A French term that means "advance guard", originally a military term for troops at the front of an army. In art, it describes artists and groups who break with tradition and try new ideas. It is often used for radical movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Cubism, Futurism, Dada, Surrealism and Constructivism. Many of them also wanted social or political change.
Some historians separate the avant-garde from modernism. In this view, modernists focused on the form of art itself, while the avant-garde wanted to bring art into everyday life. In photography, avant-garde artists used new methods such as photomontage, photograms and unusual camera angles.
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