.1922. Retrieved June 19, 2017, from http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/degas-little-dancer-aged-fourteen-n06076 </ref>  
<br><br>
 
Innocent though she may look to us today, Degas's Little Dancer Aged Fourteen caused an outcry when she was first exhibited at the 1881 impressionist exhibition in Paris. The figure was described variously as 'repulsive' and 'a threat to society'. Critics and the public were upset by the realism of the work but also because Degas had represented a provocative modern subject ... dancers were considered part of the seamier side of entertainment and little more than prostitutes.<ref>T. (n.d.). Avant-garde – Art Term. Retrieved May 16, 2017, from http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/a/avant-garde</ref>
 
 
<br><br>
 
<br><br>
 +
 
{{Infobox
 
{{Infobox
 
|title =  
 
|title =  
Line 189: Line 181:
 
|data2 = Collage (Room 2)
 
|data2 = Collage (Room 2)
 
}}
 
}}
===Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass, Guitar and Newspaper===
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<br><br>
 +
 
 +
====Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass, Guitar and Newspaper====
 
====Pablo Picasso====
 
====Pablo Picasso====
<br>
+
"Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass, Guitar and Newspaper is a small papier collé by Pablo Picasso, produced in 1913. It depicts a series of objects and paper fragments clustered on a table, the oval edge of which has been loosely drawn in the lower right of the composition. The abstracted forms of a guitar, glass, and bottle of the wine cut from white, gray and black colored papers are together with drawn lines indicating other elements of each object’s shape. The objects are shown from several perspectives: while the guitar and table appear to be seen from above; the bottle and glass are shown from the side. Picasso uses this new method of collage in controversy to traditional art." <ref>T. (n.d.). 'Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass, Guitar and Newspaper', Pablo Picasso, 1913. Retrieved May 16, 2017, from http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/picasso-bottle-of-vieux-marc-glass-guitar-and-newspaper-t00414</ref>
Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass, Guitar and Newspaper is a small papier collé by Pablo Picasso, produced in 1913. It depicts a series of objects and paper fragments clustered on a table, the oval edge of which has been loosely drawn in the lower right of the composition. The abstracted forms of a guitar, glass, and bottle of the wine cut from white, gray and black coloured papers are juxtaposed with drawn lines indicating other elements of each object’s shape. The word ‘Vieux’, handwritten on the bottle’s neck, is partly obscured by and overlaps, the black forms. Two pieces cut from the same newspaper Le Figaro – including the masthead – are posted at right-angles towards the center. Fragments of two embroidery transfer motifs extend the arrangement towards the edges of the paper. The objects are shown from several perspectives: while the guitar and table appear to be seen from above; the bottle and glass are shown from the side. The light blue support is faded and its edges are irregular. <ref>T. (n.d.). 'Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass, Guitar and Newspaper', Pablo Picasso, 1913. Retrieved May 16, 2017, from http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/picasso-bottle-of-vieux-marc-glass-guitar-and-newspaper-t00414</ref>
 
 
<br><br>
 
<br><br>
 
{{Infobox
 
{{Infobox
Line 203: Line 196:
 
|data2 = Explore Materials and Objects (Room 4)
 
|data2 = Explore Materials and Objects (Room 4)
 
}}
 
}}
===Fountain===
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<br><br>
 +
 
 +
====Fountain====
 
====Duchamp====
 
====Duchamp====
"Fountain" is one of Duchamp’s most famous works and is widely seen as an icon of twentieth-century art. The original, which is lost, consisted of a standard urinal, usually presented on its back for exhibition purposes rather than upright, and was signed and dated ‘R. Mutt 1917’. Tate’s work is a 1964 replica and is made from glazed earthenware painted to resemble the original porcelain. The signature is reproduced in black paint. Fountain has been seen as a quintessential example, along with Duchamp’s Bottle Rack 1914, of what he called a ‘readymade’, an ordinary manufactured object designated by the artist as a work of art (and, in Duchamp’s case, interpreted in some way).
+
"Fountain" is one of Duchamp’s most famous works and is widely seen as an icon of twentieth-century art. The original, which is lost, consisted of a standard urinal, usually presented on its back for exhibition purposes rather than upright, and was signed and dated ‘R. Mutt 1917’. Tate’s work is a 1964 replica and is made from glazed earthenware painted to resemble the original porcelain. The signature is reproduced in black paint. Fountain has been seen as a quintessential example, along with Duchamp’s Bottle Rack 1914, of what he called a ‘readymade’, an ordinary manufactured object designated by the artist as a work of art (and, in Duchamp’s case, interpreted in some way). Marcel Duchamp submitted his sculpture Fountain (an upside-down urinal) for an exhibition organised by the Society of Independents under a false name. Although the society was supposed to show everything submitted by members, the work scandalized the board and was rejected. Duchamp is cited as one of the most important figures in modern art, inspiring many later artists and art movements – notably conceptual art." <ref> Tate. "Avant-garde – Art Term." Tate. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 June 2017. </ref>
 
<br><br>
 
<br><br>
===Equivalent VIII===
 
====1966====
 
Carl Andre/VAGA, New York and DACS, London 2017
 
When Carl Andre’s Equivalent VIII, twenty-seven fire bricks organized in a rectangle, was exhibited at Tate in 1972 outraged public and critics dismissed it as 'a pile of bricks' and cartoons deriding the sculpture appeared in the national media. Andre and other minimalist artists often used impersonal materials (such as bricks or fluorescent lamps) to question the notion that the artwork is a unique creation by a gifted individual and to prevent its commodification.
 
Each of Andre’s Equivalent series consists of a rectangular arrangement of 120 firebricks. Although the shape of each sculpture is different, they all have the same height, mass, and volume, and are, therefore ‘equivalent’ to each other. Andre’s sculptures are often assembled using common industrial materials, which he arranges into a simple geometric pattern. His sculptures are always placed on the floor rather than on plinths. Not simply objects to look at, they become part of the environment, altering the viewer’s relationship to the surrounding space.
 
