Avant-garde and the “loss of craftsmanship”: an easy explanation

Abstract

In this paper, Thierry de Duve proceeds from the opinion shared by both Clement Greenberg and Theodor Adorno, that the artistic avant-garde, in the first place, specifically belongs to the western civilization, whereas other civilizations are ignorant of it; secondly, that the avant-garde does not give up aspiring to create “great art” even under the most hostile circumstances. The author tries to clarify what the “loss of craftsmanship”, which, on the first glance, is characteristic of avant-garde, actually is.