Primitive artists of the 20th century. Primitivism in painting: children's fantasies in adult performance

) in her expressive sweeping works was able to preserve the transparency of the fog, the lightness of the sail, the smooth rocking of the ship on the waves.

Her paintings amaze with their depth, volume, saturation, and the texture is such that it is impossible to take your eyes off them.

Warm simplicity Valentina Gubareva

Primitive artist from Minsk Valentin Gubarev not chasing fame and just doing what he loves. His work is insanely popular abroad, but almost unfamiliar to his compatriots. In the mid-90s, the French fell in love with his everyday sketches and signed a contract with the artist for 16 years. The paintings, which, it would seem, should be understandable only to us, the bearers of the "modest charm of undeveloped socialism", were liked by the European public, and exhibitions began in Switzerland, Germany, Great Britain and other countries.

Sensual realism by Sergei Marshennikov

Sergei Marshennikov is 41 years old. He lives in St. Petersburg and creates in the best traditions of the classical Russian school of realistic portrait painting. The heroines of his paintings are tender and defenseless in their half-naked women. On many of the famous paintings the artist's muse and wife, Natalia, are depicted.

The Myopic World of Philip Barlow

In the modern era of pictures high definition and the heyday of hyperrealism, the work of Philip Barlow (Philip Barlow) immediately attracts attention. However, a certain effort is required from the viewer in order to force himself to look at blurry silhouettes and bright spots on the author's canvases. Probably, this is how people suffering from myopia see the world without glasses and contact lenses.

Sunny Bunnies by Laurent Parcelier

Laurent Parcelier's painting is wonderful world in which there is neither sadness nor despondency. You will not find gloomy and rainy pictures in him. There is a lot of light, air and bright colors on his canvases, which the artist applies with characteristic recognizable strokes. This creates the feeling that the paintings are woven from thousands of sunbeams.

Urban Dynamics in the Works of Jeremy Mann

Oil on wood panels American artist Jeremy Mann paints dynamic portraits of the modern metropolis. “Abstract forms, lines, contrast of light and dark spots - everything creates a picture that evokes the feeling that a person experiences in the crowd and bustle of the city, but can also express the calmness that comes from contemplating quiet beauty,” says the artist.

The Illusory World of Neil Simon

In the paintings of the British artist Neil Simone (Neil Simone) everything is not what it seems at first glance. “For me, the world around me is a series of fragile and ever-changing shapes, shadows and boundaries,” says Simon. And in his paintings everything is really illusory and interconnected. Borders are washed away, and stories flow into each other.

The love drama of Joseph Lorasso

Italian-born contemporary American artist Joseph Lorusso transfers to canvas the scenes he saw in Everyday life ordinary people. Hugs and kisses, passionate impulses, moments of tenderness and desire fill his emotional pictures.

Village life of Dmitry Levin

Dmitry Levin is a recognized master of the Russian landscape, who has established himself as a talented representative of the Russian realistic school. The most important source of his art is his attachment to nature, which he loves tenderly and passionately and feels himself a part of.

Bright East Valery Blokhin

naive art This concept is used in several senses and is in fact identical to the concept "primitive art". In different languages ​​and by different scientists, these concepts are used most often to refer to the same range of phenomena in artistic culture. In Russian (as well as in some others), the term "primitive" has a somewhat negative meaning. Therefore, it is more appropriate to focus on the concept naive art. In the broadest sense, this refers to fine art, which is distinguished by simplicity (or simplification), clarity and formal immediacy of the pictorial and expressive language, with the help of which a special vision of the world not burdened by civilizational conventions is expressed. The concept appeared in the new European culture of the last centuries, therefore it reflects the professional positions and ideas of this culture, which considered itself the highest stage of development. From this standpoint, naïve art also refers to the archaic art of ancient peoples (before the Egyptian or before the ancient Greek civilizations), for example, primitive art; the art of peoples who were delayed in their cultural and civilizational development (the indigenous population of Africa, Oceania, the Indians of America); amateur and non-professional art on the widest scale (for example, the famous medieval frescoes of Catalonia or the non-professional art of the first American immigrants from Europe); many works of the so-called "international Gothic"; folk art; finally, the art of talented primitivist artists of the 20th century,

