What Picasso Didn’t Know The African Spell What Picasso Didn’t Know

Paris – Early 20th Century

Admiration for the “Primitive” African Art and Western Misunderstandings There was a great “new passion” for work coming from Africa – they admired its primitive qualities! Artists like Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso were very excited by the formal possibilities African art suggested, but did these artists really understand much less appreciate the true formal and contextual aspects these artworks held in African culture??

African Arts’ Formal Influences For example, Matisse was said to be influenced by African arts’ “purity of line” as he continued to search for ways to improve the formal qualities in his own work. African art gave artists like Gauguin, Matisse and Picasso permission to push the boundaries of both style and subject matter – it was like an artistic renewal allowing them to move further and further away from “traditional art”.

Picasso’s “Fetishes” Picasso was also held under the “magical spell” of African art and was particularly sensitive to the “supernatural” notions brought out in the masks and statues. Picasso’s dual problem in his own work was “how to radicalize structure and form without losing important issues of content and allusions to real-life concerns.” ( In other words, Picasso wanted to continue to push the envelope beyond any traditionally accepted art styles in order to illustrate his views – remember his friends the anarchists?!?)

The French Colonies… Not So Cordial Like other European countries, France expanded through colonies in Africa, and African art could be seen in Paris as early as the 1890’s. However, African culture continued to be misunderstood and exploited – terrible incidents occurred like the 1904-05 executions and murders of Africans that caught the attention of the Parisian public So, this time in French history was particularly sensitive with fierce debates going on in the Chamber of Deputies and the public feeling more outraged. The anarchists were a group in France interested in independence of mind, freedom of action, and experience for its own sake, and so a great interest in Africa, and subsequently its art, took shape BECAUSE it was so different and new TO THEM.

The Best Intentions?? However, it is important to realize that even though there was a great interest in African art and the public was becoming more sympathetic to the atrocities African cultures faced at the hands of Europeans, there was still much that was misunderstood by those who “admired” African art. Even Picasso himself even though declaring his passion for African artworks, still aligned with the notion that these cultures provided artists of the time the opportunity to “equalize and level the ‘savage’ with the ‘civilized.’” Did these artists, who were so fixated on the possibilities that African art opened up for them, truly understand it for what it was in its own context??

“The masks weren’t just like any other pieces of sculpture. Not at all “The masks weren’t just like any other pieces of sculpture. Not at all. They were magic things…They were against everything – against unknown, threatening spirits.” -Pablo Picasso-

Aspects of African Art The main artistic products of Africa were masks and sculpture – often made from wood (but also metal, stone, etc.), and because wood deteriorates quickly in humid climates, not a lot of these works have survived through the generations. But those that have are packed with the emotional intensity African cultures invested in them.

Bad Artists? These objects are seen as angular and off-balance and distorted – but why?? Were these cultures so primitive and savage that they had no aesthetic sense to make something visually appealing??

Of course not!! For African cultures, these sacred objects carried a “life-force of ancestors and nature spirits”. These spirit-filled artworks had the power to cure illnesses OR could even harm enemies. These objects sometimes had so much supernatural power, that they were sometimes hidden from women and children to protect them.

But they’re still unrealistic… Many masks were used in ritual performances with complex music, dances, and costumes and were intentionally unrealistic. The idea was for the performer to conceal his/her true identity and the mask had to look artificial. African sculptures had different uses. They too “rejected real-life appearance” and instead artists created vertical forms with tubular shapes and distorted, stretched-out body parts – they were sometimes meant to remind people of trees. Depending on why the statue figures were created, they could either “wreak havoc or bestow blessings”.