Art and Beyond: the Avant-Garde in the 21St Century

ART AND BEYOND: THE AVANT-GARDE IN THE 21ST CENTURY

GSOC 5068-A/ GLIB 5132-A Fall 2011 Mon. 4-5:50 Rm.D1102. Off. hrs. Wed. 3:30-6 or appt. D1015 TEL:212-229-5737 ext.3133

Course Description

The classical avant-garde of the early 20th century, once derided, rose to acceptance and legitimacy as the foundation of what came to be called “the tradition of the new.” Its reordering of aesthetic vision was so complete that contemporary works adhering to an earlier canon came to be rejected - until recently, that is.

We begin with a brief review of how European art styles that had achieved legitimacy through patronage and institutions were challenged by shifts in socio-economic and political forces and artists’ aesthetic strivings. In the visual arts, impressionism, expressionism, cubism, fauvism, futurism; music incorporated new and ancient modes, atonalism, dissonance, tone-rows, operas without arias, blendsof entertainment with “serious” genres. Dance incorporated long forgotten ancient forms or non-western rhythms; poets and novelists innovated in both form and content. Once the basis of the “Shock of the New” many of these new arts became “classics” of modernism.

This overview serves as a base for understanding new challenges from contemporary institutional contexts and rapidly changing technologies of reproduction and dissemination, especially the possibilities of immediate access for expanding audiences. As a social construction that has provided symbolic supports for competing status groups, nation states, and art worlds, the arts face unprecedented complexities of global structures and processes that promote creation and production. Among other things, these force us to question whether the long held ideals about the autonomy of individual artists and their creations are still viable.

Requirements

1.Active participation in discussion based on reading required works and a sampling of recommended ones. Students will present oral reports on any of the works on the syllabus around the time they appear on the schedule. By pre-arrangement, however, a written paper may be substituted for an oral presentation, and it may also be posted on the blog prepared by my Teaching Assistant.

2.All students will write final research paper on some aspect of avant-garde. It may be based on the “historical avant-garde” or on current developments in the arts. Among the recurrent questions to keep in mind: Is an avant-garde still possible today? Why or why not? How might it differ from the “historical avant-garde”? What may the future portend?

3.Gallery and museum exhibitions and musical events cast light on the avant-garde, so you are encouraged to visit as many of them as possible. Take advantage of the New School’s free admission to the MoMA and PS-1, and student admission prices to other institutions, including other art forms than visual.

Course Materials

Required books are on reserve in the Library. Some of them may be bought at Barnes & Noble on Fifth Ave. and 17th St. or Amazon.com.
A blog prepared by my RA/TA, Hakan Topol, will be provide additional articles news, reports or other resources.

Instructions for Art & Beyond Course Blog

You can access our course blog at http://artandbeyond.tumblr.com/

Available reading materials are collected at; as scanned PDF materials.

Our blog is based on an online blogging platform called Tumblr. You can access and download course material without registering the blog. However in order to “Follow”, “Post” and “Share” our blog, you need to register at;

You need to enter Your e-mail address a new password and a codename for your own blog

Once you register, you can ‘follow’ course blog by clicking “Follow” button at upper right corner of the blog

You can get detailed help information at

In order to post articles, links, photo, you can submit your materials at Once your entry is approved, it will appear in our blog.

If you have any questions, you can send e-mail to Hakan Topal (RA),

Course Outline

Mon. Aug.29 CLASSES CANCELED –

PROBABLY SEE YOU SEPT.12, UNLESS NSSR SCHEDULES A MAKE UP CLASS

I.Introduction: Sights and Sounds of the Avant-Garde

Howard S. Becker. Art Worlds. Chs. 1, 8
Clifford Geertz. “Art as a Cultural System”
Vera Zolberg. Constructing a Sociology of the Arts . Chs. 1, 7

Recommended:
Robert Hughes. The Shock of the New. Alfred Knopf, 1981
Claude Debussy. Pélléas et Mélisande. (opera based on Maeterlinck’s poetic drama)
James Joyce. Ulysses and Finnegan’s Wake

Theodor Adorno. Introduction to the Sociology of Music

Arnold Hauser. The Sociology of Art

Mon. Sept. 5 – LABOR DAY – No class meeting

Mon. Sept. 12 We will try to catch up!!