who have not received a professional art education but felt the gift artistic creativity and devoted themselves to its independent realization in art. Some of them (French A. Rousseau, C. Bombois, Georgian N. Pirosmanishvili, Croatian I. Generalich, American A.M. Robertson etc.) created true artistic masterpieces, included in the treasury of world art. Naive art in the vision of the world and its methods artistic presentation in some ways it approaches the art of children, on the one hand, and the creativity of the mentally ill, on the other. However, in essence it differs from both. The closest thing in terms of worldview to children's art is the Naive art of the archaic peoples and natives of Oceania and Africa. Its fundamental difference from children's art lies in its deep sacredness, traditionalism and canonicity. Children's naivety and immediacy of world perception seem to be frozen forever in this art, its expressive forms and elements artistic language filled with sacred magical significance and cult symbolism, which has a fairly stable field of irrational meanings. IN children's art they are very mobile and do not carry a cult load. Naive art, as a rule, is optimistic in spirit, life-affirming, multifaceted and diverse, and most often has a rather high aesthetic significance. In contrast, the art of the mentally ill, often close to it in form, is characterized by a painful obsession with the same motives, a pessimistic-depressive mood, and a low level of artistry. The works of naive art are extremely diverse in form and individual style, but many of them are characterized by a lack of linear perspective(many primitivists seek to convey depth with the help of figures of different scales, a special organization of shapes and color masses), flatness, simplified rhythm and symmetry, active use of local colors, generalization of forms, emphasizing the functionality of an object due to certain deformations, increased significance of the contour, simplicity of technical tricks. Primitive artists of the 20th century, who are familiar with classical and contemporary professional art, often come up with interesting and original artistic solutions when they try to imitate one or another technique of professional art in the absence of appropriate technical knowledge and skills. Plots artists of Naive art most often take from the life around them, folklore, religious mythology or their own fantasy. It is easier for them than many professional artists to manage spontaneous, intuitive creativity, not hindered by cultural and social rules and prohibitions. As a result, original, surprisingly pure, poetic and sublime artistic worlds in which some ideal naive harmony prevails between nature and man. It was these qualities of Naive art that attracted the attention of many 20th-century art masters, from early avant-garde artists to conceptualists and postmodernists. These or those techniques and elements of the language of primitivists were used in their work by many major artists 20th century (expressionists, P.Klee, M.Chagall, J.Miro, P.Picasso and etc.). In naive art, many representatives of culture seek to see ways out of artistic culture from civilizational dead ends.

Primitivism (neo-primitivism)
- a direction that arose in European and Russian art at the beginning of the twentieth century. His main
the sign was software simplification artistic means, appeal to various forms primitive art - folk and children's art, primitive and medieval art, etc. It was based on the desire to acquire the purity of the view of the world, inherent in the consciousness unspoiled by civilization.
In Russia, primitivism is most clearly represented by the names N.S. Goncharova, M.F. Larionov, K.S. Malevich, artists of the groups "Jack of Diamonds", "Donkey's Tail" and some masters of the "Blue Rose". The source of inspiration for neo-primitivists is the art of the East, as well as popular prints, provincial signs, children's creativity, folk toy, the art of primitive cultures.

"After this, Gurdjieff went on to explain the various functions of man and

centers that manage these functions. In the same order, these ideas are presented in

lectures on psychology. The explanations and related discussions took quite

a lot of time ... there is no way to convey these conversations in the form in which they

really happened. Therefore, I collected all the material on psychology and

cosmology in two separate lecture series. It should be noted here that the ideas were not

given to us in the form in which they are presented in the lectures.

Meaning

I know you exist. You are not a figment of my imagination, not a dream, not a sick fantasy, not an illusion. Sometimes it seems to me that you are very close. Almost behind. Or next to the flow of people. One has only to close my eyes in the fleeting now and I will hear your voice, or I will turn into a black night at a deserted crossroads and meet your gaze. But time is running. Day after day. Year after year. As before. But you are not. Sometimes hands drop and there is no strength to take even a step. The desire to leave everything, and sign with blood under their own impotence. Snatch the very thought that you are still here. But I remember. You never lost. Didn't leave first. So I don't give up either. We started this Game long before birth and it is hardly destined to end. I don't remember how long this has been going on. I have met your thoughts and actions in others. And believed. I have found. And clung like a madman to an illusory hope. You play with me through people who were close and dear to me. You know it hurts. But time puts everything in its place. And understanding is reassembled from the broken fragments of the distant past. I know it may not be easy for you right now either. So much has been passed, so much has been found similar to sincerity and reciprocity. But that was my thoughts too. They hooked, stuck in your heart and made you believe that your search is over. But time put everything in its place. And you are alone again. I know it hurts. I'm sorry. I'll just say one thing. I am not a figment of your imagination, not a dream, not a sick fantasy, not an illusion. I exist. And one day we will meet again and we will never lose each other again.

Rubinshtein S.L. Being and Consciousness

On the place of the mental in the general interconnection of the phenomena of the material world

To posing a problem

An inquisitive, seeking human thought, penetrating with ever-increasing passion and success into the depths of the universe, cognizes material world in its infinity - in big and small, comprehends the structure of the atom and the Universe, solves one after another the problems that nature puts before it at every step. This inquisitive, searching thought of man could not help but turn to itself, could not help dwelling on the question of the relationship between thought and nature, the spiritual and the material. This is the basic question of philosophy. Its different solution separates idealism and materialism - the main trends fighting in philosophy. The theoretical significance of this question is obvious.

But questions of great theory, correctly posed and correctly understood, are at the same time practical questions of great significance. Really see big theoretical problems- it means to see them in relation to the fundamental questions of life.

The question of the connection between the mental and the material, of the dependence of the mental on material conditions, is not only a question of knowability, but also about manageability mental processes. The solution of the question of the dependence of one or another course of mental processes on objective conditions determines the ways of formation, directed change, and education of people's psychology. Correctly posed questions of knowledge of the world are ultimately connected with the tasks of its revolutionary transformation.

Marc Chagall “Lovers” Primitivism You carry your hair towards me, and I, sensing your look and trembling, body trembling, I want to ask you again: where are my long-standing flowers under the wedding blasphemy, far away? I remember: the night, and you are near, and for the first time I lay down to you, and we extinguished the moon, and the flame of candles flowed, and ...

Frida Kahlo Still Life with a Frightened Bride, 1943 Primitivism The meaning of Frida Kahlo's work is always hidden deep inside. Taking a quick look at the picture, the viewer will never understand the meaning, because each object becomes a symbol. The bride is a small doll peeking out of a cut watermelon. The two parts of the watermelon shown in the picture are not two halves. They symbolize love and passion, which…

Mark Zakharovich Chagall "The Blue House", 1917 Museum fine arts, Liege Primitivism Vitebsk was Chagall's favorite city, a landmark place that the artist always remembered and cherished these memories. It is no coincidence that the painter had the opportunity to visit Soviet Union at the invitation of Furtseva, Chagall deliberately refused a trip to Vitebsk - he wanted to keep the old city in his soul, his city ...

Frida Kahlo "Broken Column", 1944 Dolores Olmedo Museum, Mexico City Primitivism, self-portrait In this picture, Frida expressed all the physical and heartache which I have experienced throughout my life. She contracted polio as a child, and in her early youth she was in a car accident and was bedridden for some time. Her spine was broken in several places, ...

Marc Chagall "I and the village", 1911 Museum contemporary art, New York, USA Primitivism Thanks to the financial support of patrons of the capital in 1910, Chagall ended up in Paris. The young artist, first wandering from apartment to apartment, soon settled in a pavilion called "La Ruche", which means "Beehive". This wooden building housed over a hundred dirty, squalid, but cheap…

Henri Rousseau "Carnival Evening", 1886 Art Museum, Philadelphia Primitivism This is one of early paintings Rousseau, although he wrote it at the age of 42. Henri Rousseau worked as a customs officer until the age of forty and began to write only when he retired. A year before the Carnival Evening, he exhibited his copies of old paintings in the free Art Salon on the Champs Elysees ...

Frida Kahlo Girl with a Death Mask, 1938 Naive Art (Primitivism) Nagoya City Museum, Japan Frida Kahlo (Spanish Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón, July 6, 1907, Coyoacan - July 13, 1954, Coyoacan) - Mexican artist, wife of Diego Rivera. Frida Kahlo's works are very influenced by Mexican folk art, the culture of the pre-Columbian civilizations of America. Her work is full of symbols and…

Marc Chagall "Happiness", 1980 Paper, lithograph, 116 x 75.5 cm National Museum Marc Chagall, Nice, France Primitivism There is only one color in our life, just like on an artist's palette, which gives meaning to life and art. This is the color of love. - Marc Chagall.

Tivadar Kostka was born on July 5, 1853, in the mountain village of Kishseben, which belonged to Austria (now Sabinov, Slovakia) - a self-taught Hungarian artist.

His father Lasli Kostka was a doctor and pharmacist. The future artist knew from childhood that he would become a pharmacist. But before becoming one, he changed many professions—he worked as a sales employee, attended lectures at the Faculty of Law for some time, and only then studied pharmacology.

From that time, or even earlier, he firmly intended to become an artist, for this he tried to put together a small capital, which gave him material independence.

« old fisherman»

He wrote the following about himself: “I, Tivadar Kostka, gave up my youth for the sake of the renewal of the world. When I took initiation from the invisible spirit, I had a secure position, I lived in abundance and convenience. But I left my homeland because I wanted to see her at the end of my rich and glorious life. To achieve this, I traveled extensively in Europe, Asia and Africa. I wanted to find the truth predicted to me and turn it into painting.

