Primitivism

For our fourth assignment we discussed Primitivism. Some formal characteristics of Primitivist art include: abstraction of the human figure and change in the body’s proportion, flatness of space and geometric designs, simplistic and rough nature of work, the people in the art are marginalised and also unconscious or unaware that they are being used for the purpose of the art (as there is usually no eye contact with the viewer).

Primitive refers to the period of time where humans were leading simple, unsophisticated lives. They lived “in the wild”, so naturally and very basic with no technological impact. Primitivism however, is the art movement that captures the lifestyle and culture. It suggests that life within the early stages was simple, yet more ethical than today’s contemporary world.

Contemporary primitivism has the ability to manifest itself by today’s modern residents desiring to live how those in the early stages of civilization lived, simplistic with no technology aids.

The piece of art I came across that I find to be primitivist is titled Woman Planting Rice by Eduardo Masterre, from 1934. The photograph shows a woman bearing traditional woven clothing, planting rice in a rice field. She is concentrating on her work, face down, and doesn’t seem to be aware that her photograph is being taken. Looking at the woman’s clothing and the surroundings she’s in, the conditions appear relatively poor and disadvantaged.