Art Quote by Tommy McCarthy
“Publishing has gone very middlebrow. It's turned its back on legacy of modernism and gone into a humanist mode. When people go through art school they are exposed to the history of the avant-garde, and there's a general understanding that what you're doing as an artist is to a large extent, not just regurgitating that history, but engaging with it. There's this denial of that in the mainstream publishing world.”
About This Quote
Source Interview: The Guardian, “The State of Publishing”, 2020
Modern publishing has shifted toward safe, mainstream content, abandoning avant‑garde experimentation and critical engagement with art history.
In simple terms: Publishing now favors easy, popular works over challenging art.
Key Takeaway
Support daring, experimental voices.
Themes
publishing
modernism
art education
mainstream culture
Mood
critical
reflective
Type
analytical
commentary
When to use this quote
- art school curricula
- literary magazines
- independent presses
- author workshops
Key Concepts
avant‑garde
humanism
cultural critique
Questions to Reflect On
- How can readers promote experimental literature?
- What incentives would encourage publishers to embrace avant‑garde work?
A Different Perspective
Market pressures can limit risk‑taking in publishing.
![“Avant-garde theatre, with its distrust of the individual (that bourgeois invention), tends to go beyond [character] and the psychological approach in search of a syntax of types and characters which are "deconstructed and post-individual.” quote by Patrice Pavis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/c22/patrice-pavis-72351_approach_avant-garde-theatre-with-its-distrust-of_59690.jpg)