 
<br><br>
 
<br><br>
 +
 
==Galleries from the Present==
 
==Galleries from the Present==
==Serpentine Galleries==
+
The National Gallery and Tate Modern have been in London for a long time in the contrary to the next two galleries I mentioned bellow. These new galleries show young artists that are starting to excel in their careers in art. 
[[File:ASG.PNG|thumb|alt=Avant-Garde]]
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<br>
 +
===Serpentine Galleries===
 +
{{Infobox
 +
|title = Serpentine Gallery
 +
|header1 =
 +
|bodystyle = width:25em
 +
|image =[[File:SG6.JPG|thumb|alt=Avant-Garde]]  
 +
|caption = Back View
 +
|label2 = location
 +
|data2 =
 +
Kensington Gardens
 +
London
 +
W2 3XA
 +
}}
 +
The Serpentine Gallery is one of London's most popular art gallery showing modern and contemporary artwork. It is located in the center of Kensington Gardens. It has two galleries on either side of the Serpentine lake: the Serpentine Gallery and the Serpentine Sackler Gallery, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. Hyde Park is one of my favorite places in London, especially because of Serpentine Galleries. They provide a space where artists can show their paintings and everyone in the park can see it. They have seasonal shows and a summer pavilion. The architecture of the pavilions is unique and it is said to be the world's first and most ambitious architecture program of its kind.
 
<br><br>
 
<br><br>
 +
 +
====Seasonal Shows====
 +
This two galleries change seasonally and have eight shows per year. I focused on Summer 2017 summer shows: The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever! by Grayson Perry and A Series Of Utterly Improbable, yet Extraordinary Renditions by Arthur Jafa.
 +
 +
<br><br>
 +
'''Serpentine Gallery': The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever! by Grayson Perry''' <br>
 +
"Perry’s abiding interest in his audience informs his choice of universally human subjects. Working in a variety of traditional media such as ceramics, cast iron, bronze, printmaking and tapestry, Perry is best known for his ability to combine delicately crafted objects with scenes of contemporary life. His subject matter is drawn from his own childhood and life as a transvestite, as well as wider social issues ranging from class and politics to sex and religion." <ref> Grayson Perry: The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever! (2017, June 08). Retrieved June 18, 2017, from http://www.serpentinegalleries.org/exhibitions-events/grayson-perry-most-popular-art-exhibition-ever </ref>
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<gallery>
 +
Image: SG01.JPG|
 +
Image: SG02.JPG|
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Image: SG03.JPG|
 +
Image: SG04.JPG|
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Image: SG05.JPG|
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Image: ASG.PNG|
 +
</gallery>
 +
'''Serpentine Sackler Gallery: A Series Of Utterly Improbable, yet Extraordinary Renditions by Arthur Jafa. ''' <br>
 +
"Jafa’s work is driven by a recurrent question: how might one identify and develop a specifically Black visual aesthetics equal to the ‘power, beauty and alienation’ of Black music in US culture? <br>
 +
This new exhibition, titled A Series of Utterly Improbable, Yet Extraordinary Renditions, takes the form of a site-specific installation at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery in which Jafa has transformed the space with a series of new assemblages that encompass film, photography and found footage. The title of the exhibition relates to the sense of absence that Jafa observes as haunting Black life. The word ‘rendition’ refers to the artist’s interpretation of the aesthetics associated with Black being, which are historically-inscribed in images, objects and artefacts. By re-performing these narratives in the present, Jafa imagines and constructs new possibilities for making them visible. In addition to his exhibition at the Sackler Gallery, Jafa will also devise a new, site-specific event as part of the 2017 Park Nights series, which takes place in the Serpentine Pavilion, this year designed by Francis Kéré." <ref> "Arthur Jafa: A Series of Utterly Improbable, Yet Extraordinary Renditions." Serpentine Galleries. N.p., 08 June 2017. Web. 21 June 2017. <http://www.serpentinegalleries.org/exhibitions-events/arthur-jafa-series-utterly-improbable-yet-extraordinary-renditions>. </ref>
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<gallery>
 +
Image: SG07.JPG|
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Image: SG08.JPG|
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Image: SG09.JPG|
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Image: SG10.JPG|
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Image: SG11.PNG|
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Image: SG12.JPG|
 +
</gallery>
 
<br><br>
 
<br><br>
 +
 +
{{Infobox
 +
|title = Serpentine Gallery
 +
|header1 =
 +
|bodystyle = width:25em
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====Pavillion====
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Each year, they commission an architect to create a summer pavilion. The first one was created by Zaha Hadid in 2000 and since then there has being one every year. In 2016, the temporary venue was created by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels. He created this venue with fiberglass frame. The pyramid of blocks kind of resembles a glacial crevasse.
 
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"For the 2017 Serpentine Pavillion was designed by Francis Kere. He was born in Burkina Faso, where he got the inspiration for this pavilion. He was inspired the tree that serves as a central meeting point for life in this village, his home. He used a new artistic and architectonic method into the design and he seeks to connect its visitors to nature and each other. An expansive roof, supported by a central steel framework, mimics a tree's canopy, allowing air to circulate freely while offering shelter against London rain and summer heat.  He is trying to portrait a tree and how gathering under it was refreshing. He also portraits culture as he explains that he uses indigo blue because it is a key color for his culture. He invites everyone in to admire his work of art and new design.  Just as this artist, every artist that creates a pavilion uses a new technique in his or er design. They can be considered avant-gardists because of this new methods. " <ref> "Serpentine Pavilion 2017 designed by Francis Kéré." Serpentine Galleries. N.p., 23 June 2017. Web. 21 June 2017. <http://www.serpentinegalleries.org/exhibitions-events/serpentine-pavilion-2017-designed-francis-k%C3%A9r%C3%A9>. </ref>
 
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===Unit London===
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==Unit London==
 
