The avant-garde movements are those that in the first decades of the 20th century broke with the western cultural and humanistic tradition, seeking new forms of expression and in line with social, political and cultural movements that revolutionized the world..
Movements such as Cubism, Expressionism, Dadaism and Surrealism upset the exercise of painting, sculpture and literature, among other artistic forms, and were present in new forms such as photography and cinema, changing the way of perceiving and make art.
The term avant-garde was taken from the military language to describe in politics and art those groups that go before the armies, leading the way. In the case of the artistic avant-garde, it paves the way, but also tries to blow up tradition..
The artistic avant-gardes of the 20th century are in part a continuation of artistic processes begun in the 19th century, such as impressionism, realism and naturalism.
They are strongly influenced and driven also by social and revolutionary movements, increasing industrialization and friction between empires that will lead to the two world wars..
There are also ideological, philosophical and psychological currents such as psychoanalysis, Marxism, existentialism, etc..
According to the artistic disciplines they influenced, the avant-gardes can be divided into three groups:
They are those movements that influenced both literature and plastic arts and other disciplines (such as photography and cinema). For example, Expressionism, Futurism, Dadaism, Surrealism or Stridentism.
They are those whose determining influence was given in the plastic arts, such as Fauvism, Cubism, the different abstractionist currents, Pop Art, or Minimalism..
Literary movements focused on poetry and narrative forms, such as ultraism and creationism.
The first avant-garde wave occurred during the first three decades of the 20th century, the most representative movements being the following:
An almost exclusively French pictorial movement, which reacted against Impressionism, and which was characterized by a provocative use of color. Its main representatives were Henri Matisse and André Derain.
It is one of the most important and influential plastic arts movements of the 20th century, characterized by presenting multiple planes and points of view simultaneously. Its main representatives were Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.
This multidisciplinary movement develops in Germany, Austria and Northern Europe in painting, literature, photography, cinema, music, theater, etc. It promoted an intuitive art, where reality is subordinated to inner vision.
Painters such as Gustav Klimt or Egon Schiele stand out as expressionists; film directors such as Robert Wiene and Friedrich W. Murnau, and poets such as Rainer María Rilke.
It was a fundamentally Italian movement with important manifestations in painting and poetry, with cubist influence and a strong cult of machinism and industrialism, and an aggressive and nationalist streak that made it akin to fascism..
Its main creator and representative was Filippo Tommaso Marinetti.
With this artistic current, contemporary abstract painting was born and its main representative was Vasili Kandinski.
It was an artistic and architectural movement born in Russia and with influence and presence in Holland, where it received the name of Neoplasticism, whose main representative was Piet Mondrian.
Vanguard of Russian origin whose main representative was Kasimir Malevich. He rejected figurativeism and explored geometric figures and the use of black and white.
Considered the most radical of the avant-gardes, Dadaism emerged in Zurich during the First World War, and from there it spread to Paris, Berlin and New York, influencing other artistic movements. Among its main representatives are Tristan Tzara and Marcel Duchamp.
Literary movement whose main promoter and representative was the Chilean poet Vicente Huidobro. In poetry, he rejected grammatical norms and promoted the creation of neologisms and a novel use of typography..
It emerged in Spain as a reaction against modernism, favoring free verse and the search for new literary themes. Influenced by Futurism and Creationism, its representatives include Rafael Cansinos Assens and Jorge Luis Borges.
Artistic and literary movement that emerged in Mexico and whose main representative was the poet Manuel Maples Arce. This movement had influences from Ultraism and Dadaism.
For many critics it is the most important avant-garde movement of the 20th century, with an influence that has gone beyond art. Founded by André Bretón, Surrealism was greatly influenced by psychoanalysis and the world of dreams and the unconscious.
It is considered the first genuinely American artistic movement, whose influence spread to the rest of the world. Its main representative was Jackson Pollock.
Postwar artistic movement, characterized by its abstract and gestural character, as well as by the use of exotic materials incorporated into painting. It was a very broad international movement conceptually, with representatives such as Jean Dubufet, Antoni Tàpies and Eduardo Chillida, among others..
Optical art: works of art that play with the perception of the viewer, creating the illusion of movement. The Hungarian artist Victor Vasarely is considered a pioneer of this trend..
It was an aesthetic trend that promoted "artistic action", a living work in which the public participated and with a great deal of chance. It was initially developed in the United States and Europe and has among its promoters artists such as the composer John Cage.
Kinetic art is characterized by the real or illusory presence of movement in the artwork. Since the mid-1950s, artists from different countries have made works of this type, highlighting figures such as Alexander Calder or Jesús Soto..
This movement emerged in the United Kingdom in the mid-1950s and in the United States in the early 1960s. It vindicates the use of industrial products, massification and popular culture. Andy Warhol is its most significant representative.
It is a cultural trend that encompasses music, plastic arts, literature, design and architecture, which has authors such as Philip Glass in the field of music, and artists such as Robert Ryman in painting.
It arose in part as a rejection of American Abstract Expressionism. He favored non-figurative art, with uniform colors and without the intention of transmitting any message. Among its main representatives is Frank Stella.
The povera art It is an Italian artistic movement that used materials of humble origin, not industrial, for the creation of its works. Mario Merz stands out as one of its main representatives.
This "artistic action" began to appear in the mid-1960s in Europe and the United States. The artist interacts with the public and with unforeseen situations. Like the happening, it is a combination of theater with plastic arts.
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