Avant Garde – sometimes known as ‘advance guard’ or vanguard, refers to people or work that is considered to be innovative or experimental with aims to shock, challenge and re-assess conventions. It pushes boundaries of what is usually accepted as ‘normal’, and artists which are involved consider themselves and what they do to be innovative and ahead of the majority. The concept of Avant Garde refers exclusively to marginalized artists whose work opposes the mainstream values and often has an abrasive social or political edge, as well as introduces and explores new forms or subject matters. It is said to have began in 1850’s with the Realism or Gustave Coubert, followed by the successive movements of modern art, making the term Avant Garde more or less synonymous with modern. Nowadays, the term has grown to be almost neutralized, leaving it meaningless to the point where it can be applied to anything.
Marcel Duchamp / 1917 / Fountain / URL
Marcel Duchamp is definitely one of the most memorable artists considered within Avant Garde, with works such as the ‘Mona Lisa’ and ‘Fountain’ (pictured). He caused a huge riff within art around 1917 when he entered his ‘Fountain’ piece into an open exhibition under the name of R. Mutt, where anything was accepted; but this actually wasn’t and was mysteriously misplaced and not exhibited resulting with the original piece being lost. It totally went against what art was believed to be at this time, and Duchamp entered it to shift the focus of art from physical craft to intellectual interpretation. It was something people has not seen done before, and they refused for sometime to accept because they didn’t consider it to be ‘actual art’ due to the fact that he didn’t make it with his own hands – this later proved to be irrelevant.
Oliviero Toscani / United Colours of Benetton / URL
A more recent example of Avant Grade is the advertising campaigns from the label United Colours of Benetton. Not only do they promote themselves as a brand, but also tackle racism showcasing images of things the public would not necessarily expect to see. In just a few years, Benetton became a global force with their concept of encompassing the different races to the ideas of tolerance, peace and respect for diversity. As shown in the example, they have a black woman breast feeding a white baby, incorporating the 'shock' factor of Avant Garde. It is making the statement that all colours are united as one, and by using such strong imagery not just in this example but in all of their campaigns, definitely challenges peoples beliefs amongst racism, and forces them to re-asses it. The 'united' colours of their sweaters is considered to be a metaphor for the united skin tones from the youth of different countries for who the sweaters were designed for.
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