Primitivism in Modern Art

Paper Summary:

This paper describes how modern art appropriated images from so called "primitive" cultures and describes the social changes that prompted this attraction to primitive art forms. The paper also discusses some of Picasso's works and notes how these works were influenced by African culture and art.

From the Paper:

"A central facet of modernist art was the questioning of and dissatisfaction with the traditional views of life and art, and the concomitant rejection of established standards in the search for the new and different. Social factors such as the First World War also lent impetus to this search for alternative views of reality that was expressed in modernist art. In their search for alternative styles and means of expression, artists were attracted to the unusual and exotic. African art was one of the areas that supplied images and artistic energy that inspired many artists of the time. Artists like Picasso and Gauguin found formal ideas and images in the so-called primitive societies that resonated with energy and a new artistic rhythm."

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