Yusof Gajah Gajah created a doc.
What is Naïve Art?
For many, the term “naïve art” conjures up the verdant valleys and happy hamlets of Anna Mary Robertson (”Grandma”) Moses, the luxuriant vegetation and exotic jungles of Henri Rousseau, and the palmy South Sea Isles and pristine Tahitian women of Paul Gauguin. Brazilians identify naïve art with the fascinatingly colorful figures of Ivonaldo, the folkloristic motifs of Rosina Becker do Valle and the insightful Biblical interpretations of Jose de Freitas. Eastern European naïve art is associated with the powerful village scenes of Ivan Generalic and the floral farmlands of Ivan Rabuzin. In Israel, we recall the rich Biblical scenes and Cabalistic imagery of the Safed zeigermacher (watchmaker), Shalom Moscovitz, lovingly known as “Shalom of Z’fat,” revel in the anachronistic phantasmagoria of Gabriel Cohen, and take delight in the brilliant compositions of Odessa by Yefim Ladizhinsky.
But whatever our association with the term “naïve art”, one is struck with the near-universal appeal of this exhilarating art form. Perhaps this appeal stems from the celestial, joy-inspiring palette of colors chosen by naïve artists to portray their subjects. Maybe it is the genre's simplicity, which recalls an earlier era, when life was less frenetic, when the telephone was a novelty and the typewriter a godsend. Or could it be the timeless nature of the subject matter, reminding us of opportunities missed, of wondrous roads less traveled? One conclusion is certain: this is art that warms the heart and soothes the soul!
Naïve art is characterized by a refreshing innocence and the charming use of bright colors, child-like perspective and idiosyncratic scale. It portrays simple, easily-understandable and often idealized scenes of everyday life. The naïve artist - often self-taught - treats us to a uniquely literal, yet extremely personal and coherent, vision of what the world was, is or should be. It offers us, often in painstaking detail, a timeless and optimistic depiction of an ancient story or Biblical tale, an ordinary occurrence or current event, a special ceremony or daily activity. The naïve painting bustles with color and excitement, brims with wry humor and candor, bubbles with unbridled empathy and love.
From cave paintings to the present day, naïve art has traversed the millennia. As noted in the “World Encyclopedia of Naïve Art” (Bihalji-Merin and Tomasevic), so-called “primitive people,” living in the Stone Age, looked to their immediate surroundings for inspiration, depicting animals whom they feared and those whom they herded; the female figure as a fertility symbol; and man in his manifold role of huntsman, herdsman and tiller of the soil.
In North America, naïve art emerged, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, from the work of coach builders, cabinet makers, and house and sign painters, whose art - mostly portraits of the upper class, landscapes and historical scenes - was often an adjunct to their professional employment. These naïve artworks (known as “limnings”) were often painted on old wood and boards, using natural colors such as lapis lazuli and other minerals, plant dyes, metallic dust and egg yolk. From these humble beginnings, naïve art evolved in the USA into Quaker paintings celebrating strait-laced dignity and peace among men (Edward Hicks); smoke-blackened factories and historical themes (John Kane); mysterious, sensuous and erotic works (Morris Hirshfield); religious themes (Horace Pippin); and scenes from rural and farming life (”Grandma” Moses).
In Western Europe, naïve art came to prominence in the late nineteenth century, when Henri Rousseau (1844-1910), “Le Douanier” (the customs official), began exhibiting his works - side-by-side to those of Van Gogh, Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Seurat, Bonnard and Matisse - at the Parisian exhibitions of the Salon des Independants. In 1891, when Rousseau was producing his first jungle painting, Paul Gauguin, who had departed the urban bustle of Paris for the simple life of the South Seas, was painting “Women of Tahiti.”
In Eastern Europe, the naïve movement began in the early 1930’s in and around the Croatian town of Hlebine. There, farmer-painters, such as Krsto Hegedusic, Ivan Generalic, Franjo Mraz and Mirko Virius formed the “Earth Movement” and, in their paintings, began depicting the harsh reality of the peasants’ lot. In addition, they began painting on glass, striving for maximum intensity on a two-plane surface.
As the “Earth Movement” reached the cities and then stretched eastward and northward into Serbia (especially the areas around Kovacica and Jagodina), Hungary and Romania, its message was softened by a less-politicized peasantry that, for historical and cultural reasons, had a more sanguine outlook of life. This development – which, in Serbia, for example, was reflected in the works of Martin Jonas and Dusan Jevtovic – resulted in lighter, softer colors, a reversion to painting on canvas, and an idealized portrayal of everyday life. These artists emphasized life’s celebrations – the fairs, weddings and festivals – and filled their canvases with abundant crops, colorfully-dressed maidens and dancers, and sun-soaked skies.
In certain countries of Central and South America, naïve art has been inspired by indigenous mythology, mysticism, culture and tradition. While Mayan culture influenced the naïve artists of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador (and southern Mexico), Incan culture influenced the naïve artists of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. In the mid-twentieth century, these artists’ works turned to ethnic and folkloristic themes: Mother Earth and Mother Nature; religious ceremonies and superstitions; traditional clothing and textiles; the rhythms and harmonies of everyday life. Until today, the Guatemalan naïve artists of Atitlan provide these themes in their bird’s-eye views of crop pickers and nocturnal markets, while those of Comalapa reflect such themes in their depictions of bustling markets, brimming buses and ceremonial rituals. The works of the Ecuadorian naïves concentrate upon life in the Tiguan Mountains, highlighting Cotapaxi, the venerable volcano; perilous peaks overflowing with blithe-spirited shepherds, field workers and festive revelers; and the omnipresent condors, hovering overhead in a protective (but sometimes threatening) manner. Similarly, the Peruvian naïves focus their works on the heady heights of the Andes Mountains, portraying the color and vigor of community life and culture in a land of captivating cliffs, enchantment and wonder.
In Brazil, the naïve movement appeared at the end of the 1940s with the first exhibitions of Silvia de Leon Chalreo (1905-1987) and Jose Antonio da Silva (1909-1996), and with the invitation to the naïve artist, Heitor dos Prazeres (1898-1966), to participate in the first Biennale of Sao Paulo. The probable explanation for the late emergence of Brazillian naïve art is grounded in history. While the Frenchmen, Rousseau, Andre Bauchant (1873-1958) and Camille Bombois (1883-1970), and the Americans, Edward Hicks and “Grandma” Moses (1860-1961), to name but a few (albeit the best known), were already “presence obligee” in important museums in the world, the works of the Brazilian naïve “pioneers” were being painted in outlying regions of the country and were discovered quite late. Therefore, the dawn of Brazilian naïve art came only during the second half of the 20th century.
Brazilian naïve art is epitomized by enormous contrasts, which arise, in the main, from the intermingling within the large country (larger in fact than the entire continental USA) of many different cultures –such as European, African and Indian—from all over the world. This mixture provides a fertile ground for budding artists of great originality. Brazilians are naturally happy, spontaneous and creative, and are uninhibited in expressing their emotions, and these traits, along with all of the youthful dynamism of the original movement, are still being reflected in the naïve artworks produced today.
The naïvism of Argentina defies simple categorization. The country’s native customs and traditions have never had the dramatic impact upon the local naïve artists as the Incan, Mayan, Aztec and African cultures have had on their fellow artists to the north. Instead, the waves of immigration to Argentina – in particular from Europe – during the past two centuries, and the resultant melding of European and other customs and traditions with those of the indigenous population, have had a major impact upon the life, character and morés of the people, as well as upon the country’s art, architecture, music and literature. These influences are seen, quite clearly, in the works of the Argentine naïves, which depict, in heartwarming colors and detail, the resonance of the city (particularly Buenos Aires, “the Paris of South America”), the beat of the tango, the pulse of the pampas, the swagger of the gauchos and the silent beauty of Patagonia.
The twentieth century was a period of great political and economic upheaval in Spain and Portugal. The resultant social unrest awakened, among the naïve artists in particular, a desire to preserve on canvas the culture and traditions of the nation as well as the timeless moments of a bygone age. Although the naïve art of both Spain and Portugal has all of the traditional elements of naïvism, a closer look discloses significant differences in subject and style. While Spanish naïve art reflects the fertile soil of an idealized imagination, Portuguese naïve art applies an idealized imagination to the fertile soil. While the Spanish naïves proudly portray Spain’s history, architecture and gardens as well as its traditional ceremonies and famous squares, the Portuguese naïves lovingly depict their native soil, toiling farmers, sparkling villages and cloudless horizons – a joyous marriage of man, earth and sky.
Throughout the generations, naïve art has remained ever-present, percolating quietly below the surface and, on occasion, restoring its popularity in the public’s eye through the emergence of a particularly gifted naïve artist or a particularly vocal art afficionado prepared to evidence to the world the beauties of this unique art form.
Oto Bihalji-Merin, the co-author of the “World Encyclopedia of Naïve Art”, notes that naïve art “has outlasted the ever - changing variety of aesthetic styles,...[remaining] an essential part of the ... [art] scene in any period.” The reason for this phenomenon is summed up beautifully by Jacques Ardies, the noted Brazilian naïve art author and gallery owner, who observes, in his book, “Naïve Art in Brazil”:
"Diversified in [stylistic approaches];...full of originality and creativity, and seeking at the same time to capture nature and the great cities, figures and landscapes, the faiths and popular traditions...,... naïve painters outlive the erudition of contemporary art through their candor and spontaneity. They are painters who do not want or seek to change the world by their authentic art, but merely, as part of it, to pretend that the magic of Art may help man to turn to the simpler things of life."
Dan Chill
GINA - Gallery of International Naïve Art