Clement Greenberg's 'Avant-Garde and Kitsch'

1277 Words6 Pages
Humans create art. They create art to show the emotions within them; the emotions that were occurred by the things that they see, feel and live. Since each human’s point of view differs, each created product of art will naturally carry different thoughts. These different thoughts are the most significant reasons for the existence of countless art movements. In this essay one of these art movements, the subject of “kitsch” , will be examined. What does kitsch mean in the sense of art, its history and current situation in our time and Turkey, how did kitsch become so popular and worldwide and how politics and social classes affected this movement of art are the questions that will be answered in this essay. Along with this subject, “avant garde” , which is another art movement, will be studied by its meaning and comparison to the kitsch. Kitsch’s word meaning in German is “to collect rubbish from the street” and also “ to make cheap” which comes from the German phrase “verkitschen”. The history of usage of kitsch in art goes back to 19th century. It is said that Marie Antoinette started the kitsch movement with her interesting words of “Let them it cake”. This saying could refer to the core of this movement. Because the general aim in the kitsch is to create popular art for everyone, not just for people who has critical sense for art. In the core of it, there are the elements of mass production, copying, tastelessness and melodrama. Also there is a different approach to the roots of the kitsch that suggests it goes back to the Baroque Period. It is a period that have artists and sculptors that imitate their masters before them. This feature has a resemblance to the kitsch’s imitating without taste and with appealing to the large audiences. The method of kitsch can be applied to anything such as paintings, sculptors, literature, music and fashion. Some of its
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