Relationship between Collage and Avant-Garde in the 20th Century - Essay Example

? RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COLLAGE AND AVANT-GARDE IN THE 20TH CENTURY Introduction A collage is a term that is derived from the French word “Coller,” which means, “to paste.” According to, “it can be described as an assembly of images, used in part or in whole or cropped out to specific areas, combined or pasted together to create a collective visual”(Ryder, 2009, pp 13). To form a collage an individual collects materials from two or more images and paste them together. The history of collage as a piece of art can be traced back to the days of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. This was in early twentieth century when they started creating paper collages as per the principles of cubism. The two-dimensional collages that they developed were implemented using newspaper clippings, colored papers, tobacco wrappers, and wallpapers. After the cubists embraced collage, various other artists and movements joined the train and started recognizing its potential as an aspect of art. In parts of Italy, the futurists received recognition for successfully adopting the use of collage to express the principles of the machine age. In Russia, the constructivists adopted the use of collage in developing posters that announced the Russian Revolution. More recently, neo-Expressionists have integrated certain aspects of collage into primarily painted surfaces (Ryder, 2009, pp.2). For instance, this can be best illustrated in the way Jeff Koon continually interprets aspects of pop culture, just as he designed a balloon twisted into an animal shape and cast in ceramic with a metallic finish. The objective of this paper is to discuss the role of collage in the development and divergence of twentieth century notions of the avant-garde; and determine whether Greenberg is being reductive behind the whole idea of avant-garde. Discussion Initially, the term avant-garde was used to describe “the foremost part of an army advancing to war.’ Currently it is also used to describe a grouping of artists who perceive itself to be innovative and unique. Others use this French originated term to describe a movement advancing radical social change. More progressively, the term was linked to movements formed to champion art issues. Such groups direct their attention fundamentally more towards developing and diversifying cutting edges of aesthetic experience, and not aggressive social change (Pronko, 2003, pp.1). Fundamentally, the idea of avant-garde is used to describe “artists, writers, thinkers and theorists” whose contribution in the field of art contradicts mainstream culture systems and frequently has an incisive social or political edge. Most of these groups of individuals and groups made affirmations regarding vanguard culture in the seminal periods of modernization (Pronko, 2003, pp.2). However, the first authoritative statement issued on the subject of avant-garde was in Clement Greenberg’s essay titled “Avant-Garde and Kitsch.” This was a New York based art critic whose work still receives a lot of recognition until today. In this piece of work, he argued that vanguard culture over the years had been critical of the mainstream culture, as well as the synthesized mass culture that is attributed to the process of industrialization. To this art critic, these forms of culture admittedly ought to be described as Kitsch; meaning counterfeit and mechanical. Notwithstanding Greenberg’s critical arguments, other quarters have misleadingly suited and misused the term “avant-garde”, primarily as a marketing strategy to popularize other forms of art such as music and films. Currently, it is not surprising to hear people refer to rock superstars and film celebrities as avant-garde. With all this counter arguments, it is important to understand the role played by ancient art forms, particularly the collage, in the development and divergence of the notion of avant-garde as understood in the twentieth century. Schwitters was a well recognized artist in the nineteenth century who developed his first Merzbau between 1923 and 1937. This piece of work comprised of a walk-in collage that stretched over a number of rooms and unified sculpture, assemblage, painting as well as architecture. This experience appeared as something close to his total Merz view on the world. A few days after Schwitters’ demise, nineteen of his collages were displayed in the major exhibition collage at the Museum of Modern Art, next to twenty other works by legendary figures such as Picasso and max Ernst. This meant that, he was receiving recognition as a pioneer of the art of collage. This exhibition catalogue unmistakably set apart his work from “the anti-aesthetic and political directness of the Dada movement in Germany.” More importantly, this key exhibition stressed on the critical role of collages in the development and divergence of twentieth century notions of art culture (Grijp, 2009, pp.160). In the post-war era, New York progressively assumed the title of becoming the hub of the artistic avant-garde. Schwitters’ contribution to the artistic world also played a primary role in this development. In those days, his work was so popular that they were featured in lifestyle publications such as the Vogue. Even though, he was not the founder of collage, and succeeded legendary figures such as Picasso, Braque and Arp; he acquires great recognition as