ogy—will require a re-birth of objectivity in philosophy, leading to a
broad cultural consensus regarding what art is. Until an objective theory
of art informs our educational and cultural institutions, the avant-garde
will become ever more dominant.
To oppose the avant-garde effectively, its critics must first recognize
how pervasive and deeply entrenched it is. The task is more easily man-
aged if one puts a human face on it, or rather, faces, since the monopoly
in question is guarded by a host of individuals (collectively known as the
artworld), who have a vested interest in perpetuating the myth that “art”
cannot be defined. At the top of the heap are philosophers of art, since
philosophy deals with the fundamental principles upon which all else
rests. Among the others are art historians with a particular interest in
avant-garde work (including abstraction), as well as the representatives
of auction houses and galleries, collectors, art critics, and sympathetic
members of the public (the “artworld public”). Not least in the mix are
the avant-garde artists themselves.^4Some Definitions
Before I proceed to unravel this web of diverse interests, let me pause to
consider the definition of a few key terms. By artI mean what is often
referred to as fine art. My view of art is based on the theory formulated
by philosopher-novelist Ayn Rand (1905–1982), who analyzed the
nature of the traditional art forms in relation to human cognition, per-
ception, and emotion. She defined art as “a selective re-creation of real-
ity” in which the creative process is guided by the artist’s fundamental
values and “sense of life.”^5
The term avant-gardeis defined by Britain’s Tate Collection (which
includes Tate Modern, the most prominent avant-garde institution in the
U.K.) as “that [which] is innovatory, introducing or exploring new forms
or subject matter.” Applied at first in the 1850s, to the realism of
Gustave Courbet, the Tate explains, the term avant-garde refers to the
“successive movements of modern art,” and is “more or less synony-
mous with modern.” According to the Tate, “the notion of the avant-
garde enshrines the idea that art should be judged primarily on the
quality and originality of the artist’s vision and ideas.”^6 Similarly,
America’s National Gallery of Art defines avant-gardeas referring to
“work that is innovative or inventive on one or more levels: subject,
medium, technique, style, or relationship to context”—work that
“pushes the known boundaries of acceptable art sometimes with revolu-
tionary, cultural, or political implications.”^7166 Louis Torres