ABSTRACT
This chapter1 is divided into two main sections: in the first, I want to argue for the necessity of primitivism to art. That is, primitivism is not simply an idea picked up from time to time by particular artists, but is integral to what art is, and indeed the two terms, ‘primitivism’ and ‘art’, may best be understood in relation to one another. It will be suggested that this is so because our concept of ‘art’ is based upon several contradictory premisses, and that primitivism is central to these definitional paradoxes. Secondly it will be suggested that most of what is termed ‘primitive art’ is an equally contradictory construction, consisting of artefacts produced by peoples without a concept of primitivism for peoples who utilize those artefacts to objectify this concept. In the second section of this chapter, examples will be given of how primitive art is constructed as an assemblage of objects in relation to primitivism, outside of which it has no meaning.
