They weren’t allowed to exhibit their paintings at the salons. They turned to the only venue available to them, “The Salon of the Refused.” They turned their having been banned into a selling point—they made it sexy! It was scandalous at the time—bigger even than that silly Franzen/Marcus debate! Paris was the center of the art world at the time! People came from all over to see and argue about the naked paintings that were too dirty or strange to hang in the galleries proper. Here’s one of them:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/%C3%89douard_Manet_-_Le_D%C3%A9jeuner_sur_l%27herbe.jpg

Manet made a career out of provoking people with art that chafed the traditional social boundaries of what was acceptable. He pushed limits and experimented with technique and was a superb painter…but he also knew how to market himself—which is a big part of the reason why you’ve heard of him. When his work was refused exhibition, he took whatever options were available to him. He spent his own money to have his work exhibited—he nearly bankrupted himself! And he meanwhile kept pursuing mainstream channels. He sold himself on having been rejected, and simultaneously worked to have himself accepted by the mainstream—pretty savvy, huh?

*That* is the very origin of the term avant-garde. (It was coined by critics and artists to refer to Manet and his fellows.) You and anyone else are welcome to think of it as meaning whatever you want it to mean, but that’s its historical definition.

Consider Stan Brakhage. When he made his film “Anticipation of the Night,” Cinema 16 refused to distribute it. Brakhage’s friend Jonas Mekas and others formed the Film-maker’s Cooperative in response:
http://www.film-makerscoop.com/history.htm
The Film-maker’s Coop to this day defines itself as an avant-garde film distribution company.

Fiction Collective was founded by writers who were frustrated that they could no longer commercially publish their books with the majors. FC2 to this day defines itself as an avant-garde publishing company.

John O’Brien founded Dalkey Archive Press to reprint work by authors who were being dropped from the majors. Dalkey shies away from the term “avant-garde,” but it’s of course been called that many times throughout its history.

…This is a common story: artists can’t distribute or exhibit or publish with the dominant powers, and so they turn that rejection on its head and calling their work avant-garde. (Note that they often do this before they’ve demonstrated that their work really is an “advance guard” that will have any impact on the larger culture!)

*This* is why I’m being so cantankerous in this thread, and why I find it so amusing that Shya is calling the /refusal of large presses to publish and promote innovative authors/ the *death* of the avant-garde.

The refusal of authority to promote innovative work has always been the *birth* of the avant-garde!

I know that blogs are fast and loose places where people can redefine words to mean whatever they want them to mean (how avant-garde! how post-language!), but forgive me if I raise some objection. I know, I know—I’m a conservative…

Meanwhile, why people are so reluctant to examine the financial aspect of art boggles my mind. Art costs money and requires materials and an infrastructure. Good luck distributing it without any money: you’ll be left reading your work to your cat and stuffed animals in your bedroom. Just like I do.

If that makes you happy (it delights me!), then hallelujah!

OK, I’m going away for a very long time to watch ZARDOZ, which is an experimental movie starring…Sean Connery! John Boorman made it in 1974…after he made a ton of money making DELIVERANCE. And could do whatever the hell he wanted to do: