ABSTRACT

Self-discipline and anti-self-discipline in art is a recurring topic in history, and between the 19th and 20th centuries, this pair of concepts manifested itself in the opposition between aestheticism and avant-gardism. Taking the theory of the Frankfurt School as a perspective, this article analyzes the art of aestheticism and avant-garde, and argues that the self-discipline and anti-self-discipline of art in this period actually reflect the artists’ criticism of reality: aestheticism and Décadentisme expressed their criticism by escaping from it, while avant-garde art, which emerged later, struck at the alienated reality head-on. From aestheticism to avant-garde art, art was constantly breaking down the alienation in bourgeois society, and the deepening of self-criticism in art embodied the transcendental goal and revolutionary spirit of art.