avant-garde

From the French, avant-garde describes experimental or innovative art or design, or the group of people who make them and push the envelope in their field. It can also more generally refer to anything considered “unorthodox” or “radical.”

In French, avant-garde literally means “advance guard.” The term (which also gave us vanguard) originally referred to the part of an army that marched in front.

The metaphorical avant-garde—those trailblazers, those pioneers, those innovators in art—is credited to French political theorist Henri de Saint-Simon in 1825 who talked about the power of artists to help transform society.

The term was borrowed into English by the early 1900s, right at the heyday of of Modernism, a movement in art and thought that gave us such avant-garde masterpieces as James Joyce’s stream of consciousness, Pablo Picasso’s cubism, Salvador Dali’s surrealism, Albert Schoenberg’s atonalism, and Bauhaus’s functionalism.

People didn’t know what to make of Picasso’s abstract paintings in the early 1900s. Many still don’t know, but we study them in school, collect them in museums, and accept them as art anyways. That’s because what is considered avant-garde changes with each time period, artists and thinkers keep pushing the boundaries of what counts as art, of what their art can do.

In 1952, composer John Cage wrote 4’33”, an avant-garde piece that was four minutes and 33 seconds of silence. What counts as a song? What counts as music? A decade later, Andy Warhol’s Campbell Soup Cans presented 32 ordinary cans of soup. What makes for the subject of a painting? Realistic depictions, abstract representations, just mundane items from everyday life? These are the questions that avant-garde artists make us ask.

In the late 20th century, avant-garde became especially common as a descriptor in haute couture, with fashion designers like Barbara Í Gongini pushing the envelope about how we think about clothing, makeup, and hair. Fair warning … it’s pretty strange.

Avant-garde can be a noun (e.g., the jazz avant-garde) or a modifier (e.g., an avant-garde film). As a noun, the avant-garde can refer to boundary-pushing creators and influencers in general.

"French Pastels: Treasures from the Vault" offers a rare chance to see seldom-shown masterworks by 10 avant-garde artists from the 19th century—including #MaryCassatt, whose art will be shown alongside a pastel box she once owned. The exhibition opens on Saturday! pic.twitter.com/PNtDLR8Ixp

— Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (@mfaboston) June 27, 2018

The term is used by artists, art historians, and art critics across disciplines, from architecture to dance. The term is also used in the mainstream to describe anything seen as unorthodox, radical, or groundbreaking (e.g., an avant-garde phone design), though it still largely connotes all things art.

Avant-garde with a striking design, spacious interior and excellent adaptability. #AudiA6 #Avant #NewCar pic.twitter.com/veaoZddPrg

— Audiofficial (@AudiOfficial) June 25, 2018

In popular culture, people may encounter avant-garde as a genre label for films and music. Pitchfork Music has thrown an Avant-Garde festival, and film platform Fandor touts its avant-garde section.

Avant-garde, though, can suggest that something or someone is being challenging or esoteric just for the sake of being different or difficult. In this way, the term is sometimes used to mock things that defy our understanding or people who are making a show of being non-conformist, hipster-y, or just trying too hard.

Is this plumbing or an avant-garde diorama? pic.twitter.com/e95UnKpTj5

— Russell Bennetts (@RussellBennetts) June 25, 2018

Your boy Kendrick Lamar was terrible on SNL. Why can't he put out a club bangin single? Stop being so avant-garde bruh.

— White Claw Homeschooler (@thephaze) November 18, 2014

This content is not meant to be a formal definition of this term. Rather, it is an informal summary that seeks to provide supplemental information and context important to know or keep in mind about the term’s history, meaning, and usage.