Bargains! PROMOTIONS

Close Notification

Your cart does not contain any items

How to Be Avant-Garde

Modern Artists and the Quest to End Art

Morgan Falconer (Sotheby's Institute of Art)

$32.95

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

QTY:

English
Miscellaneous
06 March 2026
""Art has poisoned our life,"" proclaimed Dutch artist and De Stijl cofounder Theo van Doesburg. Reacting to the tumultuous crises of the twentieth century, especially the horrors of World War I, avant-garde artists and writers sought to destroy art by transforming it into the substance of everyday life. Following the evolution of these revolutionary groups, How to Be Avant-Garde charts its pioneers and radical ideas.

From Paris to New York, from Zurich to Moscow and Berlin, avant-gardists challenged the confines of the definition of art along with the confines of the canvas itself. Art historian Morgan Falconer starts with the dynamic Futurist founder Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, whose manifesto extolling speed, destruction, and modernity seeded avant-gardes across Europe. In turn, Dadaists Hugo Ball and Emmy Hennings sought to replace art with political cabaret, and the Surrealists tried to exchange it for tools to plumb the unconscious.

He guides us through the Russian Constructivists with their adventures in advertising and utopianism and then De Stijl with the geometric abstractions of Piet Mondrian. The Bauhaus broke more boundaries, transmuting art into architecture and design. Finally, the Situationists swapped art for politics, with many of their ideas inspiring the 1968 Paris student protests.

How to Be Avant-Garde is a journey through the interlocking networks of these richly creative lives with their visions of a better world, their sometimes sympathetic but often strange and turbulent conversations, and their objects and writings that defied categorization.
By:  
Imprint:   Miscellaneous
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 211mm,  Width: 140mm,  Spine: 20mm
Weight:   255g
ISBN:   9781324123330
ISBN 10:   1324123338
Pages:   288
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Morgan Falconer, a critic and art historian, teaches at Sotheby’s Institute of Art. He is the author of Painting Beyond Pollock and has written for publications including the Economist, the Times (UK), Art in America, and Frieze. He lives in Queens, New York.

Reviews for How to Be Avant-Garde: Modern Artists and the Quest to End Art

""From André Breton to Robert Smithson, the book nimbly threads the stories of many figures into a coherent and pleasurable read… With a talent for setting the scene and rendering vivid portraits, Falconer brings the stories of these artists, each with conflicting agendas, into one comprehensible argument."" -- Aaron Peck - The Times Literary Supplement ""The book rushes readers at a velocity Marinetti would have enjoyed.… [F]ascinating."" -- Orlando Whitfield - The New York Times ""A group biography of the modern artists who at one point or another had enough of the artistic status quo.… [B]eing avant-garde, Mr. Falconer reminds us, meant going yet further and abandoning art as traditionally conceived."" -- Max Norman - The Wall Street Journal


See Also