Avant-garde (fr. Avant-garde - vanguard) is a generalized name for trends in world art that emerged at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Avant-garde is a generalized name for trends in the world, primarily in European art, which arose at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Initially, the word avant-garde had a military meaning, later it began to have a political character, and in 1825, in the article "Artist, Scientist and Worker" by Henri Saint-Simon (the founder of the school of utopian socialism), in the Union of Artists acquired artistic meaning. In this sense, the artist had to use the power of art and imagination to promote the advanced ideas of society. "It is we, the artists, who will serve you as the avant-garde." So, at that time, the artist carried out a political mission. Political radicalism was characteristic of the avant-garde until the 1930s.
Avant-garde acquired its modern significance in the troubled era of the early 20th century. The paintings, painted in the avant-garde style, did not recognize social values and reflected radical changes in the generally recognized art of painting.
The Russian avant-garde developed from 1907-1914, becoming a springboard for innovative trends in painting. Avant-garde arose in opposition to academicism, due to which the development of painting was suspended for a long time. The idea of the new art denied artistic values passed on from generation to generation, its role was destruction and creation, its idea was a revolution of forms and colors. Modernism in the history of the visual arts is nothing more than one of the forms of the avant-garde. At different stages of the development of the history of painting, the avant-garde bore such names as: "fresh art", "futurism", "cubo-futurism", "left art". In the twentieth century, avant-gardism unites various trends in the visual arts, which are characterized by new trends, unusual forms and styles.
Avant-garde is an innovative art that is constantly in motion, in pursuit of something new, where boundaries between styles and genres are being destroyed, generally accepted frameworks and foundations are crumbling. Thanks to this, painting was enriched, new styles and genres appeared.