The latest exhibition from the British Library examines the printed work (this is a library, remember) of the European Avant Garde - the art movements characterised as Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, Surrealism, and so on.

The main tenet of the exhibition is that the Avant Garde were spread right across Europe, and not just the major cities. This argument is presented in a somewhat laboured fashion, through an exhaustive investigation into no less than 31 separate places, from Amsterdam to Zurich via Kharkiv (in the Ukraine) and Riga (in Latvia).

Yep, this is a highbrow exhibition with a capital H. Much of it is impenetrable without specialist knowledge or study of the relevant subject area. Obscure artists are explained by reference to other obscure artists, none of which you can pronounce, let alone have likely heard of. The sheer quantity of text, too, is overwhelming. I made the mistake of starting off by reading every word of the first dozen panels, but soon realised that this was futile. In an aptly titled blog post ‘The hard slog‘, the exhibition curator Stephen Bury reveals that reading and listening to everything would take over six hours! I should mention too that listening to some of the audio material also requires you to be fluent in Russian…

Despite the heavy academic narrative, it is possible to pick up some new knowledge and understanding from the exhibition. Examining art movements through their printed works is certainly a unique angle, and it’s interesting to examine the various pamphlets, magazines, books and journals, many of which push the boundaries in typographic expression. The exhibition suffers from a common problem arising from these exhibits though - it’s only possible to open a book at one place. There were a couple of times where I found myself wanting to read on to the next pages.

A visitor feedback station at the end of the gallery reveals that others have found the exhibition just as dense as I did, but also a few that welcomed the bravery of the British Library in putting on such an intellectual and challenging show. ‘Dumbed down’ this aint.

Breaking the Rules: The Printed Face of the European Avant Garde 1900 - 1937 is on at the British Library until 30th March 2008. Admission free.