being the true master of this form of art for using found objects. In some arenas, he has been described as the artists’ artist. This is because of the informative example that he made available for such movements as abstract expressionism, neo-dada, and pop art. The concept developed behind Merz at times is viewed by certain quarters as an example of a metaphor for the rebuilding of Europe after World War 1 and 2. The fight against fascism and campaign for peace in Europe was trailed by a craving for individual welfare, consumerism, and recreation. In this instance, the United States was the model. Up until mid twentieth century, postwar Britain was characterized by shortages in the course of the process of the reconstruction of London. This was in fact, before the Americans (Grijp, 2009, pp.161). Artists in Britain such as Eduardo Paolozzi, Richard Hamilton, and john McHale were active in pop art. This was around the same time when the Independent Group in London, which converged often to discuss science, technology, and art, was formed. Members of this group were quite familiar with Schwitters work, which had been exhibited in London for a couple of decades. They undoubtedly drew a lot of inspiration from his work and recognized the role it was playing in the development and divergence of twentieth century notions of the avant-garde. Through his Merz concept, he managed to take leave of dada in a unique style, envisaging “Merz as art and dada as non-art.” Even though, the primary materials for his collages comprised of waste. In his masterpieces he still endeavored to realize an artistic harmony. This fact, contributed towards making his work also essential to the Nouveau realism movement. This movement was also aspired to assimilate objects from their day-to-day environment into their artwork (Grijp, 2009, pp.161). Critics undoubtedly accept the fact that collage is one of the most vital techniques of the twentieth century. For Catherine Hoffman, “collage may be seen as a quintessential twentieth century art form with multiple layers and signposts pointing to a variety of forms and realities, and to the possibility or suggestion of countless new realities”(Ryder, 2009, pp4). More significantly, she recognizes it as “the single most revolutionary formal innovation in artistic representation to occur in the twentieth century.” Jochen Schulte-Sasse supported this concept in his advancement of Peter burger’s “theory of the Avant-Garde” (Ryder, 2009, pp4). In this theory, he suggests that the comprehension of collage is the key to “to understanding the most important and radical developments of the historical avant-garde” (Ryder, 2009, pp.4). The relationship shared between collage and the avant-garde as underscored by several artists in the twentieth century; and the affirmation that collage holds a revolutionary capability both arise from the supposition regarding the genesis of collage itself. Until today, “Picasso’s still life with chair canning” is still recognized as the first real work of collage. This is because it incorporates an expedient oil cloth print end products created from a rope. Unlike what most people have suggested, what make Picasso’s collage more conspicuous are its formalism, and not the fact that it was developed out of expedient materials. With this is mind, it is also essential to note that the chair canning that sets out his piece of work to actually be considered a real collage artwork is arguably not real, but just a manufactured replica. Looking at the history of collage, it is no doubt that as a form of art it has played a fundamental role in the development and divergence of twentieth century notions of the avant-garde concept. No matter how creative one can get in practicing this kind of art, probabilities are high that what might be implemented has been created in some way before; though obviously not like you will produce your end product. This is evident of the fact that, this practice has greatly developed and diversified (Ryder, 2009, pp.3). Earlier in the nineteenth century, this kind of art was practiced more like a hobby rather than professionally. People were fond of pasting family photos in a stylish and systematic manner and hung them on the wall. Others glued postal stamps and picture cuttings from magazines for house decoration purposes but not for public exhibitions. During the period around the start of the First World War, Italian futurists were greatly involved in the development and divergence of this art style. They worked in and expounded on the stylistic tools that were introduced in France. Greenberg’s perspective “Avant-Garde and Kitsch” is one of the most recognized works by Greenberg that was released in the early twentieth century. In its development, he entailed an intricate argument about the origins of the avant-garde. He suggested that, high art at some point was the genuine vendor of the values of bourgeoisie. However, he further noted that its position had been undermined in the late nineteenth century. As a result, there culture had become progressively money-oriented. At this point in time, artist had started diverting their interests and moving towards forming an avant-garde. The avant-garde was a form of art that still managed to a lot of backing from the more progressive members of the bourgeoisie. It operated, in quintessence, as the custodian and protector of the arts ideals. To Greenberg, this formed the foundation for the unending importance