Primitivism: The Influence of African Art on The French and German Avant-Gardes

Anxiety surrounding the Industrial Revolution and the modern world (i.e. mass production, urban isolation) led to a rejection of bourgeois sensibilities and the Academy, embodied by Modernism, which led to the Primitive. In this presentation, I will consider the ways that the early 20th century French and German avant-gardes, specifically the French Fauves and Cubists, and the German Expressionist groups die Brücke and der Blaue Reiter, adopted African art as an influence. My talk will focus on these earlier influences of African art because by the 1930s, non-naturalism and other non-Western sources had become fully absorbed into Modern art, and it becomes fairly impossible to pick apart and identify specific African influence. I will specifically be looking at art from Africa, and not so much the South Pacific or other French and German colonies. However, I will consider the influence of national folk arts and crafts, particularly those from Bavaria and Brittany. In addition to talking about the disconnect between African art and the Modern art that it inspired, I will also be focusing on how and why the French and German vanguard constructed these new meanings. I will do this by situating their art within a political, cultural and social context, paying particular attention to their respective colonial policies and practices. I will also examine the role of ethnographical museums, formed by the spoils from these expeditions, and contemporary politics of displaying the art of the Other. I will consider the origins of Primitivism in early Romantic movements, such as Golden Age Primitivism and the Pre-Raphaelites, as well as Orientalism of the French Academy. Despite the fact that it is an important issue in this topic, I will not be talking about gender