Surveying the Avant-Garde: Questions on Modernism, Art, and the Americas in Transatlantic Magazines (Refiguring Modernism)

__Surveying the Avant-Garde__ examines the art and literature of the Americas in the early twentieth century through the lens of the questionnaire, a genre as central as the manifesto to the history of the avant-garde. Questions such as “How do you imagine Latin America?” and “What should American art be?” issued by avant-garde magazines like __Imán__, a Latin American periodical based in Paris, and Cuba’s __Revista de Avance__ demonstrate how editors, writers, and readers all grappled with the concept of “America,” particularly in relationship to Europe, and how the questionnaire became a structuring device for reflecting on their national and aesthetic identities in print. Through an analysis of these questionnaires and their responses, Lori Cole reveals how ideas like “American art,” as well as “modernism” and “avant-garde,” were debated at the very moment of their development and consolidation. Unlike a manifesto, whose signatories align with a single polemical text, the questionnaire produces a patchwork of responses, providing a composite and sometimes fractured portrait of a community. Such responses yield a self-reflexive history of the era as told by its protagonists, which include figures such as Gertrude Stein, Alfred Stieglitz, Jean Toomer, F. T. Marinetti, Diego Rivera, and Jorge Luis Borges. The book traces a genealogy of the genre from the Renaissance __paragone__, or “comparison of the arts,” through the rise of __enquêtes__ in the late nineteenth century, up to the contemporary questionnaire, which proliferates in art magazines today. By analyzing a selection of surveys issued across the Atlantic, Cole indicates how they helped shape artists’ and writers’ understanding of themselves and their place in the world. Based on extensive archival research, this book reorients our understanding of modernism as both hemispheric and transatlantic by narrating how the artists and writers of the period engaged in aesthetic debates that informed and propelled print communities in Europe, the United States, and Latin America. Scholars of modernism and the avant-garde will welcome Cole’s original and compellingly crafted work.

Surveying the Avant-Garde examines the art and literature of the Americas in the early twentieth century through the lens of the questionnaire, a genre as central as the manifesto to the history of the avant-garde.

Questions such as “How do you imagine Latin America?” and “What should American art be?” issued by avant-garde magazines like Imán, a Latin American periodical based in Paris, and Cuba’s Revista de Avance demonstrate how editors, writers, and readers all grappled with the concept of “America,” particularly in relationship to Europe, and how the questionnaire became a structuring device for reflecting on their national and aesthetic identities in print. Through an analysis of these questionnaires and their responses, Lori Cole reveals how ideas like “American art,” as well as “modernism” and “avant-garde,” were debated at the very moment of their development and consolidation.

Unlike a manifesto, whose signatories align with a single polemical text, the questionnaire produces a patchwork of responses, providing a composite and sometimes fractured portrait of a community. Such responses yield a self-reflexive history of the era as told by its protagonists, which include figures such as Gertrude Stein, Alfred Stieglitz, Jean Toomer, F. T. Marinetti, Diego Rivera, and Jorge Luis Borges.

The book traces a genealogy of the genre from the Renaissance paragone, or “comparison of the arts,” through the rise of enquêtes in the late nineteenth century, up to the contemporary questionnaire, which proliferates in art magazines today. By analyzing a selection of surveys issued across the Atlantic, Cole indicates how they helped shape artists’ and writers’ understanding of themselves and their place in the world.

Derived from extensive archival research, this book reorients our understanding of modernism as both hemispheric and transatlantic by narrating how the artists and writers of the period engaged in aesthetic debates that informed and propelled print communities in Europe, the United States, and Latin America. Scholars of modernism and the avant-garde will welcome Cole’s original and compellingly crafted work.

Surveying the Avant-Garde examines the art andliterature of the Americas in the early twentieth century throughthe lens of the questionnaire, a genre as central as the manifestoto the history of the avant-garde.

Questions such as "How do you imagine Latin America?" and "Whatshould American art be?" issued by avant-garde magazines likeImán, a Latin American periodical based in Paris, andCuba's Revista de Avance demonstrate how editors, writers,and readers all grappled with the concept of "America,"particularly in relationship to Europe, and how the questionnairebecame a structuring device for reflecting on their national andaesthetic identities in print. Through an analysis of thesequestionnaires and their responses, Lori Cole reveals how ideaslike "American art," as well as "modernism" and "avant-garde," weredebated at the very moment of their development andconsolidation.

Unlike a manifesto, whose signatories align with a singlepolemical text, the questionnaire produces a patchwork ofresponses, providing a composite and sometimes fractured portraitof a community. Such responses yield a self-reflexive history ofthe era as told by its protagonists, which include figures such asGertrude Stein, Alfred Stieglitz, Jean Toomer, F. T. Marinetti,Diego Rivera, and Jorge Luis Borges.

The book traces a genealogy of the genre from the Renaissanceparagone, or "comparison of the arts," through the rise ofenquêtes in the late nineteenth century, up to thecontemporary questionnaire, which proliferates in art magazinestoday. By analyzing a selection of surveys issued across theAtlantic, Cole indicates how they helped shape artists' andwriters' understanding of themselves and their place in theworld.

Based on extensive archival research, this book reorients ourunderstanding of modernism as both hemispheric and transatlantic bynarrating how the artists and writers of the period engaged inaesthetic debates that informed and propelled print communities inEurope, the United States, and Latin America. Scholars of modernismand the avant-garde will welcome Cole's original and compellinglycrafted work.

Surveying the Avant-Garde' examines the art and literature of the Americas in the early twentieth century through the lens of the questionnaire, a genre as central as the manifesto to the history of the avant-garde.0Questions such as "How do you imagine Latin America?" and "What should American art be?" issued by avant-garde magazines like Iman, a Latin American periodical based in Paris, and Cuba's Revista de Avance demonstrate how editors, writers, and readers all grappled with the concept of "America," particularly in relationship to Europe, and how the questionnaire became a structuring device for reflecting on their national and aesthetic identities in print. Through an analysis of these questionnaires and their responses, Lori Cole reveals how ideas like "American art," as well as "modernism" and "avant-garde," were debated at the very moment of their development and consolidation. Unlike a manifesto, whose signatories align with a single polemical text, the questionnaire produces a patchwork of responses, providing a composite and sometimes fractured portrait of a community. Such responses yield a self-reflexive history of the era as told by its protagonists, which include figures such as Gertrude Stein, Alfred Stieglitz, Jean Toomer, F.T. Marinetti, Diego Rivera, and Jorge Luis Borges. The book traces a genealogy of the genre from the Renaissance paragone, or "comparison of the arts," through the rise of enquetes in the late nineteenth century, up to the contemporary questionnaire, which proliferates in art magazines today "Examines art and literature of the Americas through the lens of the questionnaire, a genre as central as the manifesto to the history of the avant-garde. Demonstrates how modernism and the avant-garde were debated at the very moment of their development and consolidation"--Provided by publisher