 
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|caption = 1917, replica 1964
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11AM - 7PM, EVERY DAY
 
11AM - 7PM, EVERY DAY
 
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"Located in Soho, classified by tourists as one of the most Avant-Garde neighborhood, it is a spot for shadiness and cheap food and music, stand-up comedy and cabaret performances. This is a great area to experience different forms of culture, from cuisine to clubs."<ref> Neighborhood Guide to London. (2016, December 23). Retrieved June 17, 2017, from https://www.bohemiantrails.com/5-neighborhoods-of-london-avant-garde-traveler/ </ref> Unit London is located right it the middle of all this. This gallery looks simple from the outside but has some of the best modern art in London. You can see culture, Emotions, techniques in each work of art, "Founded in 2013 by two young artists, Unit London was born from a desire to break down the barriers of elitism and to include people in the  contemporary art world - whether they be enthusiasts, first-timers, new collectors, or seasoned collectors and institutions - we strongly believe that everybody should be able to enjoy the world's most amazing art. "<ref> About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved June 17, 2017, from http://theunitldn.com/about-us/ </ref>  
Located in Soho, classified by tourists as one of the most Avent-Garde neighborhood, <ref> Neighborhood Guide to London. (2016, December 23). Retrieved June 17, 2017, from https://www.bohemiantrails.com/5-neighborhoods-of-london-avant-garde-traveler/ </ref> is a spot for shadiness and cheap food and music, stand-up comedy and cabaret performances. This is a great area to experience different forms of culture, from cuisine to clubs. Unit London is located right it the middle of all this. Founded in 2013 by two young artists, Unit London was born from a desire to break down the barriers of elitism and to include people in the  contemporary art world - whether they be enthusiasts, first-timers, new collectors, or seasoned collectors and insitutions - we strongly believe that everybody should be able to enjoy the world's most amazing art.
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This Gallery is very inclusive and is open 7 days a week until the early evening. They provide a space for artists and visitors an open space to express themselves.
 
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"We have always wanted to provide a platform for the world's most exciting talent to showcase their work to the widest possible audience. We don't believe that incredible work should be reserved for only the select few. We are strong believers in the power of online, and we use digital and social media to broadcast our artists and their work to audiences all over the globe." <ref> About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved June 17, 2017, from http://theunitldn.com/about-us/ </ref>   
This ethos of inclusivity is at the very heart of our company, and our door is always open to the public, 7 days a week until the early evening. <ref> About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved June 17, 2017, from http://theunitldn.com/about-us/ </ref>   
 
 
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We have always wanted to provide a platform for the world's most exciting talent to showcase their work to the widest possible audience. We don't believe that incredible work should be reserved for only the select few. We are strong believers in the power of online, and we use digital and social media to broadcast our artists and their work to audiences all over the globe.
 
 
In selecting our artists, we put talent and ability before reputation, status, or profile. We therefore represent artists spanning a broad range of different ages, races, cultures and backgrounds. The common denominator between them all is undeniable talent.
 
 
  
 
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Most Artists in this gallery are  multi-talented urban artist whose unique aesthetic and technic has made them famous. A great example of this is the artists is Schoony. His brilliance has brought the art world by storm and his hyperrealist sculptures question war, mortality and contemporary society. PRISMATIC BRUISER is one of his most famous sculptures. It reminds me of Degas's
 
 
Schoony’s background is rooted in special effects and prosthetics for the film industry, with his career spanning over twenty-five years. Since the age of fifteen he has worked on over a hundred films, his work and reputation for high class pioneering techniques has reached the far corners of the world.
 
 
He took the plunge into a new career as an artist to share his passion for life cast sculpture. Schoony exploded onto the London art scene in 2008 at Mutate Britain’s “One Foot Under the Grove”, one of the most pioneering street art exhibitions to date. His most iconic life cast sculpture “Boy Soldier” first unveiled outside the houses of parliament as an anti-war protest, is now a household name, featured in Hollywood blockbusters and collected internationally.
 
 
Since then Schoony has experimented with many different themes, examining capitalism and pop culture, with his keen eye and technical ability Schoony remains one of the few artists working within the life-cast discipline. Schoony’s career has gone from strength to strength, exhibiting widely throughout Europe and the US.  His work has won him critical acclaim from the Times, The Independent and ArtNet News, he is also featured on Artsy.
 
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Most Artists in this gallery started as street artists with u a unique aesthetic and technic has made them famous. A great example of this is the artists is Schoony. His brilliance has brought the art world by storm and his hyperrealist sculptures question war, mortality and contemporary society. PRISMATIC BRUISER is one of his most famous sculptures. It reminds me of Degas's. "Schoony’s background is rooted in special effects and prosthetics for the film industry, with his career spanning over twenty-five years. Since the age of fifteen he has worked on over a hundred films, his work and reputation for high-class pioneering techniques has reached the far corners of the world." Altogether with his unique technique  Schoony has had many different themes, examining capitalism and pop culture. He has a keen eye that provides the capacity to create such magnificent sculptures. As the gallery says it their webpage: "Schoony’s career has gone from strength to strength, exhibiting widely throughout Europe and the US. His work has won him critical acclaim from the Times, The Independent and ArtNet News, he is also featured on Artsy." <ref> About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved June 17, 2017, from http://theunitldn.com/about-us/ </ref> 
Tom French is a highly collectible and well-regarded British artist whose powerful monochromatic canvases are driven by his efforts to engage with the subconscious, and a rigorous pursuit of truth.
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Another British artist that has had an exhibition at this gallery is Tom French, a highly collectible and well-regarded artist. He creates monochromatic canvases. This black and white canc=vases are unique and have very precise detail. In these canvases you can find faces, figures and skulls repeat and shadow one-another. This simplicity of colors allows him to transmit his message easily with no distraction. "Each scene is a snapshot of a story, with a dynamic between the characters working on various levels, which ties into the bigger picture; there's much more to these images than illusion alone." Tom French
French’s paintings are a visual discourse on Dualism, a philosophy that posits that the mind and the brain are not identical, that the mind is the seat of consciousness and the brain the seat of intellect. His concerns with the duality of the physical and the metaphysical, are reflected in the double images that populate his artwork. Faces, figures and skulls repeat and shadow one-another, there are echoes of Rorschach’s psychometric tests in the mirroring and the monochromatic palette, and intuitive, gestural brushstrokes tap the subconscious.
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'''Tom French'''
Tom French’s artistic and intellectual investigations into the human psyche are an attempt to understand the flux and flow of our emotional reactions and reflections on our subjective self. His research has taken him through the Beat Generation novels and poems of William Burroughs, the Surrealist essays of Andre Breton, the work of Dada pioneer Max Ernst and early experiments in psychotherapy.
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In his pursuit of truth French chooses a monochrome palette, the simplicity of which allows for narrative without distraction and for the play of light and dark to expand in unexpectedly haunting ways.  
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French has had critically acclaimed solo exhibitions both in the UK and the US, collaborations have included the cover artwork for a release of the soundtrack to cult movie Donnie Darko.  
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"Each scene is a snapshot of a story, with a dynamic between the characters working on various levels, which ties into the bigger picture; there's much more to these images than illusion alone." Tom French
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'''Other Works in the Gallery'''
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=Conclusion=
 
