First Day Survey

I asked members of the seminar to write on two questions for about 15 minutes. I asked them A) What comes to mind when they hear the term Victorian, what does it signify in the popular imagination? And B} What comes to mind when they hear the term “Avant-Garde”, what does it signify in the popular imagination?

Following are their unedited and anonymous responses.

The Victorian era expanded and took form during the 19th century, in the transitional period before the new age of technology.  In this odd time, technology was improving and new ideas were being produced, but classical styles and manners were still used in art, writing, and society. In my uneducated view of the Victorian era, I think of men in top hats and women in big dresses, who went to plays and viewed art that had more modern concepts. I think that the modern view of the Victorian era sometimes takes on the persona of steam-punk culture, which I don't find accurate, but I find it looks at certain very real aspects of the culture. Half classical, half technological. 

My vision of the avant-garde is much different, in reference to this time period. Generally, I consider avant-garde to act as a title for contemporary art works of a period that were introducing new concepts and led to new movements. In the victorian age, I think of impressionists, and works that began to turn towards modern art styles. Works of this sort were looking to the future, but other styles, like the pre-raphaelites, were looking toward the elegance of the past. 

In all, I think that this era was a transitionary period, which was being inspired culturally by the new technological innovations of the time, but was still used to the style of past times. 

1. I truly know next to nothing when it comes to Victorian anything, which is why I'm so excited to take this course. I have done some research on momento-mori (and fell in love with it) and would love to write my seminar paper on it, and maybe its relationship to the ritual of mourning in that time, which I find fascinating. But other than occasionally putting William Morris prints as my background on my computer because I think they are attractive I know next to nothing. I'm really excited to learn. 

2. I imagine avant-garde always as meaning forward-thinking or somewhere along the lines of "what the cool kids are up to at the time". John pronounces it avant-gardEE because of dyslexia (he spelled it gardie at first, and then it just became an inside joke), and because he thinks the phrase avant-garde can sound douchey. I sometimes tend to agree with him but maybe I just miss-understand its meaning, which is a distinct possibility. 

The only thing I know about the Victorian era is that it took place during the 1800's. I immediately think of typical Victorian period clothing, which is the fancy rich dresses and complicated up-dos for women. I do not really know much about art and literature for this period directly, mostly a vague idea of the types of each that were being made. Oddly enough, the first book that comes to mind is "A Christmas Carol." Is that even from the Victorian era? I think Charles Dickinson was writing around the 1800's. I am aware that I could be way off, though I think googling it now would be considered cheating in a way, therefore I am willing to be corrected. Avant- Garde usually means new or different in the art world. So I'm guessing that Victorian plus Avant- Garde would mean that we will learn what happened culturally in the Victorian era that was revolutionary and new to the world. This seems to make sense, as I do know that a lot of new and exciting things came out of this period, such as photography. 

What I know about the culture of the Victorian Era is mostly based on what I've read and seen in literature and movies. I've read Pygmalion and watched My Fair Lady. I also watched The Young Victoria, which was a biopic about Queen and her early rule. 

Also, I believe this is a time when more conceptual artists were emerging, like Manet. Also, I believe photography is making technological advances. Also I believe this is the time of the Industrial Revolution.

I think Avant-Garde means really out of the norm. I think of words like experimental and disruptive.

I'm not entirely sure what I know about the Victorian era because I have trouble discerning whether there is a difference between the Victorian era and the Gothic era. I feel more familiar with the gothic, or at least the gothic as it is viewed today through books and films. Whether or not Victorian and Gothic are the same period of time and I completely don't know what I'm talking about, I'm not sure. I associate Gothic culture with the horror or mystery genres, and tend to think of authors like Edgar Allan Poe; when I imagine Victorian culture I tend to think of porcelain dolls which are also consistent with contemporary horror. One thing I guess that I do know is Victorian is the work of Aubrey Beardsley, who I associate somewhat with the art nouveau movement. The subjects of Beardsley's illustrations are almost exclusively literary works such as the Morte D'Arthur and Salome, and have both an ornamental appearance as well as degree of grotesqueness to them. Beardsley's work can be seen both as beautiful and ugly, which is perhaps why I've been drawn to his work in the past, and why I'm interested in gaining a better understanding of the Victorian period.

Compared to the Victorian period, the Avant Garde is something that I feel far more familiar with. Historically the term Avant Garde in reference to a style or approach to art began in the early 20th century with the rise of the modern art movement. The original use of the term Avant Garde was to specify military men who were the foremost in battle, those who staked new ground and fought at the front line. the military term was adapted to describe modern art movements such as Cubism which were pioneered new frontiers of expression by attempting to disregard all that had historically preceded them to create something totally new. Movements such as Cubism revolutionized that way people saw the world by manipulating conventional understandings of time and space, forcing the viewer to reconsider what they knew about the world and reimagine things in different terms. Similar to Cubism, the Dada movement has also been considered Avant Garde because of the way it subverted the use of art materials to question the validity of all art and emphasize societies flaws. There is a historical understanding of the Avant Garde but there is also the view that Avant Garde continues to describe art that is made today and that the term continues to encompass new understanding of what it means to subvert viewer expectations.

1. What do I know/think of Victorian? 

I do not know that much about Victorian or Avant-Garde which is why I am taking this course.  I guess for Victorian I think of regality in England.  High class paintings and tea parties mostly.  I am sure that  there is much more to it than that which is what I am looking to learn in this class. 

2. What do I know/think of Avant-Garde?

So my first thought is a memory of someone wearing overalls with a basket over her head for halloween and saying she was "avant-garde."  I realize that this is not a very accurate description but it is my immediate reaction.  Aside from that, I think of things that are off the beaten path.  Artists experimenting with new ideas, often ones that seemed unusual.

