Kitsch (;
loanword from
German, also called
cheesiness and
tackiness) is a
low-brow style of mass-produced art or design using popular or
cultural icons. The word was first applied to artwork that was a response to certain divisions of 19th-century art with
aesthetics that favored what later art critics would consider to be exaggerated
sentimentality and
melodrama. Hence, 'kitsch art' is closely associated with 'sentimental art'. Kitsch is also related to the concept of
camp, because of its humorous and
ironic nature.