Two quarrels over the concept of the avant-garde in late-francoist Spain

Abstract

In late-francoist Spain, two were the disputes over the significance of the term «avant-garde»: the one sprung by the publication of Castellet’s Nueve novísimos poetas españoles (1970) and that (1973) which confront Antoni Tàpies with the Grup de Treball. Even though Tàpies and Castellet were talking, one in the name of painting, and the other, in the name of poetry, both were defending a formalist conception of the avant-garde, whose transgressive character consist in the bare exposition of the limitations of its medium. Both the poets that criticize Castellet’s anthology and the Grup de Treball were defending a concept of the avant-garde which rejects the principle of art’s autonomy. They propose new ways of integrating aesthetic experience in social life. From a comparative standpoint, I will describe the aesthetic and political similarities between Castellet’s and Tàpies’ stances, as much as the success of their conception of the avant-garde.