"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."and#151;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."and#151;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."and#151;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."and#151;Herbert M. Cole, author of Icons: Ideals and Power in the Art of Africa
Includes bibliographical references (p. 453-467) and index.
List of Illustrations
Preface
Introduction by Jack Flam
PART 1. DISCOVERY, 1905and#150;18
Maurice de Vlaminck
Discovery of African Art, 1906
Andrand#233; Derain
Early Encounter with African Art, 1906
Henri Matisse
First Encounter with African Art, 1906
Pablo Picasso
Discovery of African Art, 1906and#150;7
Gertrude Stein
Matisse and Picasso and African Art, 1906and#150;7
Guillaume Apollinaire
On Museums, 1909
Gelett Burgess
The Wild Men of Paris, 1910
Roger Fry
The Art of the Bushmen, 1910
Franz Marc
Letter to Auguste Macke, 1911
August Macke
Masks, 1912
Emil Nolde
The Artistic Expressions of Primitive Peoples, 1912
Elie Faure
The Tropics, 1912
Andrand#233; Warnod
Decorative Arts and Artistic Curiosities, 1912
Vladimir Markov
Negro Art, 1913
Karl Scheffler
Picasso and African Sculpture Exhibition, Berlin, 1913
Emil Waldmann
Picasso and African Sculpture Exhibition, Dresden, 1914
Marius de Zayas
Statuary in Wood by African Savages: The Root of Modern Art, 1914
Charles H. Caffin
Root of Art in Negro Carvings, 1914
Kazimir Malevich
The Art of the Savage and Its Principles, 1915
Carl Einstein
African Sculpture, 1915
Marius de Zayas
African Negro Art and Modern Art, 1916
Hermann Bahr
Expressionism, 1916
Edgar L. Hewett
Americaand#8217;s Archaelogical Heritage, 1916
Guillaume Apollinaire
Concerning the Art of the Blacks, 1917
Tristan Tzara
Note 6 on African Art, 1917
Josef Capek
Negro Sculpture, 1918
PART 2. NEW ATTITUDES AND AWARENESS, 1919and#150;40
T. S. Eliot
War-Paint and Feathers, 1919
Henri Clouzot and Andrand#233; Level
Savage Art, 1919
Paul Guillaume
A New Aesthetic, 1919
Florent Fels (editor)
Opinions on Negro Art, 1920
Andrand#233; Salmon
Negro Art, 1920
Roger Fry
Negro Sculpture at the Chelsea Book Club, 1920
Fand#233;lix Fand#233;nand#233;on (editor)
Will Arts from Remote Places Be Admitted into the Louvre? 1920
Walter Pach
The Art of the American Indian, 1920
Marsden Hartley
Red Man Ceremonials, 1920
Carlo Anti
The Sculpture of the African Negroes, 1923
Florent Fels
Negro Art at the Pavillon de Marsan, 1923
Alain Locke
Note on African Art, 1924
Henri Clouzot and Andrand#233; Level
The Lesson of an Exhibition, 1925
Alain Locke
Legacy of the Ancestral Arts, 1925
Georges Salles
Reflections on Negro Art, 1927
Christian Zervos
Oceanic Works of Art and Todayand#8217;s Problems, 1929
Paul and#201;luard
Savage Art, 1929
Waldemar George
The Twilight of the Idols, 1930
G. H. Luquet
Primitive Art, 1930
Georges Bataille
Primitive Art, 1930
John Sloan and Oliver LaFarge
Introduction to American Indian Art, 1931
Eckart von Sydow
The Meaning of Primitive Art, 1932
Romare Bearden
The Negro Artist and Modern Art, 1934
James Johnson Sweeney
The Art of Negro Africa, 1935
Alain Locke
African Art, 1935
John D. Graham
Primitive Art and Picasso, 1937
James A. Porter
The Negro Artist and Racial Bias, 1937
PART 3. THE ASCENDANCE OF PRIMITIVISM, 1941and#150;83
Frederic H. Douglas and Renand#233; dand#8217;Harnoncourt
Indian Art of the United States, 1941
Henry Moore
Primitive Art, 1941
Adolph Gottlieb and Mark Rothko
The Portrait and the Modern Artist, 1943
Ralph Linton and Paul S. Wingert
Arts of the South Seas, 1946
Barnett Newman
Art of the South Seas, 1946
Barnett Newman
Foreword, Northwest Coast Indian Painting, 1946
D. H. Kahnweiler
Negro Art and Cubism, 1948
Jean Dubuffet
Anticultural Positions, 1951
Jean Laude
French Painting and Negro Art, 1968
PART 4. THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART'S 1984 PRIMITIVISM SHOW AND ITS AFTERMATH
William Rubin
Modernist Primitivism, 1984
Thomas McEvilley
Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief, 1984
James Clifford
Histories of the Tribal and the Modern, 1985
Kirk Varnedoe
On the Claims and Critics of the "Primitivism" Show, 1985
Hal Foster
The "Primitive" Unconscious of Modern Art, 1985
Thomas McEvilley
The Global Issue, 1990
Lucy Lippard
Naming, 1990
Sieglinde Lemke
Primitivist Modernism, 1998
Coda: Quotations from Artists and Writers
Chronology of Events, Exhibitions, and Publications
Bibliography
Index