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In this section, provide a summary or recap of your work, as well as potential areas of further inquiry (for yourself, future students, or other researchers).
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To conclude, Avant-Garde was a revolutionary movement of art that was recognized by its original and they had the crusade to influence society. Most of the artists in this movements are the world's most known artists including Monet, Van Gogh, and Picasso. Their styles are very different but their originality and goals were the same. I believe that this style is more than just a movement of art because of how it has affected the world and how it still does. In the guide I created I display both the past and the present avant-garde. I provide a map to the right for a better understanding of their location. The National Gallery(red) and Tate Modern(blue) are the two galleries with artist of the past and Serpentine Gallery(green) and Unit London(yellow) are the galleries with artists of the present. This project limits to some movements of avant-garde, however, further research will show that are a lot more movements. Each movement affects the world somehow. Art is more than a form of expression, it has the power to change the world.
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Latest revision as of 09:40, 23 June 2017

Avant-Garde in London

by Sofia Reyes

Avant-Garde

Abstract

The aim of this project is to inform readers about the art, especially Avant-Garde. Art has been a big part of my life since six years old when I started taking art classes. I have always like to express myself in Art. However, with all my background in art, I never fully understood what this type of art meant. This project is for everyone who wants to learn more about art, from novices that have never encountered art in their lives to experts that have been painting all their lives but never fully understood this concept of art. My goal was for the readers to understand what Avant-Garde is and who are some of the most famous artists in this movements. At the end, I provided a guide to Avant-Garde art examples in London. Many of these works are within famous art galleries such as National Art Gallery and Tate Modern. Some pieces are really famous works of art while some pieces may go unnoticed however, they all impacted the world by being Avant-Garde. The guide includes four galleries in this city. I considered this to be the top places to observe avant-garde. My contribution to this guide was my opinion towards each magnificent gallery and pictures I took in each gallery.

Introduction


A cartoon centipede reads books and types on a laptop.

Avant-Garde means advance guard or Vanguard. In the military, they're the ones out front. They are usually small groups of particularly bold and attentive soldiers that see what's ahead, explore the terrain and seek out enemy soldiers. But what does it mean in art? In this milestone, I wrote about what is Avant-Garde, its history and some very prominent artists that have been considered Avant-Gardists. As my deliverable, I created a Guide to Avant-Garde in London. In this guide, I provide many examples of works of art that the Avant-Gardists that I mentioned before. In addition, I also included two galleries that show more recent artists using this style.

In art, the term 'Avant-Garde' denotes artists that open up new and unexplored territory in their works and actions. The 'Avant-Gardists' are able to impact society with their ideas through the various painting that they create. "At the center of exhibitions and the most the unparallel energy of the international 'Avant-Garde' on the threshold of the new century." [1] Artists within Avant-Garde are probably the best-known artists in history; Monet, Picasso, Van Gogh and much more. From Impressionism and Post-Impressionism in London and Paris to Constructivism in Russia and with individual artists such as Edvard Munch and Marcel Duchamp, Avant-Gardists have left an impression in the world. [1]




History

As mentioned above Avant-Garde is the movement in the 19th-century and 20th-century that was recognized by artists who didn't follow tradition. Many of the world's most prominent artists are considered Avant-Garde, but when and where did this term arise from?

The Beginning

The term Avant-Garde was first used in art by Henri de Saint-Simon, a Socialist. As the art historian Donald Egbert said, "It has never previously been pointed out, I believe, that the figurative use of the word Avant-Garde to denote radically progressive leaders of both art and society." [2] Saint-Simon was a French Utopian Socialist and predecessor of Karl Marx. [3] In Egbert's paper, The Idea of Avant-Garde in Art and Politics, he explains how Saint-Simon believed that artists were best fitted to change the society and how in his book, Opinions littéraires, philosophiques et industrielles, he said:

It is we, artists who will serve you as an Avant-Garde, the power of the arts is, in fact, most immediate and most rapid: when
we wish to spread new ideas among men, we inscribe them on marble or canvas. What a magnificent destiny
for the arts is that of exercising a positive power over society, a true priestly function and of
marching in the van [i.e. vanguard] of all the intellectual faculties! [4]


In this simple quote, Saint-Simon talks about the power art, in general, has and how Avant-Garde plays a very important role in the world of art. Art has been a method of communication of ideas, ideas that artists want to spread and that is why it has power. Avant-Garde is a type of art that spreads new ideas that are going to change society and being in this movement is a smart choice. The key word in this quote is new, as it is what defines artists in this movement and even though many artists don't follow or believe in Saint-Simon's beliefs of Socialism, they still consider themselves a part of this movement.

