Primitive Art

Here is my first paper about the relasionship between Le Corbusier and the parisian art collector and gallerist Louis Carré. It is an extract of the proceedings of the symposium "Le Corbusier et les arts dits primitifs" (Fondation Le Corbusier / Editions de la Villette editor)

In many cultures, it has been a long-established practice to apply various domains of art as therapy methods in asylums, prisons and rehabilitation centres in order to help people express themselves and their current circumstances and to aid cure themselves. Hans Prinzhorn's book entitled 'Artistry of the mentally ill', which was published in 1924 in Berlin has been the initial resource for Art Brut, also known as 'raw art'. A French artist, Jean Dubuffet has first used Art Brut as an artistic term in 1945, which has ignited major debates in the artistic milieu. The ultimate goal of these artists was to unveil the works of those with no art education, of mentally ill patients, rejected and marginalised individuals, children and major criminals, in order to question the authenticity of all established approaches to art through the revelation of instinctive expression and the purest form of creation.

This article presents a diachronic perspective on the exchange of cloths (kain timur) and the transformations in their importance over time with social and political changes in the Bird’s Head region of the province of West Papua. Providing insight into the transformations in kain timur exchange sheds light on the history of the region, long characterised by influences from other islands in Eastern Indonesia while simultaneously displaying distinctly Papuan cultural and linguistic features. The exchange of kain timur has evolved amid colonial and post-colonial influences such as missionisation, government administration, education, migration, and the exploitation of resources. The most prominent current meaning of the exchange of kain timur is the safeguarding of the moral community in regard to marriage practices and married life. As material objects kain timur are considered authentic cultural products that mark local identity. In contrast to other Melanesian art forms kain timur has to date attracted little attention from art collectors, anthropologists, and tourists.

Through the culturel history, meaning of art and art object have been queried and these researchs have emerged thesis and antithesis. Fundamentaly, this article aim to comparison interaction and/or conflict with mathematical rationalist art and primitive/heuristical/romantic art. In this context, effects of primitive and experssive art to the nowadays’ art perception are examined to envolve out of Basquiat and neo expressionism. Entailment of expressive art in contemporary art is researched for answers for questions in terms of cultural and genetic heritage of art and instinctive origins of making art object.
Keywords: Rock Paintings, Petroglyph, Primitive Art, Primitivism, Neo-Expressionism, Jean Michel Basquiat