Condition very good. Former owners name inside endpaper. William Rubin sketches the history of Western attitudes toward Primitive peoples and in particular, toward their art, raising fundamental questions and correcting widespread misconceptions. Published in 1984 in conjunction with Exhibitions of the same title at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Detroit Institute of Arts and Dallas Museum of Art, these two volumes trace the arrival and dissemination of African, Oceanic, American Indian, and Eskimo art in the West. Succeeding these background chapters by historians of Primitive art, the Introductory essay by William Rubin in Volume II defines parameters of modernist primitivism… In 1906 tribal sculpture was ‘discovered’ by twenty-century artists; these objects had suddenly become relevant because of changes in the nature of modern art itself. The main body of the book contains a series of essays on primitivism in the works of Gauguin, the Fauves, Picasso, Brancusi, the German Expressionists, Lipchitz, Modigliani, Klee, Giacometti, Moore, the Surrealists, Abstract Expressionists. It concludes with a discussion of primitivist contemporary artists, including those involved in EARTHWORKS, shamanism, and ritual-inspired performances. More than a thousand illustrations juxtapose on the pages of these volumes specific Primitive works with those of modernist masters, exploring their underlying affinities and illuminating intricate problems of influence and rapport. The tribal works illustrated include not oly a variety of masterpieces pertinent to modernist interests, but other objects vital to the history of primitivism.
Content.:Volume 1 INTRODUCTION by William Rubin on “Modernist Primitivism”; THE ARRIVAL OF TRIBAL OBJECTS IN THE WEST: “FROM NORTH AMERICA” essay by Christian F. Feest; “FROM OCEANIA” essay by Philippe Peltier “FROM AFRICA” essay by Jean-Louis Paudrat; PRIMITIVISM IN MODERN ART: “GAUGUIN” essay by Kirk Varnedoe; “MATISSE AND THE FAUVES” essay by Jack D. Flam; “PICASSO” essay by William Rubin. Volume II: “BRANCUSI” essay by Sidney Geist; “GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM” essay by Donald E. Gordon; “ITALIAN PAINTING” essay by Ezio Bassani; “PARIS AND LONDON” Modigliani, Lipchitz, Epstein, and Gaudier-Brzeska Essay by Alan G. Wilkinson; “AMERICAN ART” essay by Gail Levin “LEGER: The Creation of the World” essay by Laura Rosenstock; “PAUL KLEE” essay by Jean Laude “GIACOMETTI” essay by Rosalind Krauss; “DADA AND SURREALISM” essay by Evan Maurer “HENRY MOORE” essay by Alan C. Wilkinson; “ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM” essay by Kirk Varnedoe; “CONTEMPORARY EXPLORATIONS” by Kirk Varnedo.