1908
Neo-primitivism
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Neo-primitivism
Neo-primitivism was the first artistic movement of the Russian avant-garde of the early twentieth century, which showed a particular interest in exoticism and authenticity.
The movement appeared under the influence of the Mayan epic “Popol Vuh” translated by K. Balmont with a large number of photographs of artefacts of ancient civilizations of Mexico. The materials were published in the magazines “Art” and “Golden Fleece”. It is worth adding that primitive artists were inspired by collections of primitive cultures that were already in museums in St. Petersburg.
The “Jack of Diamonds” exhibition, held in 1910, presented the first works of Neo-primitivists. The next step was taken in 1913: those were the expositions “Target” and “Donkey Tail”.
In 1913, the basic techniques and principles of Neo-primitivism were described in the brochure of Alexander Shevchenko “Neo-primitivism. Its theory. Its features. Its achievements.”
The origin of this movement coincides with the emergence of German Expressionism. Both of them have a common goal – to show a sincere mood without academic snobbery. Also worth mentioning are Cubists who were inspired by African folk art. For example, Pablo Picasso was shocked by the exhibition of African masks: with the help of their transformation into painting, he expressed how imperfect and even ugly the world is. The paintings of Neo-primitivists, in contrast, were characterized by kindness and naivety.
Artists used various media: oil, canvas, tempera, pencil, paper, etc. Genres: subject-themed, religious, symbolic, portrait, still life, nude.
Key ideas:
– This style has features of the fence painting, “soldier’s painting”, the Russian icon, popular print, shop signboard, and children’s drawings.
– The creation of sincere and naive original images by simplifying artistic means and simplicity of composition, using the experience of naive art.
– An important role is played by bright colours superficially affecting the viewer, until the moment he managed to understand them.
– The naive simplicity of an artist-child coexists with the complexity of the psyche of an adult and is combined in ironic, symbolic and most ordinary motives, which is an impeccable collaboration in the work of Neo-primitivists.
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A Russian artist, an illegitimate son of famous landscape painter-wanderer Alexei Savrasov. Alexey Morgunov was at the center of the creative events and artistic ideas of the Russian avant-garde in the first two and a half decades of the 20th century, but subsequently completely abandoned it.The artist was an active member and exhibitor of the Moscow Association of Artists, Youth Union, Jack of Diamonds, became a participant in such landmark exhibitions as Tram V, Shop (Petrograd), Moscow Salon, and The World of Art, Fifth State Exhibition of Paintings in Moscow, etc.Morgunov was a close friend of Malevich. Together they invented different shocking events for Futurists. He was a regular at Kracht's salon of intellectuals; was fond of the theories of M. Larionov and N. Goncharova, working both in neo-primitivistic and cubo-futuristic manners. In terms of style of his early and late creative periods, he was the closest to French Fauvism.As a professor of painting, he taught at the State Free Workshops and was a member of the Objective Analysis group at the Institute of Artistic Culture. In the last decade of his creative career, moving away from the avant-garde, he created thematic paintings that are close to the style and meet the spirit of socialist realism.
1884 - 1935
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A Ukrainian artist and poet, publisher, critic, who worked in Russia, Japan and America. One of the founders of the Russian and Ukrainian avant-garde traditionally referred to as the "father of Russian Futurism".He was an initiator of revolutionary ideas, which united many famous people (Lentulov and Exter, Bogomazov and Palmov, poets Mayakovsky and Kamensky, Kruchyonykh and Khlebnikov, Aseev and Guro), as well as the creator of the group "Gilea" - the first literary and artistic union of the Futurists. He was a member and organizer of innovative groups “Stefanos Wreath”, “Jack of Diamonds”, a member of the Moscow Youth Union and the Munich Blue Horseman.The master was the first in Bashkortostan to create images of the indigenous population, the first to transfer avant-garde to the land of Japan.The artist’s museum was created in Brooklyn (New York, the USA); the American International Zaumi Academy annually presents the prize “International Mark of D. Burliuk".
1882 - 1967