Avant-Garde started with realism, most prominently seen with Gustave Courbet. He was strongly influenced by the ideas of Socialism. [5] Realism is also known as first modern art movement followed by Impressionism and because of this, we can conclude that Modern Art and Avant-Garde go hand in hand.



‘Avant Garde Art: What’s Going Up in the 80’s?’. Edinburgh International Festival, The Richard Demarco Gallery 1980
Avant Garde Art: What’s Going Up in the 80’s?’. Edinburgh International Festival, The Richard Demarco Gallery 1980
Info Joseph Beuys
Tate / National Galleries of Scotland
© DACS, 2017

The Movements and Protagonists

The nontraditional work of the Avant-Garde is influenced a lot by the environment around it. Each city, each state, each government, has their own social and political issues. Artists absorb those issues and express themselves through art, affecting their attitude through their paintings. The movement may have surged by Socialist ideals but during the years it changed to be just a form to identify art. No matter what the painter tries to express, if he pushes boundaries, uses their creativity as much as possible, and tries to express new ideas, they can be considered part of this movement. [6]

Avant-Garde art is characterized by going against everything that is mainstream and hatred for the outdated and this is why most movements appear in reaction previous ideas. It all started with Expressionism going against Impressionism. After that, most movements appeared in reaction to Impressionism. [7] Each movement has a unique technique and pattern to oppose past ones and by intentionally confronting traditional schools their works become Avant-Garde. Because of nontraditional style, many times Avant-Garde is classified as meaningless and without purpose. However, each artist has an objective, and most want to impact the society. Below I wrote about some of the movements and artists within this category and a little of their story.

Impression, Sunrise
Sunrise.PNG
Info 1908

Impressionism

Impressionists based their style on sensation instead of copying the subject. It started in early 1870's after Realism. In contrary to the realist details, impressionists were objective and expressed their ideas through emotions and sensations. Many artists used short brush strokes and unblended vivid colors focusing on the effects of light. This style gave many works of art in this period a sense of spontaneity and modernity. This new form of art was not traditional and they had to be as creative as they could to give art this new style. Revolutionary artists within this movement include Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre Renoir, among others.

  • Claude Monet
    • As a French artist, he is one of the best-known artist in this movement and in the entire art history. He was actually so influential to Impressionism that this movement was named after one of his paintings called Impression, Sunrise. The painting was named like that because "you can only see an impression of the sunrise and the person in it because he changed a lot his subjects and how he depicted them". [8]You have to analyze the painting and interpret what Monet wanted to express. This exactly what Monet and most Impressionists wanted, to make us interpret the impression, as this was his new style. Monet painted many of the same landscapes during different times of the day. This original technique helped him become famous. Each painting is unique, but we can see how can his idea ever-changing image, the indefinite and freely painted forms also point the way toward the more expressive painting techniques.
  • Camille Jacob Pissarro
    • Pissarro was one of the of the greatest Impressionist. He used high vivid colors and illumination in landscapes. Following Monet's example, he started painting the same landscape at different times of the day. In many of his paintings, his brushstrokes are very defined making the outline of the model not as defined. This is definitely not abstract art but it is not what was traditional at that time. In most of his paintings, he focused on locals and cities.
  • Renoir
    • While Pissarro depicted cities and locals, Renoir focused on the topics of rural life. He mainly painted people in their environment with an artistic irregularity. As part of this movement, most of his paintings barely outlined characters and objects in nature. He gave the impression that his subjects were there but he was not precise with the details. These instantaneous brushstrokes of paint and vivid colors fits perfectly in the Impressionistic style.



Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
18007934901 671083581b b.jpg
Info 1907

Post-Modernism

Impressionists paid attention to the fleeting effect of light, atmosphere, and movement. They were spontaneous and with sudden brushstrokes, they created an impression of a landscape. Post-Impressionism or Neo-impressionism emerged in reaction against Impressionism. It was led by Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh and Georges Seurat. They rejected Impressionism’s concern with the spontaneous and naturalistic rendering of light and color. They focused in symbols and structure with a formal order. They still had many things in common with the Impressionists but they stressed the artificiality in their landscapes. The Post-Impressionists also used scientific way as Seurat and Both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism include some of the most famous works of modern art such as Monet’s Waterlilies, a Series of Waterscapes and van Gogh’s Starry Night. [9]

  • Degas
    • Degas was a radical painter that created many portraits of modern women and ballet dancers. He captured the gestures of each ballerina. The structure in his paintings and his new technique of compositional logic clearly shows how he parted from Impressionism. He parted from the undefined outlines of the Impressionism and replaced them with linear structuralism as we can see clearly in the most of his paintings of ballerinas.
  • Paul Cezanne
    • Cezanne, like Degas, reacted against Impressionism. Cezanne, however, didn’t follow Degas, instead, he abandoned linear perspective and stayed small dabs of paint to express light. His paintings were not exact depict of nature. He expresses emotions in his paintings as no longer as an illusion but "imaginative and idyllic settings".[10] In this new style, he created he used alternated perspective and he represented his personal ideas about naturalness and an ideal life. His view of this nature always entailed an observation of his own perception. He obtained as a result harmony and unity of man and nature in his ideal world. This movement may not have started with him but he defenitly became the most infkuential painter in it. [11]
  • Georges Seurat
    • As styles changed a new technique appeared. Georges Seurat was a leader of the Neo-Impressionist technique and this technique is called Pointillism. This approach consisted of softly flickering surface of small dots or strokes of color. Seurat was the first to construct and compose using his spirit of investigator.[12]
  • Vincent Van Gogh
    • Van Gogh was a great dutch painter. He was keen for precise details and colors.The colors he used was influenced a lot because of this movement. Before Van Gogh was part of post-modernism he used dark pallete of colors as we can observe in The Starry Night. When he encountered this Post-modernism his style changed, he started using brighter colors and a new unique style of brushstrokes. "Instead of painting realistic paintings with dark muddy colors he started using bright colors with bold, thick brushstrokes. Van Gogh worked hard, and produced more than 2,000 paintings, drawings and sketches in the last ten years of his life."[10] His best-known works were created in the last two years of his life including many works found in the National Gallery. [13]
  • Pablo Picasso
    • Picasso "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. This would become the most important painting of the twentieth century, as the forerunner of Cubism, the most complete and radical artistic revolution since the Renaissance," [14] Starting this movement and incredible art works within it, Picasso became "the most celebrated artists of the 20th century" [15]

