William Rubin “Modernist Primitivism: An Introduction” 1 ... - iSites

spectrum of arts of distant and alien cultures.” (136) Name other societies
that disprove his statement
11. When Rubin purports that African masks give Westerns an “almost shocking
sense of psychological otherness” (139) what otherness is he referring to?
Does he assume that non‐Westerns do not see this otherness?
12. When Rubin states that : « the otherness of the tribal images can broaden
our humanity because we have learned to recognize that otherness in
ourselves », is he not displaying the evolutionary prejudice he wants to
combat ?
13. When Rubin writes that, « Picasso was interested in the exorcistic character
of African art », does he mean that Picasso showed :
a. . an awareness of the sacredness of art
b. . a realization that art can liberate the unconscious, the « other »
within ourselves
c. . a fascination and a desire to appropriate non‐Western aesthetic
values ?
14. Rubin says, like all great art, the finest tribal sculptures show images of man
that transcend the particular lives and times of their makers.” Can the same
be said of Picasso’s Demoiselles?
15. Although tribal art influenced “Picasso and his colleagues in significant
ways”, why would it not influence the direction of modern art even though
these artists became inspiring figures of modern art?
16. Why would Goldwater assert that the similarities found in “primitive” art and
modern art objects were merely a coincidence and not some higher level of
artistic connectedness? In some way or another, it seems nearly impossible
to see a foreign object and not be influenced by it, especially in the early
1900s…
17. Rubin mentions that Gauguin had a long list of “primitives,” is this because he
more loosely defined what primitive meant to him as compared to other
artists of the time?
18. Do you think Rubin is reaching in some of his analogies regarding the
similarities between “primitive” artists and modern artists?
19. Danto states that “what must be show is not adventious visual congruities
but what these objects meant to artists and how, not especially caring to
understand them, they made them their own.” (pg. 149) Is he implying that
contemporary artists are ignorant for their lack of understanding primitive
art or is it acceptable to take the visual art for it’s face value?
20. Would you categorize Rubin’s ideas on the relationship between Western
artists and “primitive” art structuralist?
2