In this work, Blocker extends the philosophy of art to traditional African, Pre-Columbian Meso-American, and other works of "primitive art". Contents: Is Primitive Art Primitive? Is Primitive Art Art? Aesthetic Consciousness in Primitive Art; Critical Assessment of Primitive Art.
A comprehensive revision of our understanding of the phenomenon of primitivism and its impact on modern art, centering on the invention of the idea of "primitive" art. Art historians have in the past narrowly defined primitivism, limiting their inquiry to examples of direct stylistic borrowing from African, Oceanic, or Native American imagery. The drawbacks of such an approach have become increasingly apparent, the most problematic being its perpetuation of the notion that certain traditions are indeed "primitive". Frances Connelly argues that "primitive" art was not a style at all, but a cultural construction by modern Europeans, a cluster of concepts principally forged during the Enlightenment concerning the nature of the origins of artistic expression. She contends that, instead of the paintings of Gauguin, the publication of Vico's New Science in 1725 lies much closer to the origins of primitivism because it first articulated the essential framework of ideas through which Europeans would understand "primitive" expression. Based upon a close reading of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century sources, including voyage accounts, ethnographies, aesthetic theories, and popular journals, The Sleep of Reason establishes that the term "primitive" art did not refer so much to actual stylistic traditions but to a collection of visual attributes that Europeans construed to be universal characteristics of "primitive" expression, specifically the hieroglyph, the grotesque, and the ornamental. Further, these attributes show that "primitive" expression was constructed as the inverse of the classical ideal. Connelly provides case studies of artists and aestheticians who advocated, attempted, or realizedthe assimilation of these "primitive" characteristics, including some artists never before associated with primitivism as well as significant reevaluations of Gauguin and Picasso. Connelly's study offers a more complex and historically grounded view of primitivism, making a timely and significant contribution to the renewed discussion of primitivism.
"This is a much needed, important collection-a goldmine of sources for scholars and students. The texts articulate the key Primitivist aesthetic discourses of the period, offering crucial insight into the complex and always changing nexus between culture, politics, and representation. Because of the breadth of the materials covered and the controversies they raise, this anthology is one of the all too rare volumes that not only will provide reference materials for years to come but also will feature centrally in classroom discussions."--Suzanne Preston Blier, author of African Vodun: Art, Psychology, and Power "For almost a century art historians have fretted about the notion of primitivism in the arts. This comprehensive-in both senses of the word-anthology is a peerless source of the history of responses to works categorized as 'primitive.' In its range, the book touches upon all the troubling questions-formal, anthropological, political, historical-that have bedeviled the study of the arts of Oceania, Africa, and North and South America, and provides the grounds, at last, for intelligent pursuit of keener distinctions. I regard this book as a superb contribution to the study of Modern art; in fact, indispensable."--Dore Ashton, author of Noguchi East and West "An extraordinarily useful and complete collection of primary documents, many translated for the first time into English, and almost all unlikely to be encountered elsewhere without serious effort. Its five sections, each with a lively and scholarly introduction, reveal the diverse views of artists and writers on primitive art from Matisse, Picasso, and Fry to many far less known and sometimes surprising figures. The book also uncovers the politics and aesthetics of the major museum exhibitions that gained acceptance for art that had been both reviled and mythologized. Recent texts included are all germane. This book will be invaluable for any college course on the topic."--Shelly Errington, author of The Death of Authentic Primitive Art and Other Tales of Progress "An exceptionally valuable anthology of seventy documents--most heretofore unavailable in English--on the ongoing controversies surrounding Primitivism and Modern art. Insightfully chosen and annotated, the collection is brilliantly introduced by Jack Flam's essay on the historical progression, contexts, and cultural complexities of more than one hundred years' ideas about Primitivism. Rich, timely, illuminating."--Herbert M. Cole, author of Icons: Ideals and Power in the Art of Africa
This now classic study maps the profound effect of primitive art on modern, as well as the primitivizing strain in modern art itself. Robert Goldwater describes how and why works by primitive artists attracted modern painters and sculptors, and he delineates the differences between what is truly primitive or archaic and what intentionally embodies such elements. His analysis distinguishes the romanticism of Gauguin; an emotional primitivism exemplified by the Brücke and Blaue Reiter groups in Germany; the intellectual primitivism of Picasso and Modigliani; and a “primitivism of the subconscious” in Miró, Klee, and Dali. Two of Goldwater's related essays—“Judgments of Primitive Art, 1905–1965” and “Art History and Anthropology”—have been added for this new paperback edition.