1903 Flashcards
What is Paul Gauguin the father of?
Primitivism
How did he change the idea of the Romantic artist?
By going on a “vision quest” to far away lands. He inspired other artists to “go native” to various degrees, whether by travelling to places or restaged primitive life in the studios or outings
Which two artists drew heavily on tribal art for forms and motifs?
Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso
What were these primitivists trying to do?
Challenge repressive European conventions around art. They thought the primitive exotic and where style and self might be changed. They were trying to get one over on recent avante-garde styles (Realism, Impressionism).
How was primitivism a fantasy?
It was seen as a return to arts origins, and escape to nature, and liberation of instinct. All this was projected on to tribal culture and racialized people, like in Oceania and Africa.
What effects did primitivism have?
Closely linked to imperialism, stealing of tribal art to be brought back to the metropolis.
How pure or primitive did the art of Gauguin turn out?
Not at all. Tahiti was hardly an untouched paradise - already a French colony for ten years when Gauguin arrived, and discovered long before that. The art he produced was a mixture of Courtly Art from Peru, Cambodia, Java, and Egyptian. His style remained much the same as before he arrived, with the bold contours and colours. The themes are similar too, with the Christian themes of Vision after the Sermon grafted onto Tahitians in We Hail Thee, Mary.
How is primitivism linked to imperialism?
Avante-garde artists often followed in the wake of imperialiam conquests to get new ideas for their own art. Impressionists and Post-Impressionists visited Japan, Surrealists turned to Mexico, Oceania, the Pacific Northwest, and so on.
How does Griselda Pollock describe Spirit of the Dead Watching?
It’s an avante-garde gambit in three moves: he references the tradition of the academic nude and at the same time it’s subversion (remember Manet’s Olympia). It’s a challenge to his predecesors and claim of master status as well. Gauguin looks outside the Western tradition of art to tribal art in order to advance himself in the Western tradition.
How does Gaugin invert Olympia in Spirit of the Dead Watching?
Substitutes a black spirit for the black maid, replaces the white prostitute with the black primitive girl (his very young wife), and averts the gaze of her, whereas Olympia looks straight at you, and rotates the primitive girl’s body to expose her buttocks into a sexual pose.
How does Matisse trump Manet and Gauguin with Blue Nude?
He combines the figure of a prostitute and primitive woman and places her in an Orientalist setting in North Africa. He primitivizes the female sexuality of the figure with the pose of the crossing the pubic region, making the buttocks more promient.
How does Picasso trump Matisse, Gauguin, and Manet with Les Demoiselles d’Avignon?
He puts the primitive body in a brothel, so there is no doubt what she is. He multiplies her by five, three with Iberian faces and two African. They all gaze at the viewer in a sexual manner.
