This essay discuses the evolution of avant-garde and kitsch in relation to art, and how they are viewed by the masses. Art in the avant-garde style became all about the process. The birth of the style came around the same time as scientific revolutionary thought. During this time, many in society were beginning to question the “facts” based around religion and how they pertained to the actual world. Artists began to move away from the subject of religious imagery and icons but took care not to get involved with other important issues that could controversy. Instead they focused on making art that was purely about the art and nothing else. At first, those working in the style of avant-garde stayed attached to the bourgeois society, creating for the elites, because they needed money. As they finally broke away from the bourgeois society, they stayed away from the ideological revolution, and avoided subject matter and content in their work, opting instead to make art for art’s sake. This new form of abstract art was sometimes seen as the artist trying to imitate God in the way of creating something new and valid solely on its own terms. The imagery was independent of imposed meaning and could not be reduce to anything not of itself. While creating these nonrepresentational pieces, the artists strove to maintain obedience to the traditional methods and “rules” of art. They imitated the process used to create the traditional pieces of art but did away with the typical subject matter. Many artists derived their inspiration from the medium they chose to work with. They became consumed with the invention and arrangement of spaces, surfaces, shapes, and colors. Since the avant-garde style focused primarily on the process of creating and the mediums used, many of the people who enjoyed art formerly were now unable to connect with these artworks. 
During the same time the avant-garde style was developing, another style know as kitsch was also starting to surface. Kitsch encompassed the popular, commercial arts and literature. Kitsch was a product of the industrial revolution and the rapidly growing rates of literacy around the world. As more people gained the ability to read and write, the ability to use literacy as a distinguishing factor in judging someone’s cultural inclinations fell. Although many peasants who settled into the cities learned to read and write for efficiency, they were not afforded the leisure and comfort required to enjoy the city’s traditional culture. This put pressure onto society to provide this group with a culture for their own consumption. Kitsch came along offering a vicarious experience and faked sensations. Kitsch didn’t demand the viewers time to deconstruct the imagery and derive meaning, instead it was exactly as it appeared. It relied on fully developed cultural tradition and borrowed from it tricks, stratagems, rules of thumb, and theme. Kitsch was often manipulative. It was a way to gain money and put pressure on societies to conform to a new standard. Even ambitious writers and artists would modify their work under this pressure. Kitsch managed to flow from the cities out into the countryside. As it spread it crowded out native cultures. While many cultures preferred the products of their native arts, mechanically produced kitsch was able to undersell the handmade articles. Education also played a part in this takeover. For example, many peasants in Russia preferred Repin’s art work over Picasso, even though Picasso’s abstract style was more relevant to their own folk-art. It is believed to be due to the civilization being conditioned to shun formalism and admire socialist realism. Although we are taught to respect the old masters of the arts, viewers were able to connect more with the imagery in kitsch pieces than to the abstract imagery in works like those of Picasso. Kitsch artworks portrayed the world the same way it was seen off the canvas. Everything was representative of actuality and nothing was left up for interpretation. Where a Picasso painting required a second pass and reflection to surmise meaning, kitsch put the meaning right in front of the audience. Where avant-garde imitates the process of art, kitsch imitates the effects.