of the avant-garde, and more specifically, of the conceptual art. Mainstream culture progressively took over the commercial scene, this was as the culture of regimes e.g. the “Nazis and the communist became increasingly repressive.” Therefore, avant-garde was the people’s only hope for continued existence of culture (Danto, 1998, pp.61). Greenberg’s first translation of the growth of modern art was exposed in “Towards a newer Laocoon.” This work was first published towards the end of the fourth decade of the twentieth century. The concepts developed in this work formed the foundation for some of his later work. However, a later piece of work titled “Modernist painting” that was first released in the 1960s, made some adjustments to the concepts developed in this early piece of work. “Towards a Newer laocoon” drew most of its inspiration from an earlier work by the famous Gotthold Lessing, “Laocoon; an essay upon the limits of painting and poetry.” In this piece of work, Lessing advanced the concept regarding the dissimilarities encountered between artistic mediums, and the justifications behind these dissimilarities. Greenberg took over from this point to study the growth of the arts since Lessing’s era. In “Towards a Newer Laocoon,” Greenberg advances the concepts he developed in “Avant-Garde and Kitsch.” However, it takes a longer historical perspective, and attempts to establish the era when most artistic media began to disconnect from each other. To him, this was the genesis of modern, conceptual art (Danto, 1998, pp.62). In both pieces of work by Greenberg, he delineates the foundation of his belief in the importance and significance of conceptual or rather abstract art. It was in his later piece of work titled “Abstract Art,” the he commenced detailing his perceptions by talking about artists’ continued shifting handling of form and space since the Gothic period. Certain sections of this work largely touch on modern art since the impressionist. In conclusion, he suggests that the rapid move towards abstraction “should be understood as simply a facet of the era’s reigning scientific spirit.” He mentions, “In an era when illusions of every kind are being destroyed, the illusionist methods of art must also be renounced” (Danto, 1998, pp65). With all this in perspective, it is evident that Greenberg is quite reductive. Conclusion The history of collage as a piece of art is traced back to the days of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque i.e. in the early twentieth century when they started creating paper collages as per the principles of cubism. Later, the cubists embraced collage and this opened the door for various other artists and movements to join the train and start recognizing its potential as an aspect of art. For instance, the futurists received recognition for successfully adopting the use of collage to express the principles of the machine age; the constructivists in Russia who used this art practice to develop posters during the Russian Revolution; and last but not least, the neo-Expressionists who integrated certain aspects of collage into primarily painted surfaces. On the other hand, the term avant-garde has been described differently in various arenas. At some point it was used to describe “the foremost part of an army advancing to war’ and then used to describe a grouping of artists who perceive itself to be innovative and unique. Importantly, the term was linked to movements formed to champion matters of art in the twentieth century. The most commanding statement issued with regards to avant-garde was in Clement Greenberg’s essay titled “Avant-Garde and Kitsch. He noted that, the vanguard culture for along time had been critical of the mainstream culture, as well as the synthesized mass culture that is attributed to the process of industrialization. Therefore, he concluded that this forms of culture were imitations and mechanical. In the early part of the twentieth century, it was the exhibition by Schweitzer that was primary to stressing the critical role of collages in the development and divergence of twentieth century notions of art culture. His first piece of art work comprised of a walk-in collage that stretched over a number of rooms and unified sculpture, assemblage, painting as well as architecture. The historic exhibition undoubtedly set apart his work from “the anti-aesthetic and political directness of the Dada movement in Germany.” His contribution to this area of art granted him a lot of recognition anti-mainstream culture systems. There are those who describe him as the artists’ artist. This is because of the informative example that he made available for such movements as abstract expressionism, neo-dada, and pop art. The relationship shared between collage and the avant-garde as expressed by a number of artists in the twentieth century; and the affirmation that collage holds a revolutionary capability both arise from the supposition regarding the genesis of collage itself. This is evident of its role in the growth and divergence of avant-garde principles. Reference list Danto, A. C. (1998). Arthur Coleman Danto. Princeton : Princeton University Pres. Grijp, P. V. (2009). Art and Exoticism: An Anthropology of the Yearning for Authenticity. Munich: LIT Verlag Munster. Pronko, L. C. (2003). Avant-Garde: The Experimental Theater in France. California: University of California Press. Ryder, C. C. (2009). Collage of Thought. Morrisville: Lulu.com. Read More