Primitivism Revisited
15 Dec 2006 - 27 Jan 2007
Primitivism Revisited
December 15th - January 27th
Tuesday - Friday 11 AM to 6 PM
Saturday 10 AM to 6 PM
Sean Kelly is proud to announce its upcoming exhibition, Primitivism Revisited. This exhibition will be organized by Susan Vogel and curated by her graduate students from the Art History and Archeology Department at Columbia University. Susan Vogel is a Professor of African Art at Columbia University and founding Director of New York’s Museum for African Art.
The exhibition will re-examine the notion of “primitivism,” a concept which assumes certain relationships between “primitive” or traditional African art and contemporary art. Connections between the two, commonly traced back to Gaugin and Picasso, were extensively studied in 1938 by Robert Goldwater and, in 1984, by William Rubin, the curator of the MoMa exhibition Primitivism in 20th Century Art.
Our exhibition will ask whether the assertions of “Primitivism” are still valid in light of contemporary, and particularly post-modern, art practice. It will present classical African art (as it is now defined) in relation to art being made today - focusing on work created since the 1984 exhibition.
Vogel and her students will carefully select the African and contemporary materials from private collections in order to challenge the existing definitions of “primitivism” in art posited by Goldwater and Rubin’s exhibitions. By renegotiating the parameters of African and contemporary art this exhibition endeavors to generate new and surprising perspectives. This project will provide a platform for scholars, artists and the public to reflect on a topic that has not been subject to close scrutiny in the United States for over twenty years.
Please contact Tei Carpenter at the gallery (212.239.1181) or tei@skny.com for more information.
© Robert Mapplethorpe
Grace Jones
1984
gelatin silver print
edition of 15
20 x 16 inches (51 x 41 cm)
MAP-1448
December 15th - January 27th
Tuesday - Friday 11 AM to 6 PM
Saturday 10 AM to 6 PM
Sean Kelly is proud to announce its upcoming exhibition, Primitivism Revisited. This exhibition will be organized by Susan Vogel and curated by her graduate students from the Art History and Archeology Department at Columbia University. Susan Vogel is a Professor of African Art at Columbia University and founding Director of New York’s Museum for African Art.
The exhibition will re-examine the notion of “primitivism,” a concept which assumes certain relationships between “primitive” or traditional African art and contemporary art. Connections between the two, commonly traced back to Gaugin and Picasso, were extensively studied in 1938 by Robert Goldwater and, in 1984, by William Rubin, the curator of the MoMa exhibition Primitivism in 20th Century Art.
Our exhibition will ask whether the assertions of “Primitivism” are still valid in light of contemporary, and particularly post-modern, art practice. It will present classical African art (as it is now defined) in relation to art being made today - focusing on work created since the 1984 exhibition.
Vogel and her students will carefully select the African and contemporary materials from private collections in order to challenge the existing definitions of “primitivism” in art posited by Goldwater and Rubin’s exhibitions. By renegotiating the parameters of African and contemporary art this exhibition endeavors to generate new and surprising perspectives. This project will provide a platform for scholars, artists and the public to reflect on a topic that has not been subject to close scrutiny in the United States for over twenty years.
Please contact Tei Carpenter at the gallery (212.239.1181) or tei@skny.com for more information.
© Robert Mapplethorpe
Grace Jones
1984
gelatin silver print
edition of 15
20 x 16 inches (51 x 41 cm)
MAP-1448