A representation that has often been used especially for the historical avant-gardes, which were conceived in this way: the small circle outside and a larger circle.

This is a directional model, which represents the direction of the story from the large to the small circle. The avant-gardes are ahead. A little in the way of the runaway cyclist:  the cyclist has fled and the big one is chasing him. Sooner or later, probably, the big one takes it back.

And this is how the historical dialectic of the avant-gardes was understood: there are innovations, then everyone arrives where the innovators have arrived and there is some innovator who, again, starts again.