Primitivism - Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso

See also: Picasso's African Period

During the early 20th century, the European cultural elite were discovering African, Micronesian and Native American art. Artists such as Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso were intrigued and inspired by the stark power and simplicity of styles of those cultures. Around 1906, Picasso, Matisse, André Derain and other artists in Paris had acquired an interest in primitivism, Iberian sculpture, African art and tribal masks, in part because of the compelling works of Paul Gauguin that had suddenly achieved center stage in the avant-garde circles of Paris. Gauguin's powerful posthumous retrospective exhibitions at the Salon d'Automne in Paris in 1903 and an even larger one in 1906 had a stunning and powerful influence on Picasso's paintings.

From 1906 to 1909 Pablo Picasso's paintings explored the impact of Primitivism through Iberian sculpture, African sculpture, African traditional masks, and other historical works including the Mannerist paintings of El Greco, resulting in his masterpiece Les Demoiselles D'Avignon and the invention of Cubism.

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Famous quotes by pablo picasso:

    “Accidents, try to change them—it’s impossible. The accidental reveals man.”
    —Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)

    “God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant, and the cat. He has no real style. He just keeps on trying other things.”
    —Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)

    “Matisse makes a drawing, then he makes a copy of it. He recopies it five times, ten times, always clarifying the line. He’s convinced that the last, the most stripped down, is the best, the purest, the definitive one; and in fact, most of the time, it was the first. In drawing, nothing is better than the first attempt.”
    —Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)

    “When you start with a portrait and search for a pure form, a clear volume, through successive eliminations, you arrive inevitably at the egg. Likewise, starting with the egg and following the same process in reverse, one finishes with the portrait.”
    —Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)

    “Why do two colors, put one next to the other, sing? Can one really explain this? No. Just as one can never learn how to paint.”
    —Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)