The Fredösphere

"The cultured public [of late 19th century Paris], no longer dominated by the salon, gradually came to realize that there existed a small group of people thinking and living and creating beyond the pale of ordinary behavior.  Today the persevering remnants of the avant-garde are generally scoffed at, often exploited, and occasionally glorified beyond all measure.  Modernism wrote into its scripture a major text, which demands, at least in retrospect, our gratitude:  the avant-garde we have with us always."

Roger Shattuck, The Banquet Years