Avant-garde and criticism

367 Pages·2007·2.92 MB·English

by  Klaus Beekman & Jan de Vries

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Table of Contents

Klaus Beekman and Jan de Vries
Introduction. Criticism and Avant-Garde 7

Jean-Roch Bouiller
Art Criticism and Avant-Garde: André Lhote’s Written Works 15

Ben Rebel
Architectural Criticism in de 8 en OPBOUW 31

Ansje van Beusekom
Theo van Doesburg and Writings on Film in De Stijl 55

Peter G.F. Eversmann
The International Theatre Exhibition of 1922 and the Critics 67

Nico Laan
The Making of a Reputation: the Case of Cobra 91

Hugo Verdaasdonk
Avant-Garde Reviewing of New Book Releases.
A Case Study from The Netherlands 119

Willem G. Weststeijn
Mayakovsky as Literary Critic 139

Gregor Langfeld
German Art in The Netherlands before and after World War II 157

Arie Hartog
Banality in Art Criticism. Comments on the Reception
of Art in the German Daily Press of the 1920s 177
6 Table of Contents
Hubert F. van den Berg
A Victorious Campaign for Dadaism? On the Press Coverage
of the Dutch Dada Tour of 1923 195

Klaus Beekman
The Inevitability of Argumentative Criticism.
Theo van Doesburg and the Constructive Review 251

Ralf Grüttemeier
On Intentionality and Avant-Garde Criticism 269

Wiljan van den Akker and Gillis Dorleijn
Resistance to the Avant-Garde. Criticism of the Avant-Garde
in Dutch Literary Periodicals 289

Sabine van Wesemael
Dutch Contemporaries on Proust and the Historic Avant-Garde 313

Hestia Bavelaar
The Writing Artists of the Magazine
Kroniek van Kunst en Kultuur (Chronicle of Art and Culture)
in the Period 1935-1941 337
Criticism and Avant-Garde

