ABSTRACT
In 1912, Vladimir Markov recognised that the experience of viewing works of art was changing as dramatically as the practice of art-making itself: Means of communication which destroy space, such as the press and archaeological excavations. Markov threw himself into research on diverse world traditions and conceived the goal of writing the first serious publication on African art, Iskusstvo Negrov. In particular, Andre Malraux described how photography in the vehicle of the modern art-book was bringing into existence a museum without walls, which included archaic arts, Indian, Chinese and Pre-Columbian sculpture, of the best periods, Romanesque frescoes, Negro and folk art, a fair quantity of Byzantine art. Ethnologist Paul German had argued that the faces of African figures were not sufficiently individualised to be interesting, but Markov proved him wrong. Individualised need not serve as a synonym for naturalistic. Markov selected expressionistic sculptures where the figure could be photographed as if reacting to the presence of the viewer.
