Avant-garde
is the French military and political term for the vanguard of an army or
political movement, extended since the late 19th century to that body of
artists and writers who are dedicated to the idea of art as experiment and
revolt against tradition. Ezra Pound's view, that 'Artists are the antennae of
the race', is a distinctly modern one, implying a duty to stay ahead of one's
time through constant innovation in forms and subjects.