II. Sociologies of Art: Some Groundwork
Pierre Bourdieu. “But Who Created the Creators?” and “The Social Genesis of the Eye” in The Rules of Art
Raymond Williams. Culture [the American Edition Sociology of Culture ] Chs. 1,2,3

Recommended:

Bourdieu. The Rules of Art

Williams. Culture

Zolberg. Constructing a Sociology of the Arts

Mon. Sept. 19
III. Theories of the Avant-Garde
Peter Bürger. Theory of the Avant-Garde Chs. 2,3,4
Renato Poggioli. The Theory of the Avant-Garde Chs. 1,2,3

Recommended
Poggioli. The whole book
Bürger “ “ “

Mon. Sept. 26
IV. The City and the Avant-Garde: Why Paris?
César Graña. Bohemian v. Bourgeois. Chs. 1,2,4
Georg Simmel. “The Stranger” & “Metropolis and Mental Life”
Linda Nochlin. “The Invention of the Avant-Garde: Paris 1830-90”

Recommended
Walter Benjamin. The Arcades Project
Graña. The whole book

Mon. Oct. 3
V. Gender and the Avant-Garde
Janet Wolff. “The Invisible Flâneuse and the Literature of Modernity” in Feminine Sentences
Belle L. Kauffman. “’Woman Artist’ : Between Myth and Stereotype”

Recommended
Kathleen D. McCarthy. Women’s Culture: American Philanthropy & Art, 1830-1930

Mon. Oct. 10
VI. The Battle for Legitimacy
Meyer Schapiro. “Introduction of Modern Art in America – The Armory Show” in Modern Art: 19th & 20th Centuries pp. 135-178
Moira McLoughlin. “Negotiating the Critical Discourse: The Armory Show Revisited” in Larry Gross, ed. On the Margins of Art Worlds. Pp. 17-37
Howard Becker. Art Worlds.Ch. 5
Recommended
Harold Rosenberg. The Tradition of the New. McGraw-Hill (paper):1965

Mon. Oct. 17

VII.Creative Marginality: Supporters of the Avant-Garde

Vera Zolberg. “New Art – New Patrons: Coincidence or Causality in the 20th Century Avant-Garde”

Vera Zolberg. “The Collection Despite Barnes: From Private Preserve to Blockbuster”

Raymond Williams. “The Bloomsbury Fraction”

Recommended
Howard Greenfeld. The Devil and Dr. Barnes.
Clive Bell. Art. Putnam [Perigree Books] 1981 [orig. 1913]

John Dewey. Art as Experience

Mon. Oct. 24
VIII. Discourses of the New Arts
Meyer Schapiro. “Abstract Art” pp. 185-232 in Modern Art: 19th and 20th Centuries
Clement Greenberg. “Avant-Garde & Kitsch”

Recommended
Clement Greenberg. Art & Culture
Tom Wolfe. The Painted Word

Mon. Oct. 31

IX. Artists’ Networks and Circles

Charles Kadushin. “Networks and Circles in the Production of Culture”

William Agee. “New York Dada: 1910-1930

Maria Rogers. “The Batignolles Group: Creators of Impressionism” in Albrecht et al. The Sociology of Art & Literature

Recommended

Ricard A. Peterson. The Production of Culture

Mon. Nov. 7
X. Markets and Museums
Howard Becker. Art Worlds. Ch. 4
B. Rosenberg and N. Fliegel. “Dealers and Museums”
Alfred Barr, Jr. “Excerpts”

Recommended
Alice Goldfarb Marquis. Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Missionary for the Modern
Russell Lynes. Good Old Modern (The first 50 years of the MoMA)
Laura de Coppet & Alan Jones. The Art Dealers

Annie Cohen Solal. Painting American: the rise of American Artists, Paris 1867-New York 1948

Mon. Nov. 14
XI. The Fate of the Avant-Garde in the 20th Century
Daniel Bell. The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism. Chs. 1,2,3
Harold Rosenberg. The Tradition of the New. Ch. 18
Renato Poggioli. The Theory of the Avant-Garde Ch. 4, 5, 10

Recommended
Stefanie Barron, “Degenerate Art”: The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany
Robert Hughes. The Shock of the New
Peter Selz. German Expressionist Painting

Mon. Nov. 21
XII. The End of the Paris Hegemony?
Harold Rosenberg. The Tradition of the New. Chs. 2,15
Diana Crane. The Transformation of the Avant-Garde, 1940-1985. Chs. 1,2,3
Peter Bürger. Theory of the Avant-Garde Ch. 1 and Last chapter

Recommended

Serge Guilbaut. How New York Stole the Idea of Modern Art

Frances Stonor Saunders. The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters. New York: The New Press, 1999

Thanksgiving Break

Mon. Nov. 28

XII. Postmodernisms and the Avant-Garde

Joni M. Cherbo. “Pop Art: Ugly Duckling to Swan” in Zolberg & Cherbo, eds. Outsider Art

Andreas Huyssen. “The Search for Tradition: Avantgarde and Postmodernism in the 1970s” in After the Great Divide

Arthur Danto. “Why Does Art Need to be Explained? Hegel, Biedermeier and the Intractable Avant-Garde” in Linda Weintraub et al.

Recommended
Linda Weintraub et al. Art on the Edge and Over
Magali Sarftatti Larson. Behind the Postmodern Façade

Annie Cohan Solal. Leo and His Circle: The Life of Leo Castelli NY: Alfred A. Knopf

Mon. Dec. 5
XIII. Challenges to Art Worlds under Globalism

Readings TBA

Mon. Dec. 12

SUMMING UP

The final paper is due in one week. You may send it to me by email or place it in my mailbox in the Sociology office on the 9th floor, 8 W. 16th St. If you wish to read my comments, include an addressed envelope. Postage is unnecessary.

