Redefining the Concepts of the Avant-Garde as an Example of a Possible Return to Modernism
Redefining the Concepts of the Avant-Garde as an Example of a Possible Return to Modernism

Summary/Abstract: The paper is an attempt to demonstrate that expanding the definition of the terms relating to 20th century art makes it possible to return it to modernism. Such an approach is possible in relation to the issues that were topical both before the avant-garde and in postmodernism. Thisanalysis was inspired mainly by the inconsistency of the views on the avant-garde content, further expanded by postmodern theories. Pluralism, both modernist and postmodernist, does not preclude references to the modernist ideas in contemporary scholarship.I have based my reflections on the issue of autonomy in avant-garde art. The multidimensional character of this concept and the transformation of its scope in the 20th century, as well as the 20th-century pluralization of theories, directions and concepts makes it possible to analyze theproblem from different perspectives, visible today from the post-postmodern perspective. Starting from the views of Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Schiller, I take into account the views of theo-reticians as well as artists.Taking into account the many meanings and contexts in which terms are used in modernismand postmodernism provides an opportunity to reexamine them. It also allows us, as I have demonstrated, to verify some of the views on the avant-garde, such as the notion of the end ofart, the tendency of the avant-garde art to self-destruct, or the association of high art withhermeticism and elitism. It also validates the discussion on neomodernism.

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