Guide to Avant-Garde in London

Hopefully, by now you understand what Avant-Garde is in art and some artists that form part of it. Now, I aim to show you examples of galleries located in London, that contain artists in this movement, especially the ones above, and Avant-Garde in general. I chose four galleries in London that I believe contain the most Avant-Garde. In continuation with the history of Avant-Garde, I wrote about Artists of the Past in the first two galleries, The National Gallery and Tate Modern. As you read through this section you will encounter a little information about each gallery and my personal opinion about it. You will also find key works within this galleries with a short explanation and pictures that I took when I visited them. Similarly, in the next section, Galleries of the Present, you can find information about the gallery and my opinion but instead of artists in history, these galleries contain artists that are currently thriving in their careers in art and that have unique techniques, as true Avant-gardists. I also included pictures and the exact address of each gallery.

Artists of the Past

London has so much history in galleries, museums, and the city itself. I chose two galleries that I believe you must see if you want to see Avant-garde. First, the magnificent National Gallery and the spectacular Tate Modern.

The National Gallery

Avant-Garde


The well known National Gallery in London one of the most visited art galleries in the world. People from all over the world come to this gallery to admire works of art located here. The National Gallery contains works from almost all the artists mentioned above. It contains artists from all over the world and many time periods. This gallery is divided into time periods, in the map above each specific time period is a different color. My personal favorite is the are from 1700-1930 (green exhibitions in the map in Level 2) because it contains almost all the artists I mentioned above.

All thought the green zone you can find avant-garde artists. For the purpose of this project, I chose three rooms that had the most avant-garde art. In rooms 41,43 and 44, you can see art from Monet's time in London to Van Gogh's famous sunflowers. Each room has an explanation that I took from the galleries website for your better understanding of their location in history and pictures that I took while in the gallery.

Room 41

"The works in this room demonstrate the continued vitality of painting as an artistic medium in the early 20th century. In his later years, Cézanne placed an increasing emphasis on structure and solidity, applying paint in regular, hatched brushstrokes, and using color rather than light to convey forms. Ground-breaking compositions such as his monumental Bathers won the respect of younger artists. Claude Monet had great admiration for Cézanne, whom he had known since the 1860s. Monet’s art, like that of Cézanne, evolved gradually. He explored light and color in series of paintings of specific subjects, undertaken at precise times of the day and recording particular atmospheric conditions. In his garden at Giverny in Normandy, Monet painted near-abstract pictures where forms seem to dissolve to the point of disintegration. These echo the chaos of the First World War when major artistic revolutions were underway." [16]



Room 43

"In the 1880s some of the Impressionist artists were beginning to enjoy success. The cohesiveness of the initial group had waned, and they were exploring new ways of painting. Camille Pissarro began to work in the new style invented by Georges Seurat, whom he met in 1885. Seurat’s approach, based on scientific color theory, involved using countless tiny dots of pure color, placed in close proximity to each other. When viewed at a distance, the eye blends these individual marks into areas of solid color: a technique called divisionism or pointillism." [17]



Room 44

"In the 1860s Edouard Manet shocked exhibition visitors in Paris with his unflinching scenes of modern life, painted boldly and using sober colors. His radical style made a profound impact on many artists. In the years to come, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Berthe Morisot, Alfred Sisley and other young painters in Paris would display an even stronger interest than Manet in the informal aspects of contemporary life. These artists, who often worked in the open air along the river Seine, experimented with flickering brushstrokes and bright colors to capture the fleeting effects of light. They exploited technical advances, such as oil paint in tubes that could be easily transported. As true avant-gardist, they were ahead of the traditional painters using new techniques. " [18]



Tate Modern


Sofia Reyes
1880–1
Display Room Studio Practice (Room 2)

I consider this Gallery the best place to observe modern and contemporary art. The unique architecture of the building misguide you at first, however, from the lowest level call the "The Tank" to the viewing level where you can see all the city, you can observe incredible works of art. As Modern Art and Avant-garde go together, this place is also great for avant-garde art. Many of the artists mentioned above can be found here and much more new artists that fall into this category. Below I provide information about three pieces that are irrefutably avant-garde. This pieces will mark this movement forever and being able to admire them in this gallery was amazing.

Little Dancer Aged Fourteen

Degas

"This sculpture was created by Degas. The model for this sculpture was a ballet student. Degas first made a reddish-brown wax sculpture of her in the nude. Then, aiming for a naturalistic effect, he dressed it in clothing made of real fabrics. When the wax sculpture was first exhibited, contemporaries were shocked by the unprecedented realism of the piece. He created a sculpture like no one had seen before. Innocent though she may look to us today, Degas's Little Dancer Aged Fourteen caused an outcry when she was first exhibited at the 1881 impressionist exhibition in Paris. The figure was described variously as 'repulsive' and 'a threat to society'. Critics and the public were upset by the realism of the work but also because Degas had represented a provocative modern subject ... dancers were considered part of the seamier side of entertainment and little more than prostitutes. "[19]

Sofia Reyes
1913
Display Room Collage (Room 2)



Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass, Guitar and Newspaper

Pablo Picasso

"Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass, Guitar and Newspaper is a small papier collé by Pablo Picasso, produced in 1913. It depicts a series of objects and paper fragments clustered on a table, the oval edge of which has been loosely drawn in the lower right of the composition. The abstracted forms of a guitar, glass, and bottle of the wine cut from white, gray and black colored papers are together with drawn lines indicating other elements of each object’s shape. The objects are shown from several perspectives: while the guitar and table appear to be seen from above; the bottle and glass are shown from the side. Picasso uses this new method of collage in controversy to traditional art." [20]

