POST 1

Assignment:

Write a post exploring what you think it means for something to be
“avant-garde.” What types of associations (either positive or negative)
do you make with this word? Then watch two short BBC documentary clips
on Manet’s painting, Luncheon on the Grass (see below). To borrow a word
from our textbook title, how do you think that this painting
“challenges” the viewer? What sort of things did Manet do that might
have been considered “avant-garde?”

Clip 1: http://youtu.be/WdwyoyyOipw (watch beginning of clip until 9:00)
Clip 2: http://youtu.be/kBHRJBlFdrc (watch beginning of clip until 4:10)

Response:

     Avant-Garde means, thinking outside the box and creating something that is new and never been seen before, or something that has been seen but twisted and made into something that looks new. I associate fashion mainly with this term, as I mainly focus in costuming and fashion design. It's a very positive word in my mind, it means something that makes people react, to show there's more in what you are doing that just what you've made, it causes people to look into themselves and rethink what they feel about something. Avant Garde is more then just art for art sake as Cautier said it is, I agree with Saint Simon that it should improve society, my way of thinking this is because, Avant Garde is basically a person starting the next art movement, which doesn't just change the way paintings look, but theatre costume designs, as well as fashion of the time periods, even down to how people think about things which may be a cause to the industrial revolution and other revolutions such as that one. Avant Garde starts the gear turning to get people on with their lives and stop hanging around in just one place of mind. So for Cautier to say art is supposed to be useless, and that's what makes it beautiful I feel is incorrect, his way of thinking however is Avant Garde.
    Manet is one Avant Garde artist that really started the way of thinking in Avant Garde and acknowledging it for people to finally notice, that Avant Garde just means change. His way of painting was something that no one had ever seen before, it wasn't just rebelious it was constructive rebellion. Why do something the way someone tells you to do it, just because that's the "right" way? He basically started a way of thinking, in my mind, what is "right" what is "wrong". In the second clip, about "The Luncheon on the Grass" ends with how it challenges the viewers. The woman who is staring at the viewer pulling them into the painting, as usually the thing that pulls in the viewer is the depth in the painting and the openness of the beginning of the picture. It also pulls the viewer into the picture and challanges them because of the two men who are having a relaxed conversation that the woman is part of, yet she is paying attention to you instead, not to mention the woman in the background in the lake doing something that is very undefined. Manet referenced the things that were going on in the art world of the time, the people are very formed and clean looking, as well as the ever timeless nude woman, but he puts a spin on the idea by creating a flat atmosphere around the characters in it. As well as the background of the painting where he "splotches" the colors to create a forest background, which reminds me of a pastel painting, very free flowing and "careless", and the woman in the lake is a lot larger then she should be comparative to the depth of the people sitting in the foreground, he threw the idea of depth out the window when he painted her. The woman in the lake is another thing that I feel pulls the viewer into the picture because, since she isn't the "correct" size you can clearly see that she is doing something in the lake but leaves you wondering what exactly is she doing?
     Manet did all of these things in just one painting but continued to push the boundaries of the art world, and re-created many master pieces that related to the modern world around him.