THEA 324 - The Concept of the Avant-Garde

Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3HU

A seminar examining the cultural and political forces of the late 19th and early 20th century which helped create an ‘adversary’ relationship between ‘avant-garde’ artists and middle-class society. The course focuses on those modernist movements that affected painting, literature, and theater. Major issues explored include: the relationship of the avant-garde to radical politics as well as to popular culture and the mass communications media, the ‘fate’ of the avant-garde in the age of post-modernism, and the current controversies surrounding NEA funding for the work of artists such as Robert Mapplethorpe. Consent of the instructor is required. Enrollment Limit: 20.
Instructor: R. Copeland