Sofia Reyes
1917, replica 1964
Display Room Explore Materials and Objects (Room 4)



Fountain

Duchamp

"Fountain" is one of Duchamp’s most famous works and is widely seen as an icon of twentieth-century art. The original, which is lost, consisted of a standard urinal, usually presented on its back for exhibition purposes rather than upright, and was signed and dated ‘R. Mutt 1917’. Tate’s work is a 1964 replica and is made from glazed earthenware painted to resemble the original porcelain. The signature is reproduced in black paint. Fountain has been seen as a quintessential example, along with Duchamp’s Bottle Rack 1914, of what he called a ‘readymade’, an ordinary manufactured object designated by the artist as a work of art (and, in Duchamp’s case, interpreted in some way). Marcel Duchamp submitted his sculpture Fountain (an upside-down urinal) for an exhibition organised by the Society of Independents under a false name. Although the society was supposed to show everything submitted by members, the work scandalized the board and was rejected. Duchamp is cited as one of the most important figures in modern art, inspiring many later artists and art movements – notably conceptual art." [21]



Galleries from the Present

The National Gallery and Tate Modern have been in London for a long time in the contrary to the next two galleries I mentioned bellow. These new galleries show young artists that are starting to excel in their careers in art.

Serpentine Galleries

Serpentine Gallery
Avant-Garde
Back View
location

Kensington Gardens London

W2 3XA

The Serpentine Gallery is one of London's most popular art gallery showing modern and contemporary artwork. It is located in the center of Kensington Gardens. It has two galleries on either side of the Serpentine lake: the Serpentine Gallery and the Serpentine Sackler Gallery, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. Hyde Park is one of my favorite places in London, especially because of Serpentine Galleries. They provide a space where artists can show their paintings and everyone in the park can see it. They have seasonal shows and a summer pavilion. The architecture of the pavilions is unique and it is said to be the world's first and most ambitious architecture program of its kind.

Seasonal Shows

This two galleries change seasonally and have eight shows per year. I focused on Summer 2017 summer shows: The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever! by Grayson Perry and A Series Of Utterly Improbable, yet Extraordinary Renditions by Arthur Jafa.



Serpentine Gallery': The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever! by Grayson Perry
"Perry’s abiding interest in his audience informs his choice of universally human subjects. Working in a variety of traditional media such as ceramics, cast iron, bronze, printmaking and tapestry, Perry is best known for his ability to combine delicately crafted objects with scenes of contemporary life. His subject matter is drawn from his own childhood and life as a transvestite, as well as wider social issues ranging from class and politics to sex and religion." [22]

Serpentine Sackler Gallery: A Series Of Utterly Improbable, yet Extraordinary Renditions by Arthur Jafa.
"Jafa’s work is driven by a recurrent question: how might one identify and develop a specifically Black visual aesthetics equal to the ‘power, beauty and alienation’ of Black music in US culture?
This new exhibition, titled A Series of Utterly Improbable, Yet Extraordinary Renditions, takes the form of a site-specific installation at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery in which Jafa has transformed the space with a series of new assemblages that encompass film, photography and found footage. The title of the exhibition relates to the sense of absence that Jafa observes as haunting Black life. The word ‘rendition’ refers to the artist’s interpretation of the aesthetics associated with Black being, which are historically-inscribed in images, objects and artefacts. By re-performing these narratives in the present, Jafa imagines and constructs new possibilities for making them visible. In addition to his exhibition at the Sackler Gallery, Jafa will also devise a new, site-specific event as part of the 2017 Park Nights series, which takes place in the Serpentine Pavilion, this year designed by Francis Kéré." [23]



Serpentine Gallery
Pavillion.PNG
Serpentine Pavilion 2017
Artist Francis Kéré

Pavillion

Each year, they commission an architect to create a summer pavilion. The first one was created by Zaha Hadid in 2000 and since then there has being one every year. In 2016, the temporary venue was created by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels. He created this venue with fiberglass frame. The pyramid of blocks kind of resembles a glacial crevasse.

"For the 2017 Serpentine Pavillion was designed by Francis Kere. He was born in Burkina Faso, where he got the inspiration for this pavilion. He was inspired the tree that serves as a central meeting point for life in this village, his home. He used a new artistic and architectonic method into the design and he seeks to connect its visitors to nature and each other. An expansive roof, supported by a central steel framework, mimics a tree's canopy, allowing air to circulate freely while offering shelter against London rain and summer heat. He is trying to portrait a tree and how gathering under it was refreshing. He also portraits culture as he explains that he uses indigo blue because it is a key color for his culture. He invites everyone in to admire his work of art and new design. Just as this artist, every artist that creates a pavilion uses a new technique in his or er design. They can be considered avant-gardists because of this new methods. " [24]



Unit London

Sofia Reyes
Location

147-149 WARDOUR STREET SOHO, LONDON W1F 8WD

11AM - 7PM, EVERY DAY

"Located in Soho, classified by tourists as one of the most Avant-Garde neighborhood, it is a spot for shadiness and cheap food and music, stand-up comedy and cabaret performances. This is a great area to experience different forms of culture, from cuisine to clubs."[25] Unit London is located right it the middle of all this. This gallery looks simple from the outside but has some of the best modern art in London. You can see culture, Emotions, techniques in each work of art, "Founded in 2013 by two young artists, Unit London was born from a desire to break down the barriers of elitism and to include people in the contemporary art world - whether they be enthusiasts, first-timers, new collectors, or seasoned collectors and institutions - we strongly believe that everybody should be able to enjoy the world's most amazing art. "[26]

This Gallery is very inclusive and is open 7 days a week until the early evening. They provide a space for artists and visitors an open space to express themselves. "We have always wanted to provide a platform for the world's most exciting talent to showcase their work to the widest possible audience. We don't believe that incredible work should be reserved for only the select few. We are strong believers in the power of online, and we use digital and social media to broadcast our artists and their work to audiences all over the globe." [27]

PRISMATIC BRUISER
Sofia Reyes
2017
MAterial

Fibreglass life-cast with prismatic finish.

