The idea of avant-garde is associated with innovation in content and form.
The original meaning of vanguard refers to the part of an armed force that goes ahead of the main body . The vanguard is made up of the first lines of the combat formation.
The concept can be extended to name the vanguard of an artistic, political or ideological movement . In this sense, the avant-garde is something new that escapes the dominant trend and that could lay the foundations for future development .
A renewing current
The avant-garde represents a renewal of forms and content. In the case of art, for example, it attempts to reinvent its foundations and confronts existing movements. Initially, the avant-garde is a minority and is often rejected by traditionalist circles. Over time, however, it can become part of the system itself (and consequently lose its avant-garde status).
Although the avant-garde movements have very different characteristics, they are similar in their fight against traditions, their commitment to innovation, the exercise of individual freedom and their experimental nature.
Cubism was an artistic avant-garde.
The artistic avant-gardes
Between 1914 and 1939 there was an evolution in the way of thinking, both in art and politics, and the artistic avant-gardes represented movements that changed the vision of people and reality, leaving behind attention to details, in pursuit of greater creative freedom, using abstract images and giving colors an unprecedented importance.
Some of the most significant movements were:
* Futurism : originated by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, through the publication of a manifesto that called for the search for a modern order , leaving behind the past and tradition . The First World War played a fundamental role in the end of Futurism, since many of its representatives died on the battlefield. Ironically, many had thought that this fateful milestone in history would have served to destroy the schemes that had existed until then, leaving a blank canvas on which to rebuild the culture of the West;
* Cubism : this is a reflection on form, from an intellectual and visual perspective. The most recurrent themes of this movement are still life and portraits. It also saw the emergence of collage, which consisted of combining pieces of various materials on the same surface. Basically, Cubism proposes the representation of nature through the use of geometry, placing figures on a single plane. It is worth mentioning that it also made its appearance in literature, thanks to the work of the French writer Guillaume Apollinare; in this case, it was based on the combination of concepts and images at random;
* Suprematism : Very influenced by the two movements just mentioned, Suprematism was based on giving a leading role to pure sensibility and its supremacy in figurative arts . Some of its traces are the use of basic geometric shapes, such as squares, lines and circles, painted with a limited range of colours; its evolution saw a stage in which it experimented with monochrome, and also produced works done exclusively in black and white.
A Catalan newspaper
La Vanguardia , on the other hand, is a general information morning newspaper published in the city of Barcelona ( Spain ). Its first edition was published in 1881 , a fact that makes it one of the oldest newspapers in the country.
The Godó Group , linked to the newspaper's origins, is the current owner of La Vanguardia . Its president and editor-in-chief is Javier Godó , born in 1941. Politically, La Vanguardia is positioned on the centrist side. It is a newspaper with a liberal and Catalanist tendency.