Sunday Feature: The Primitivism of Primitivism

The Primitivism of Primitivism

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BBC Radio 3 - Sunday Feature, The Primitivism of Primitivism

Alastair Sooke reassesses the origins and relevance of primitivism in art history.

In the sharp light of calls for the decolonising of museums and art galleries, art critic Alastair Sooke explores the history and relevance of the movement known as primitivism.

In 1984, the Museum of Modern Art in New York staged a controversial exhibition. 'Primitivism' in 20th-century art retold the well-established story of the extraordinary impact of African and Oceanic art on pioneering figures of Modernism such as Picasso and Matisse. As a young man, the story goes, Picasso - searching for ways of seeing the world that weren't bound by academic western tradition - was casting around for inspiration. Visiting a dusty old ethnographic museum in Paris around 1905, he had an epiphany. From that moment on, African art - already collected by avant-garde artists including Matisse - became central to his own approach to painting. Yet, decades later, MoMA's infamous show was hammered for its patronising, incurious attitude towards the non-Western artefacts on display.

In the light of the Black Lives Matter movement and the re-appraisal of museum and gallery collections, art critic Alastair Sooke talks to curator David Dibosa, artist Michael Armitage, writer Rianna Jade Parker and Bonnie Greer about the impact of the approach he might take to this contentious period of art history.

Producer:  Tom Alban

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