Klaus Beekman and Jan de Vries

In the past, monographs have been written about avant-garde artists,
avant-garde movements and various separate forms of avant-garde art,
such as literature and the art of painting. Many avant-garde works
have been analyzed and the avant-gardes of various countries have
been put on display shown. However, in newspapers and journals,
considerably less attention has been given to reviews of avant-garde
literature, art, music and film. Of course, studies in this field do exist.
In fact, several very interesting researches have been dedicated to the
avant-garde criticism of art. Look, for example, at those by Lynn
Gamwell on Cubist Critism (1980) and Prenez garde à la peinture!
Kunstkritik in Frankreich 1900-1945 (1999). In these studies, many
sound comments on the role of criticism have been made. This goes
for, among other writings, the preface to Cubist Criticism. Here,
Donald B. Kuspit, (who was also the editor of the series on art
criticism, in which the book of Gamwell was also published), writes
that the reaction of an art critic is “the condition for all future
interpretation. His attention is the work’s ticket to history” (cit.
Gamwell 1980: XVII). Furthermore, he argues that for a work of art to
be admitted into the canon of masterpieces, it must first be given
attention by formal criticism. But art criticism is even more powerful
than this. The reviewer also has influence through ‘his naming of art’.
The labels critics apply to forms of art and to art movements provide
“an identity for future generations” and are frequently borrowed later
by art historians. Look, for example, at art critic Louis Vauxcelles,
who used classifications such as “Fauvism” and “Cubism” at a very
early stage. However, that art critics actually operate in a strategic
way is not a topic that was systematically analyzed in Cubist
Criticism, which is why this volume of Avant-Garde Critical Studies
is being made.
What was the situation with criticism at the end of the 19th
century? Dario Gamboni (1994) has given an answer to this question,
with regards to art criticism in France. There, art criticism developed
in three different directions. Firstly, there was a scientific direction, in
8 Klaus Beekman and Jan de Vries
which critics tried to pass objective, valid and universal judgements.
In the end, these critics revealed themselves as art historians.
Secondly, there was a literary direction, in which a review in itself
was considered to be a piece of art. Here, the ideas of Charles
Baudelaire and Oscar Wilde that had been defended at an earlier stage
were elaborated upon. Although this literary direction was
marginalized at the end of the 19th century, as will be illustrated
below, it had a revival among avant-garde critics at the beginning of
the 20th century. Finally, there was a journalistic direction, which
became the dominant direction for most critics, including the avant-
gardes.
Avant-garde artists from the inter-bellum period kept their
distance from the phenomenon of journalistic criticism. This was
because they believed that art criticism had become an accomplice of
commercialism. At least this was the vision of art critics, gallery
managers, artists and art historians who were interviewed about this
by Paris-Midi in 1927 (Gaehtgens 1999: 9). An avant-garde artist like
André Breton did not like the genre of criticism, because it was too
commercial in character (Junod in Fleckner / Gaehtgens 1999: 255).
This phenomenon was also seen in film criticism. In Germany
between 1922 and 1923, the association of film journalists criticized
the effect film journalists had on the film industry. The film industry
wanted to make less space available to reviewers that were considered
displeasing. After World War I, it succeeded in doing this by
establishing its own press agencies, which advertised via dailies. The
film industry also used a gigantic number of film journals (around
eighty). Film journalism was fully determined by the conjecture of the
twenties (Heller 1990: 35 f.)
Although avant-garde artists kept their distance from
journalistic criticism, they also made use of reviews. This was because
they were aware that reviews, which were widely spread in the public
domain, increased the chances of success for new avant-garde forms
of art. So, journalistic reviews should not be considered merely as
texts in which one passes judgements on art that are grounded in
argument. In their reviews, critics also attempt to manipulate the
cultural climate in their favour. This goes for avant-garde as well as
for traditionally-orientated critics.
Quite often critics also work as artists. For instance, this was
the case with Guillaume Apollinaire. In these situations it is not
Criticism and Avant-Garde 9
uncommon for “the critic” to help out “the artist”. In his contribution
to this volume, Jean-Roch Bouiller outlines this particular situation,
when he shows how André Lhote, one of the most important
contributors to La Nouvelle Revue Française, used his position as an
art critic for reasons of self promotion. By writing reviews and
publishing them abroad, this visual artist succeeded in increasing the
market for his own paintings.
The profession of reviewer attracted avant-garde poets,
novelists, playwrights, visual artists, architects, composers and
filmmakers. Many avant-garde artists could not live from art alone, so
the decision to be active as both an artist and an art critic was often
based on financial arguments. However, there were also other reasons
that artists chose to work simultaneously as reviewers. For example,
strategic considerations quite often formed another basis for the
decision. In working as critics, artists gained a voice against people
who kept old-fashioned ideas on art, while legitimizing avant-garde
concepts. Those artists who also worked as critics were given the
opportunity to pave the way for their own art and/or for the art of
other members of the group. The artist/critic had the potential to
conquer a place in the cultural field. Ben Rebel outlines this exact
phenomenon in his article on architecture criticism in De 8 en opbouw
[The 8 and Construction]. This journal for architecture was considered
an important weapon in the propaganda battle for a rational
architecture that was rooted in the modern world. Marinetti, Breton,
Walden and other leading figures connected to the avant-garde
behaved as modern impresario. They drew attention to avant-garde art
forms by using well-known strategies, such as marketing (distribution
of manifests via dailies and pamphlets), networks, and a combination
of professions (artist, gallery holder and critic) (De Vries 2001).
To conquer a place in the cultural field it was not enough to
attack old-fashioned points of view. An avant-garde artist/critic also
had to create a distinct profile for himself in the midst of other avant-
garde artists/critics. This goes for the reviews Theo van Doesburg
wrote about films by Viking Eggeling en Hans Richter. They helped
to formulate Van Doesburg’s ‘own dynamic idea of New Plasticism’,
writes Ansje van Beusekom in her contribution to this volume. She
argues that Van Doesburg brought his ideas into action against Piet
Mondrian’s conception of New Plasticism.