Primitive Art by Leonhard Adam (Vintage 1954 Edition)

Description

This reprint describes the various forms which the artistic impulse has taken among primitve peoples–from the Stone Age men who roamed the plains of Europe twenty thousand years ago, to the modern Negro inventing new ways of carving the human figure among the forests of the Ivory Coast. Even in the short time since this book was first published in 1940, many new archaeological discoveries have been made in this field and incorporated in the revised edition. One of the most interesting chapters of the book discusses the effect upon the primitive artist of exposure to the “civilized” conventions of art. What is the point, asks the author, of teaching aborigine in Central Australia to paint water-colours in the European style? Would it not be better to preserve and develop among them the expression of a genuine primitive art?