Primitivism in Painting: Childish Fantasies in Adult Performance

The style of primitivism in painting has found wide application. First of all, representatives of this direction were self-taught artists who did not have sufficient professional skills, but sought to show themselves and their vision of the world. Like any other innovation, primitivism caused a great public response. Artists who sought fame for many years after the training, were dissatisfied with the new direction of painting, which did not take away half of the creators' life from grinding art skills. However, most art critics liked simple masterpieces, and primitivism still took its place in a huge variety of styles.

Features of primitivism

Primitivism in painting is characterized by a simplification of images: artists distort the world around, making pictures more like ordinary children's drawings. However, the changes were made intentionally: through the illusion of simplicity and carelessness, the deep meaning of the work is seen. As in all other artistic styles, details are important in primitivism - they bear the main semantic load.

Ar-Brut

Ar-brut is an important branch of primitivism. A synonym for definition is the term "outsider art." The works of this industry are a world of mentally ill or freaks who once withdrew from society and plunged into a special reality. An important feature of the art-brutal is the complete absence of clear boundaries between the artist's fantasies and real life. The abundance of small details pushes the thought of the thoughtlessness of life and the vain haste of the modern world - this is one of the most common author's messages of ar-brut.

The view that there is no concealment behind the naive images is erroneous. Primitivism in painting artists saturate not by entourage, but by the inner state of the soul. It can be seen only after careful consideration and analysis of the details shown - a cursory look here is inappropriate.

How to learn to correctly define primitivism in painting

Primitivism does not exist without the naivety and spontaneous inspiration of the author. The person who first meets such subjects, experiences a feeling similar to nostalgia. The child's vision of the world lies in the brokenness of proportions, bright and saturated colors, deep moral subtext. A person in primitivism is more like a doll than a real character - this adds mystery to him.

The ability to pay attention to details and correctly interpret them is a real talent. In determining the artistic style, it will not be superfluous. You can learn to understand the artist yourself. For this, it is worth remembering several important criteria, noting that it will be easy to distinguish the works of primitivism from surrealism.

First, pure colors. The abundance of tones and halftones, light and shade, the depth of space is not primitivism. In naive art, pure pastel or, on the contrary, overly bright shades are used. Secondly, broken proportions. If the picture resembles a stylized illustration of a fantastic book, then this is primitivism. Thirdly, the confusion of reality with fantasy views - primitivism in painting combines a tranquil landscape and too flashy colors, of a person and incredible creatures.

Bright representatives of the primitivism style

Not only abstractionists and surrealists are full of contemporary painting. Primitivism opened the way for many talented creators whose work had not previously been recognized. Among them are Grandmother Moses, Henri Rousseau, Niko Pirosmani, Maria Primachenko, Alena Azernaya and many others. Pictures of the most famous primitive artists are kept in the Museum of Naïve Art in Nice.

The world of childhood

Primitivism in painting occupies a special place. First of all, this is due to the unique ability of artists to immerse a person in a world of lightheartedness, naivety and spiritual purity. Despite the absence of many primitivists in art education, the paintings are filled with what most other areas lack: a mood. Art lovers understand and appreciate this, that's why works in the genre of primitivism enjoy such popularity.