Kitsch and Greenberg

590 Words3 Pages
Kitsch, a form of art which is thought as a worthles imitation of an art, comes from German. The term was used by Germans in 1860s for describing cheap, popular, and marketable pictures and sketches in the art markets. Kitsch as a form of art has been exposed some changes and developments in time; but the most important one came with Industry Revolution. Capitalism, power, technology and culturel developments started to destruct the established values of high art, which beared a tastelessness in artistic world. The Industrial Revolution brought with it an evolution in consumption. People from all social classes could participate in mass consumption and art objects could be mass-produced. Many high-minded members of the intelligents were shocked because the art was now came to the hands of ordinary people. Clement Greenberg strictly opposed to the kitsch's acceptance as an art in mass culture. In his essay, Clement Greenberg divides art into two category: avant-garde and kitsch. Avant garde is the "genuine" art that moves society forward. It manages to be genuine by avoiding such tasteless things as subject matter in favor of art that focuses on the very processes of art, the medium of art itself. However as a result of this genuine style, avant-garde artists are marginalized in the modern world.According to him the modern world is more interested in kitsch, which is characterized by its inauthenticity. He sees kitsch as an unreal experiance and a faked sensation. He emphasized in his essay "Where there is an avant-garde, generally we also find a rearguard. True enough - simultaneously with the entrance of the avant-garde, a second new cultural phenomenon appeared in the industrial West: that thing to which the Germans give the wonderful name of Kitsch: popular, commercial art and literature with their chromeotypes, magazine covers, illustrations, ads, slick and
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