Below is a glossary article post in the category K which discusses the explanation of the meaning, definition and meaning of the acronym, term, jargon, or termonology of Kitsch based on summaries from various types of sources (references) that are relevant, related, and trustworthy.
Understanding Kitsch
So, what is actually meant by Kitsch?
Kitsch is a German word for garbage, and is used in English to describe the forms of popular and commercial cultures that are very cheap, vulgar and sentimental.
Explanation of Kitsch
The word Kitsch began to be applied to this type of popular and commercial culture around the 1920s. In 1939, American art critic Clement Greenberg defined Kitsch in his famous essay Avant-Garde and Kitsch and examined its relationship with high art traditions as followed in the twentieth century by Avant-Garde.
Where there is Avant-Garde, we generally also find the back guard. It is true enough to the entrance of Avant-Garde, the second new cultural phenomenon appears in the Western industry: Things in which the Germans give the beautiful names of Kitsch: commercial and literary arts that are popular with Chromeotype, the cover of their magazines, magazines, illustrations, advertisements, slippery fiction and porridge, comics, tin pan alley music, tap planting, hollywood films, etc., etc.
Some of the latest examples of Kitsch may include plastic or porcelain models from the late Diana, Princess of Wales, Japanese Manga Comics and Hello Kitty merchandise series, many computer games, all Las Vegas and Disneyland, and The Gloss Soft Porn from Playboy Magazine.
Greenberg saw Kitsch as the opposite of high arts but from around 1950 artists began to be very interested in popular culture, which resulted in an explosion of pop art in the 1960s.
Moreover, as we have seen above, this term is one of a collection of dictionaries, acronyms, terms, jargon, or terminology in the field of arts that begins with an alphabet or prefix K, as well as terms associated with K.
Meaning of Kitsch in the English, Indonesian (Including Javanese and Sundanese), and Malaysian Translation Dictionary
Apart from discussing the meaning and discussion of the definition, to deepen it further, here we also need to know what the word means in the English, Indonesian (including Javanese and Sundanese) translation dictionaries, as well as Malaysia (Malay).
For easy understanding, in this glossary post, we will explain it in the form of a list of translations of terms from various types of languages as follows:
- English; Terminology = Kitsch.
- Indonesian (including Javanese and Sundanese translations); Terminology = Kitsch (Indonesian), Kitsch (Java), and Konek in Sundanese.
- Malaysian; Terminology = Kitsch.
Closing
OK, above there is the discussion and explanation of what is the meaning of Kitsch.
Hopefully this article post that we have shared can be useful and can broaden our insight and literacy, especially in Art.
See also ours other articles related to the field of Art on the main blog page of our website.
Footnotes
This glossary post was created by referring to the conclusions of the meaning of definitions from various authoritative relevant references such as Wikipedia, Britannica and several other sources such as MoMA, Tate, ModernArts, and so on. This word is one of a collection of terminology in the field of Art which begins with the alphabet or prefix K. This article wasupdated in Dec of 2025.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity
- https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=kitsch
- https://www.britannica.com/search?query=kitsch
- View example images of kitsch through Google here
- View example images of kitsch on Bing here
- View example images of kitsch on Yandex here