In considering this course, and especially in considering the term "Victorian Avant-Garde," I do not necessarily see the term as being oxymoronic or tautologically self-defeating. I do not, however, arrive at this conclusion through my knowledge (read: lack of knowledge) of Victorian art and literature. The Victorian era, especially in mainland England, was an enormous time of experimentation, to which the term "Avant-Garde" is readily and easily is applicable, especially when considering the enormous explosion of new experimental technological advancements coming out of England during the Industrial Revolution - the tail end of which coincided with the academic defined Victorian era (1837-1901) English society. Although it must be noted that much of the culture of the Victorian era (proper) sprouted as a departure from the period of rationalistic empiricism of the preceding Georgian Era and the Industrial revolution therein contained. So perhaps I am connecting two absolutely unrelated concepts using some twisted form of (il)logic, however it is interesting to think about how the experimental nature of Avant-Garde artistic expression of the Victorian era could be linked, at least in part, to the likewise experimental nature of the immediately preceding industrial expansion of the Georgian era.

Q: What do you think of when you think of the Victorian Era?

A: I will readily admit that I don't know much about this era. But! Here's what does come to my mind (and is probably all very very inaccurate!):

- poofy dresses,
- They lived by very complicated, straightlaced and strict social rules. 

- lots of ribbons and frou-frou, frilly things

- romanticism & mysticism in regard to religion, social values and art

- This period was named after Queen Victoria and was a period of peace bookended by 2 major wars.

- When I hear "Victorian Britain" I think of stories that get turned into BBC specials and miniseries.

- Corsets, petticoats and crinolines

- Dickens, Sherlock Holmes, Jane Eyre, Mansfield Park, RL Stevenson, Jane Austen...

- child labor, no fair labor laws

- men's jackets with long tails and vests

- huge and very ornately decorated mansions on large estates for the upper class

- urban squalor for those who left the countryside to work in factories.

Q: What do you think is meant by the term "avant garde"?:

A: It generally is used to describe something that is at the very forefront of being ahead of the trends of its field. Example, there's modern, post modern and then.. ooooooo~ (holds hands up a tad sarcastically) the avant garde. I think it has come to be a term that is tossed around too easily to try and sell something and get attention; it has become a term that sounds incredibly arrogant and gets a lot of eye-rolling. When I hear someone describe something as "avant garde" I think to myself: "hrm, ya really think so? probably not. sure you think it's so cool but then you simply slapped on some hipster-y overly-conceptual junk after the whole thing was done. Whatever happened to caring about the craft of one's work??" Sarcastic? Cynical? Yeah, I probably am. 

The Victorian Period encompasses they years of Queen Victoria's reign from 1837 to 1901. Strong characteristics of the this era included the rise of the middle class and the corresponding class tensions that arose between the traditional aristocrats and nouveau rich. Other characteristics included increased scientific innovation and experimentation, and the introduction of evolutionary theory that influenced not only the realm of science but also the fields of business and humanities. At the same time the traditional roles of the domestic housewife and working man were strengthened as the foundations of English Society.

From what I understand of Avant-Garde, it was the artistic expression of the innovation, and experimentation that  defined the Victorian Period in other fields.

I'm typing this on my phone so I apologize if the formatting is off...what do I think of when I hear the phrase Victorian era? I think of Dickens novels and overbearing cockney accents. burley men in top hats strutting about London ironically toting umbrellas they never seem to open; the 19th century precursor to wearing tweed sweaters in weather far too warm for them. I also think of Karl Marx writing angry letters to Engels lambasting the great exhibition as bourgeoisie capitalism at its most perverted. Colonialism. Lot's of it.

And what do I think is avant garde? Cutting edge or new wave is how I would describe it. But I don't know. Iv'e spent the past hour struggling to just spell it correctly. Truth be told, I know next to nothing of the subjects we are going to learn about. But that's exciting to me. 

What comes to mind about the Victorian era is a book I purchased some time ago titled, "African Sexualities." From what I read so far, the author addresses colonialism and how the British used African people's sexualities as propaganda to colonize parts of Africa. among many other things, Victorian social customs and attitudes about women reproductive rights were brought to parts of Africa to "civilize the uncivilized." More importantly, these attitudes and costumes used African women bodies as a catalyst for their voyeuristic agenda, such as establishing laws to prohibit African women from the option of not wearing clothing. Additionally, much of the established laws from this period is a product of the gender hierarchies that exist, as well as the oversimplification of sexuality. 

When I think of Avant-Garde I think of movements such as Cubism, which was modern Art. Also, I think of the influences "primitivism" had on this movement. Most artists in this movements wanted to break free from conventional modes of art making, so in the case of Picasso, masks and women prostitutes were a catalyst for his artistic practice.

My familiarity with the Victorian era includes the Sherlock Holmes series of stories, I've read & own two collections of Arthur Conan Doyle's work about the character. I've read one or two other fictional novels set in the time period that echo a sort of 'Jack the Ripper' style murder mystery. The works I mention probably inform the bulk of what I know about the Victorian era aside from fiction that's been popularized from that era and remade into movies & television shows such as Oliver Twist. Perhaps I should include the impressionists depiction of life in parks or cafe's & the illustrations of George Cruikshank.

I think Avante-Garde means or was an attempt to create an artistic & social movement which declared that artistic creations in painting, music or theatre should make works that solidly reject previous forms or modes of expression. Anything new should embody only the absolute present, in material, sound & thought.