Selected Readings

Theodor Adorno. 1976. Introduction to the Sociology of Music. NY: Seabury Press [1962]

Milton Albrecht et al. 1970. The Sociology of Art & Literature, A Reader.NY: Praeger

Stefanie Barron, “Degenerate Art”: The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany . Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Howard Becker 1982. Art Worlds. Univ. of Calif. Press

Daniel Bell 1976. The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism. NY: Basic Books (20th anniversary edition).

Clive Bell 1981. Art. Putnam Perigree Books [orig. 1913].

Walter Benjamin 1969. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” in HannahArendt, ed. Illuminations NY: Schocken Books

______The Arcades Project Cambridge, MA.: Harvard Univ. Press

Pierre Bourdieu 1996. The Rules of Art. Stanford Univ. Press

Peter Bürger 1984. Theory of the Avant-Garde. Univ. of Minnesota Press

Annie Cohen-Solal 2001. Painting American: the rise of American Artists, Paris 1867-New York 1948. NY: Alfred A. Knopf

______2010. Leo and His Circle: The Life of Leo Castelli. NY: Alfred A. Knopf

Diana Crane 1997. The Transformation of the Avant-Garde. Univ. of Chicago Press

______1997. “Postmodernism and the Avant-Garde: Stylistic Change in Fashion Design” in Modernism/modernity vol.4 no.3: 123-140. Johns Hopkins Univ. Press

Laura deCoppet & Alan Jones 1984. The Art Dealers: The Powers Behind the Scene Tell How the Art World Works. NY: Crown

John Dewey. Art as Experience. New York: G.P. Putnam [1934]

Howard Greenfeld 2006. The Devil and Dr. Barnes: Portrait of an American Collector. Philadelphia: Camino Press

Hal Foster. The anti-Aesthetic: Essays on Postmodern Culture. Bay Press

César Graña 1964. Bohemian and Bourgeois: French Society and the Man of Letters in the 19th Century. Basic Books [Reprinted as Modernity and Its Discontents]

Clement Greenberg 1961. Art and Culture. Boston: Beacon Press

Larry Gross, ed. 1995. On the Margins of Art Worlds. Westview Press

Serge Guilbaut 1983. How New York Stole the Idea of Modern Art. Univ. of Chicago Press

Arnold Hauser 1982. The Sociology of Art. Univ. of Chicago Press (esp. Ch. 31)

______1951. The Social History of Art (4 vols.) NY: Vintage Books

Robert Hughes. 1981. The Shock of the New. NY: Alfred Knopf

Andreas Huyssen 1986. After the Great Divide: Modernism, Mass Culture, Postmodernism. Univ. of Indian Press

Russell Lynes 1973. Good Old Modern: An Intimate Portrait of the Museum of Modern Art . NY: Atheneum

Kathleen D. McCarthy.1991.Women’s Culture: American Philanthropy & Art, 1830-1930. Univ. of Chicago Press

Alice Goldfarb Marquis 1989. Alfred H. Barr, Jr.: Missionary for the Modern. Chicago: Contemporary Books

James R. Mellow 1982. Charmed Circle: Gertrude Stein & Co. Avon

Richard A. Peterson 1976. The Production of Culture. NY: Sage Publications

Renato Poggioli 1971. The Theory of the Avant-Garde. NY: Harper

Harold Rosenberg 1965. The Tradition of the New. McGraw-Hill

Bernard Rosenberg and Norris Fliegl 1965. The Vanguard Artist: Portrait and Self-Portrait. NY: Quadrangle Books

Magali Sarfatti-Larson 1993. Behind the Postmodern Façade: Architectural Change in Late 20th Century America. Univ. of California Press

Meyer Schapiro. 1978. Modern Art: 19th and 20th Centuries. NY: George Braziller

Peter Selz 1957. German Expressionist Painting. Univ. of Calif. Press

Linda Weintraub 1996. Art on the Edge and Over: Searching for Art’s Meaning in Contemporary Society, 1970s-1990s. Art Insights

Frances Stonor Saunders. The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters. New York: The New Press, 1999

Harrison C. and Cyntha A. White 1965. Canvases and Careers: Institutional Change in the French Painting World. NY: John Wiley

Raymond Williams 1981. Culture [or Sociology of Culture] Fontana

______1980. Problems in Materialism and Culture. London: Verso

Tom Wolfe. The Painted Word

Janet Wolff 1990. Feminine Sentences: Essays on Women & Culture. Univ. of Calif. Press

Vera L. Zolberg 1990. Constructing a Sociology of the Arts. Cambridge Univ. Press

Vera L. Zolberg & Joni M. Cherbo 1997. Outsider Art: Contesting Boundaries in Contemporary Culture. Cambridge Univ. Press