It seems that the idea of ​​becoming an artist persistently haunted Tivadar Kostka.

One day he goes to Rome, then to Paris, where he meets the famous Hungarian artist Mihaly Munkácsy.

And then he returns to his homeland, and for fourteen years he works in a pharmacy, trying to achieve financial independence. Finally, a small amount of capital has been accumulated, and one fine day he rents out a pharmacy and leaves to study, first in Munich, and then in Paris.

What follows is the well-known principle of constructing the fate of an unrecognized genius.
He realized that the skills that he would acquire in the course of his studies did not correspond to his perception. Therefore, he dropped out of school and in 1895 went on a trip to Italy to paint landscapes. Traveled throughout Greece North Africa and the Middle East.

In 1900 he changed his surname Kostka to the pseudonym Chontvari.

The value of his works has been questioned by many critics. In Europe they were exhibited (though without special success), but in his native Hungary, Chontvari was once and for all called crazy. Only towards the end of his life did he come to Budapest and bring his canvases there. I tried to bequeath them to the local museum, but no one needed them. In 1919, Tivadar Kostka Chontvari really went crazy and died poor, lonely, ridiculed and useless.

Having buried the unfortunate, the relatives began to share the good. And everything was good - only pictures. And so, after consulting with the "experts", they decided to scrap the canvases, like an ordinary canvas, and divide the money among themselves, so that everything was fair.

At this time, by chance or not at all by chance (a strange coincidence, however!) A young architect Gideon Gerlotsi passed by. It was he who saved the artist's creations, paying for them a little more than the junk dealer offered. Now the paintings of Tivadar Chontvari are kept in the museum of the city of Pecs (Hungary).

And just recently, one of the museum employees, in the process of examining Kostka's painting "The Old Fisherman", painted in 1902, came up with the idea of ​​attaching a mirror to it. And then he saw that the picture on the canvas was not one, but at least two! Try to divide the canvas yourself with a mirror, and you will see either a god sitting in a boat against the backdrop of a peaceful, one might say, paradise landscape, or the devil himself, behind whom black waves are raging. Or maybe in other paintings of Chontvari, there are hidden meaning? After all, it turns out that a former pharmacist from the village of Iglo was not so simple.

The style of primitivism in painting has found wide application. First of all, self-taught artists who did not have sufficient professional skills, but sought to show themselves and their vision of the world, became representatives of this trend. Like any other innovation, primitivism caused great artists who sought fame long years after training, they were dissatisfied with the new direction of painting, which did not take half of the life of the creators to polish their artistic skills. However, most art critics liked simple masterpieces, and primitivism nevertheless 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, which makes the paintings look more like ordinary children's drawings. However, the changes were made intentionally: through the illusion of simplicity and carelessness, one can see deep meaning works. As in all other artistic styles, details are important in primitivism - they carry the main semantic load.

Art brut

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

The opinion that no idea is hidden behind the naivety of the images is erroneous. Primitivism is saturated not with entourage, but internal state souls. It can be noticed only after careful consideration and analysis of the depicted details - a cursory glance is inappropriate here.

How to learn to correctly identify primitivism in painting

Primitivism does not exist without the naivety and spontaneous inspiration of the author. A person who encounters such stories for the first time experiences a feeling similar to nostalgia. Children's vision of the world lies in broken proportions, bright and saturated colors, deep moral overtones. A man in primitivism is more like a doll than a real character- it adds to his mystery.

The ability to pay attention to details and interpret them correctly is a real talent. When determining artistic style it won't be redundant. You can learn to understand the artist yourself. To do this, it is worth remembering several important criteria, noticing which it will be easy to distinguish works of primitivism from surrealism.

First, pure colors. The abundance of tones and semitones, chiaroscuro, depth of space - this is not primitivism. Naive art uses pure pastel colors or, on the contrary, overly bright shades. Secondly, broken proportions. If the picture resembles stylized illustrations for fantasy book So it's primitivism. Thirdly, mixing reality with fantasy ideas - primitivism in painting combines a calm landscape and too catchy colors, a person and incredible creatures.

Outstanding representatives of the primitivism style

Not only abstractionists and surrealists is full modern painting. Primitivism opened the way for many talented creators whose work had not previously been recognized. Among them are Babushka 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 Naive 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 the world of carelessness, naivety and spiritual purity. Despite the lack of art education among many primitivists, the paintings are filled with what most other areas lack so much: mood. Art lovers understand and appreciate this, which is why works in the primitivism genre are so popular.