Avant-Garde Movements in Early 20th Century Art & Literature

Introduction

The avant-garde encompasses a series of artistic movements that emerged in the first decades of the 20th century, rebelling against art's traditional role of imitating reality. These movements, while diverse, shared common characteristics that profoundly impacted art and literature: anti-realism, artistic autonomy, irrationalism, a pursuit of originality, and aesthetic experimentation.

Key European Avant-Garde Movements

• Futurism: Celebrated a break from the past, praising the geometric splendor of the modern world, mechanical civilization, and technological advancements. Stylistically, it sought a dynamic and rapid verbal expression, embracing new possibilities.
• Expressionism: While not a complete rejection of earlier traditions, it emphasized certain features present in Naturalism and Impressionism. Expressionists believed literature should reflect inner spiritual tensions and serve as a weapon against societal ills, resulting in a pessimistic and defiant tone.
• Cubism: Proposed dividing reality to create free compositions of concepts, images, and phrases. It utilized typographical arrangements, collages, and other techniques later adopted by other movements.
• Dadaism: Embodied pure rebellion against logic, aesthetics, social conventions, and common sense. It advocated for liberating individual fantasy and overcoming inhibitions.
• Surrealism: Radically changed the concept of art and the artist's role, aiming for a comprehensive revolution. Its motto, "transforming life," reflects its focus on expressing subconscious images through metaphors.

Spanish Avant-Garde Movements

Ramón Gómez de la Serna spearheaded the avant-garde movement in Spain. The most significant movements were Creationism and Ultraism, which rejected sentimental and subjective themes, emphasizing the intrinsic value of literature.

• Creationism: Believed art should not imitate reality but create its own. It disregarded punctuation, juxtaposed images randomly, and utilized calligrams. Key figures include Juan Larrea and Gerardo Diego.
• Ultraism: Shared many similarities with Creationism. It rejected narrative and combined irrational images and metaphors in free verse poems with unique typographical arrangements. Notable figures include Rafael Cansinos-Assens, Guillermo de Torre, and Jorge Luis Borges.