Admission requirements
The following courses need to be passed:
Freshman's Class / Academic Skills I
Academic Skills II
Description
The term “Primitivism” and “primitive art” have been used interchangeably to refer to the art of various historical European periods and of non-Western societies. In this course, we will trace the origins of the term, including how in the mid-nineteenth century it was primarily applied to describe fourteenth and fifteenth-century Italian and Early Netherlandish art, which modern artists prized for their perceived simplicity, sincerity, and expressive power. Use of the term then broadened to encompass a range of non-Western art, sweeping from South America to Southeast Asia. At the beginning of the twentieth century, as a direct result of colonialism, artifacts from Africa, the Pacific Rim and the Americas were made available in commercial galleries as well as in ethnographic museums. Fascinated by these artifacts, European artists perceived in them a physical directness and emotional charge that they found exciting and distinct. From then on, the term “Primitivism” came to be associated primarily with art from these non-European regions. However, as a direct product of Europe’s imperial and colonial past, the term with its derogatory connotations fell out of favor by the late twentieth century and is now considered to be highly problematic.
Drawing from the profoundly influential classic ‘Primitivism in Modern Art’ (1938) by Robert Goldwater, and ‘Primitivism in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern’ (1985) by William Rubin (ed.), based on an important but contested exhibition of the same title (MoMA, New York, 1984–1985), we will critically examine the discourse around “Primitivism,” tradition and modernity, and reflect on whether “Primitivism” is still a convincing framework to evaluate and compare art from different cultures, reexamining it from the perspective of the 21st century. While the examination of the term is productive, we now know it was part of larger stereotypes about people outside of Europe used to justify colonial violence.
In this seminar, students will develop techniques and strategies to study, research, analyse, and examine “Primitivism” from its narrowest to its broadest interpretation. Through a variety of specific object-based, artist-focused and exhibition-centred case studies in combination with select readings, we will explore the diverse and intertwined connections between Primitivism, alterity, imperialism, orientalism and colonialism. Within the overarching theoretical framework of post-colonialism, questions of identity, cultural appropriation, alterity and exoticism will also be raised.
Through the lens of Primitivism, students will further hone their understanding of a variety of modern art movements including, among others, Romanticism, Pre-Raphaelite Art, Impressionism, Cubism, Fauvism, German expressionism, Surrealism, and Abstract expressionism. They will become familiar with the work of diverse artists from Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, Frida Kahlo and Paula Modersohn-Becker to artists’ groups like Der Blaue Reiter and Die Brücke. In addition, we will explore how the notion of Primitivism informed Nazi concepts of “Degenerate Art.” To broaden the scope of what is inherently a Eurocentric perspective, students will also research how Primitivism and questions of identity informed non-Western European artists to engage with this art form.
Course objectives
Students acquire tools for approaching, interpreting and appreciating art of different times, places, and cultures.
Students learn how to critically engage with specialist terminology and periodization.
Students become familiar with diverse theoretical, methodological, and historiographical approaches and concepts related to the study of “primitive art” and “Primitivism” in art.
Students acquire familiarity with art practices that address notions associated with “Primitivism”.
Students develop a position in current theoretical and institutional discourses around “Primitivism,” Eurocentrism and Colonialism.
Students learn about nineteenth- and twentieth-century practices of collecting African, Oceanic, Asian and Indigenous art from the Americas.
Students gain insight into contemporary academic and curatorial debates surrounding provenance research, restitution debates, and repatriation cases.
Students learn to raise relevant questions when confronting artworks that engage with ideas of “Primitivism”
Students gain insight into new, post-colonial perspectives in art and art history.
Students develop skills to respond critically to readings.
Students hone their academic writing and oral presentation skills, and gain confidence in discussing and writing about art practices in which ideas of “primitive art” or “Primitivism” are present.
Students carry out independent and project-based learning as well as collaborative group projects.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Seminar
Assessment method
Assessment
Group presentation
Essay
Weighing
Group presentation (20%)
Essay (80%)
The weighted average must be a passing grade. The mark for the final essay must be at least a passing grade (5.5 or higher).
Resit
A resit/ rewrite can be done for the constituent examination (essay 80%) if it is not passed.
Inspection and feedback
Students will receive ample feedback on their presentation and paper. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
To be announced
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website
Registration À la carte education, Contract teaching and Exchange
Information for those interested in taking this course in context of À la carte education (without taking examinations), eg. about costs, registration and conditions.
Information for those interested in taking this course in context of Contract teaching (with taking examinations), eg. about costs, registration and conditions.
For the registration of exchange students contact Humanities International Office.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Student administration Arsenaal
Remarks
Not applicable.