120 x 52 cm

Most Artists in this gallery started as street artists with u a unique aesthetic and technic has made them famous. A great example of this is the artists is Schoony. His brilliance has brought the art world by storm and his hyperrealist sculptures question war, mortality and contemporary society. PRISMATIC BRUISER is one of his most famous sculptures. It reminds me of Degas's. "Schoony’s background is rooted in special effects and prosthetics for the film industry, with his career spanning over twenty-five years. Since the age of fifteen he has worked on over a hundred films, his work and reputation for high-class pioneering techniques has reached the far corners of the world." Altogether with his unique technique Schoony has had many different themes, examining capitalism and pop culture. He has a keen eye that provides the capacity to create such magnificent sculptures. As the gallery says it their webpage: "Schoony’s career has gone from strength to strength, exhibiting widely throughout Europe and the US. His work has won him critical acclaim from the Times, The Independent and ArtNet News, he is also featured on Artsy." [28]

Another British artist that has had an exhibition at this gallery is Tom French, a highly collectible and well-regarded artist. He creates monochromatic canvases. This black and white canc=vases are unique and have very precise detail. In these canvases you can find faces, figures and skulls repeat and shadow one-another. This simplicity of colors allows him to transmit his message easily with no distraction. "Each scene is a snapshot of a story, with a dynamic between the characters working on various levels, which ties into the bigger picture; there's much more to these images than illusion alone." Tom French

Tom French



RED BURQUA, 2016 by Cecile Plaisance

Other Works in the Gallery



Conclusion

Avant-Garde

To conclude, Avant-Garde was a revolutionary movement of art that was recognized by its original and they had the crusade to influence society. Most of the artists in this movements are the world's most known artists including Monet, Van Gogh, and Picasso. Their styles are very different but their originality and goals were the same. I believe that this style is more than just a movement of art because of how it has affected the world and how it still does. In the guide I created I display both the past and the present avant-garde. I provide a map to the right for a better understanding of their location. The National Gallery(red) and Tate Modern(blue) are the two galleries with artist of the past and Serpentine Gallery(green) and Unit London(yellow) are the galleries with artists of the present. This project limits to some movements of avant-garde, however, further research will show that are a lot more movements. Each movement affects the world somehow. Art is more than a form of expression, it has the power to change the world.



References


  1. 1.0 1.1 Bischoff, U., Lozo, K., Wit, G. D., & Theerlynck, S. (2016). The power of the avant-garde: now and then. Tielt: Lannoo .
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  5. Szabolcsi, Miklós. “Avant-Garde, Neo-Avant-Garde, Modernism: Questions and Suggestions.” New Literary History, vol. 3, no. 1, 1971, pp. 49–70. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/468380.
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  10. 10.0 10.1 Kandinsky, W., Friedel, H., Hoberg, A., & Benesch, E. (2016). Vasily Kandinsky. Munich: Prestel Verlag..
  11. Galenson, D., & Weinberg, B. (2001). Creating Modern Art: The Changing Careers of Painters in France from Impressionism to Cubism. The American Economic Review, 91(4), 1063-1071. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.wpi.edu/stable/2677826
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  14. Galenson, D., & Weinberg, B. (2001). Creating Modern Art: The Changing Careers of Painters in France from Impressionism to Cubism. The American Economic Review, 91(4), 1063-1071. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.wpi.edu/stable/2677826
  15. Galenson, D., & Weinberg, B. (2001). Creating Modern Art: The Changing Careers of Painters in France from Impressionism to Cubism. The American Economic Review, 91(4), 1063-1071. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.wpi.edu/stable/2677826
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  18. "Room 44 | Level 2 | Floorplans | Visiting | National ..." N.p., n.d. Web. 21 June 2017.
  19. Aged Fourteen', Edgar Degas, 1880-1, cast c.1922. Retrieved June 19, 2017, from http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/degas-little-dancer-aged-fourteen-n06076
  20. T. (n.d.). 'Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass, Guitar and Newspaper', Pablo Picasso, 1913. Retrieved May 16, 2017, from http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/picasso-bottle-of-vieux-marc-glass-guitar-and-newspaper-t00414
  21. Tate. "Avant-garde – Art Term." Tate. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 June 2017.
  22. Grayson Perry: The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever! (2017, June 08). Retrieved June 18, 2017, from http://www.serpentinegalleries.org/exhibitions-events/grayson-perry-most-popular-art-exhibition-ever
  23. "Arthur Jafa: A Series of Utterly Improbable, Yet Extraordinary Renditions." Serpentine Galleries. N.p., 08 June 2017. Web. 21 June 2017. <http://www.serpentinegalleries.org/exhibitions-events/arthur-jafa-series-utterly-improbable-yet-extraordinary-renditions>.
  24. "Serpentine Pavilion 2017 designed by Francis Kéré." Serpentine Galleries. N.p., 23 June 2017. Web. 21 June 2017. <http://www.serpentinegalleries.org/exhibitions-events/serpentine-pavilion-2017-designed-francis-k%C3%A9r%C3%A9>.
  25. Neighborhood Guide to London. (2016, December 23). Retrieved June 17, 2017, from https://www.bohemiantrails.com/5-neighborhoods-of-london-avant-garde-traveler/
  26. About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved June 17, 2017, from http://theunitldn.com/about-us/
  27. About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved June 17, 2017, from http://theunitldn.com/about-us/
  28. About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved June 17, 2017, from http://theunitldn.com/about-us/



External Links

https://maphub.net/sreyes/map
http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern