Picasso and Primitivism: Appropriation or Inspiration

In the early 20th century, many artists in Paris, including Picasso, were finding a new visual language and trying to escape from Western traditional academic art. African art pieces and masks that were encountered in Paris ethnographic museums or through merchants gave a powerful impact on them.

Because of this, Picasso was attracted to the abstraction of African art, the innovation of form, and the geometric simplicity of the human body. This influence became a formation of Cubism that reconstructs objects on a plane, disassembles an object, and denies traditional perspective and reproduction methods. In one of Picasso's art pieces, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, the faces of the two figures on the right are distorted and geometrically represented under the influence of African masks. Cultural appropriation means members of the dominant cultural group, such as Western white male artists, use cultural elements such as art forms, symbols, and styles of a minority cultural group like African tribal communities for their interests or artistic goals. There is a critical point of view about Picasso's art pieces related to the abstraction of African art. The period when Picasso encountered African art was when imperialism and colonialism were rampant. African artwork was traded as low-quality objects and plundered, and Picasso took those cultural elements from this unequal historical background. Picasso ignored the religious, social, and magical meanings and context of African masks and sculptures, and only borrowed them as an aesthetic form or a primitive expression. It led to negative results that denigrated the cultural value of the original artwork. Even though Picasso received fame and gained recognition as an innovator in the history of Western art through African art, there was no recognition or reward for the African artists or communities that created the original work. There is an advocating viewpoint about Picasso's art pieces related to the abstraction of African art. Art develops in the interaction between different cultures, and Picasso emphasizes that he opened a whole new world of Western contemporary art inspired by African art. At that time, many modernist artists such as Henri Matisse and Paul Gauguin were inspired by non-Western culture, and it can be interpreted as an attempt to escape from the Western perspective. Eventually, some artworks that were inspired by the African art that influenced Picasso were evaluated as an innovative moment in Western art. These days, we have to acknowledge not only Picasso's artistic ability but also the cultural imbalance and the lack of respect for the original culture.

I was surprised by the fact that Picasso innovated modern art by being inspired by African art. I’ve never thought this process could just be seen as that of a genius artist because it took place in the inequality of the colonial era. I felt regretful that the cultural meaning of African art was used as a Western artistic tool. At the same time, I think the fact that art can develop through different cultures was interesting. Through this ambivalence, I realized that when we look at art, we have to view not only the simple beauty but also the historical and cultural context behind it.