From: dhiggins-AT-csbh.mhv.net
Date: Sat, 29 Jun 1996 21:18:58 -0500
Subject: Re: architecture and avant-garde


>Here's something to chew on:
>Accepting the fact that "avant-garde" was orignially coined in the late
>1800s...

Only to a Republican would this be a fact ("everybody knows, so it MUST be
true..."). Actually the term "avant garde" was first used in a published
text in its modern sense in 1828. Please advise by whom in  your next
communication.

It was first applied to architecture in the mid-1850's in connection with
the London Crystal Palace, not the New York one.

The question now is, since architecture is becoming ever more conservative,
what does "avant garde" mean in connection with architecture in 1996? Are
the old social metaphors applicable?

Dick Higgins

Dick Higgins




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