Peter Bürger: Theory of the Avant-Garde (1974–) [DE, EN, ES, PT, CZ]

“In this volume, Peter Bürger formulates a theory of the ‘institution of art’. He argues that the social status of literature and art cannot be explained by making simple, direct links between the contents of individual works and social history. Rather, he holds, it is the social status of art, its function and prestige in society, that provides the connection between the individual art work and history. Bürger’s concept of the institution of art establishes a framework within which a work of art is both produced and received.

The French and German literary and visual avant-garde of the 1920s provides the test of Bürger’s theory. Focusing on the role of the artistic manifesto and, particularly, on the collage as an art form, he shows how avant-garde movements questioned the autonomous, self-referential status of art in bourgeois society and thus represented a radical break with the aestheticism of high modernism. Bürger attacks metaphysical aesthetics and argues instead for a materialistic aesthetic theory for today, one that is rooted in the reality of the social sphere. His theory calls into question any conventional concept of art derived from Romantic notions of organic unity.

Theory of the Avant-Garde provoked such discussion in Germany that its publisher, Suhrkamp Verlag, issued a book of responses that was more than twice the size of Bürger’s own book.” (from the back cover)

German edition
Publisher Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main, 1974
Second edition, 1993
147 pages

English edition
Translated by Michael Shaw
Foreword by Jochen Schulte-Sasse
Publisher University of Minnesota Press, 1984
Theory of History and Literature series, 4
ISBN 0816610673
134 pages

Reviews: Benjamin Buchloh (Art in America, 1984), Leah Ulansey (MLN, 1984), Daglind Sonolet (Telos, 1984), Michael T. Jones (German Quarterly, 1986), Martin Vrba (A2, 2016, CZ).

Publisher (DE)
Publisher (EN)
Publisher (CZ)

Theorie der Avantgarde (German, 2nd ed., 1974/1993, updated on 2020-10-13)
Theory of the Avant-Garde (English, 1984, assembled from various sources, no OCR, updated to full version on 2014-5-12 via Charles, updated to OCR version on 2016-1-23 via a2, 12 MB)
Teoría de la vanguardia (Spanish, trans. Jorge García, 1987), 3rd edition (2000, 51 MB)
Teoria da vanguarda (Portuguese, trans. Ernesto Sampaio, 1993)
Teorie avantgardy (Czech, trans. Václav Magid, 2015, added on 2020-4-5)

See also Bürger’s essay Avant-Garde and Neo-Avant-Garde: An Attempt to Answer Certain Critics of Theory of the Avant-Garde, 2010.

Michel Foucault: Manet and the Object of Painting (1971–) [FR, ES, EN, RU]

“In this encounter between one of the 20th century’s greatest minds and an artist fundamental to the development of modern art, Michel Foucault explores Edouard Manet’s importance in the overthrow of traditional values in painting.

Originally delivered in Tunis in 1971 as part of a conference on Manet and here translated into English for the first time, this powerful critique takes the form of a commentary on 13 of Manet’s paintings. For the political-minded philosopher, the connection between visual art and power was clear: art is not an aesthetic pursuit, but a means to explore and challenge power dynamics. A precursor to Foucault’s later work on le regard, or the gaze, the text examines paintings like Un Bar aux Folies-Bergere, where Manet used the mirror to imply the multiple gaze of the waitress, the viewer, and the man at the bar, who may or may not be the artist himself. Foucault used Manet as a basis for a wider exploration of culture.”

English edition
Translated by Matthew Barr
With an Introduction by Nicolas Bourriaud
Publisher Tate, London, 2009
ISBN 1854378457, 9781854378453
80 pages

Commentary: James Polchin (The New Inquiry, 2011)
Bruno-Nassim Aboudrar (Critique d’art, 2004, FR).
Review: John Elias Nale (Foucault Studies, 2005).

Publisher (FR)
Publisher (EN)

Le noir et la surface & La peinture de Manet (French, manuscript with transcription, from Cahiers de L’Herne, 2011, pp 378-395 & 396-409). Audio excerpt (both links updated on 2021-2-3)
La pintura de Manet (Spanish, trans. Roser Vilagrassa, 2005)
Manet and the Object of Painting (English, trans. Matthew Barr, 2009, updated on 2021-2-3)
Zhivopis Mane (Russian, trans. A.V. Dyakov, 2011, added on 2014-6-6)

See also Georges Bataille: Manet: Biographical and Critical Study, 1955.

Georges Bataille: Manet: Biographical and Critical Study (1955)

Bataille’s introduction to Manet.

The essay also appeared as Manet. Études biographique et critique, Skira, Genève, 1955
Translated by Austryn Wainhouse and James Emmons
Publisher Skira, 1955
135 pages
via leninbert

Commentary: Anne McConnell (Equinoxes, 2004).

PDF

See also Michel Foucault: Manet and the Object of Painting (1971, FR, EN)