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The Sleep of Reason: Primitivism in Modern European Art and Aesthetics, 1725–1907

Arts & Photography

Connelly, Frances S.

History & Criticism

The Pennsylvania State University Press

Art historians have in the past narrowly defined primitivism, limiting their inquiry to examples of direct stylistic borrowing from African, Oceanic, or Native American imagery. The drawbacks of such an approach have become increasingly apparent, the most problematic being its perpetuation of the notion that certain traditions are indeed "primitive." Frances Connelly argues that "primitive" art was not a style at all, but a cultural construction by modern Europeans, a cluster of concepts principally forged during the Enlightenment concerning the nature of the origins of artistic expression. She contends that, instead of the paintings of Gauguin, the publication of Vico's New Science in 1725 lies much closer to the origins of primitivism because it first articulated the essential framework of ideas through which Europeans would understand "primitive" expression. 
Based upon a close reading of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century sources, including voyage accounts, ethnographies, aesthetic theories, and popular journals, The Sleep of Reason establishes that the term "primitive" art did not refer so much to actual stylistic traditions but to a collection of visual attributes that Europeans construed to be universal characteristics of "primitive" expression, specifically the hieroglyph, the grotesque, and the ornamental. Connelly provides case studies of artists and aestheticians who advocated, attempted, or realized the assimilation of these "primitive" characteristics, including some artists never before associated with primitivism as well as significant re-evaluations of Gauguin and Picasso.

Penn State University Press

This book establishes a fresh and expansive view of the grotesque in Western art and culture, from 1500 to the present day. Following the non-linear evolution of the grotesque, Frances S. Connelly analyzes key works, situating them within their immediate social and cultural contexts, as well as their place in the historical tradition. By taking a long historical view, the book reveals the grotesque to be a complex and continuous tradition comprised of several distinct strands: the ornamental, the carnivalesque and caricatural, the traumatic, and the profound. The book articulates a model for understanding the grotesque as a rupture of cultural boundaries that compromises and contradicts accepted realities. Connelly demonstrates that the grotesque is more than a style, genre, or subject; it is a cultural phenomenon engaging the central concerns of the humanistic debate today. Hybrid, ambivalent, and changeful, the grotesque is a shaping force in the modern era.

The Grotesque in Western Art and Culture: The Image at Play

Cambridge University Press

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Books by Connelly, Frances S.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Connelly, Frances S.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Sleep of Reason: Primitivism in Modern European Art and Aesthetics, 1725–1907

The Sleep of Reason: Primitivism in Modern European Art and Aesthetics, 1725–1907

The Sleep of Reason: Primitivism in Modern European Art and Aesthetics, 1725–1907

The Grotesque in Western Art and Culture: The Image at Play

The Grotesque in Western Art and Culture: The Image at Play