Primitivism in Modernity

Primitivism in Modernity

Artistic Movements, Periods and Styles in 5 Points

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Primitivism in Modernity

• Primitivism is not a movement in itself. It is more like and “influence.” It is the tendency to incorporate elements of ancestral or exotic cultures to modern language. Primitivism is one of the “constituent elements” of the art of many modern movements.
• Modernity started when artists had the need to express their emotions, feelings and own experiences with things. They needed to express “what it is inside” instead of continuing reproducing as faithfully as possible the exterior world. So in that need of expressing themselves, looking for themselves, they wanted to be authentic. And so naturalness, spontaneity, instinct, and ingenuity started to be valuable. Everything that ancestral art, the one of the oldest popular tradition, and the art of the exotic and faraway cultures had. Indigenous cultures which are called “primitive.”
• Post-Impressionists admired the Japanese prints of the 18th century. We can see this in for example, Cloisonnism, which is a style that consists in painting color zones delimited by a black border; the influence of Japanese art on many works of Van Gogh or the posters of Toulouse-Lautrec. Gauguin, instead, went to live to a “primitive, non-polluted, original” world. In the Cubism of Picasso or in the portraits of Modigliani, we can observe the admiration for African sculpture. And we can mention the symbols of the Navajo Indians drew on the sand which Pollock imitated. They even influenced on his idea of painting, placing the canvas on the floor.
• The word “primitive” might be used in other cases with a pejorative tone, for describing something raw, not refined, wild, as despicable qualities of the human being. Here it is used with an appreciative sense. Something that has to do with the beginning, the origin, the natural, authentic, spontaneous state, uncontaminated by the progress of civilization.
• The artist finds what is natural, spontaneous, authentic, intuitive, and impulsive, in pre-civilization. And finds that original freedom also in children’s creativity. That is why we can find modern art that admires and incorporates the “primitive” essence of childish art. We are speaking of artists such as Joan Miró or Paul Klee, to mention a few.

Image: Blue Eyes (Portrait of Madame Jeanne Hébuterne), 1917. Modigliani.

Recommended links:

Six examples of primitivism.

Artistic Movements, Periods and Styles in 5 Points: When does Modern Art Start?

Amedeo Modigliani.

Paul Gauguin.

Picasso and Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.

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