Primitivism

Primitivism is a mode of aesthetic idealization that either emulates or aspires to recreate "primitive" experience. It is also defined as a philosophical doctrine that considers "primitive" peoples as more noble than civilized peoples and was an offshoot of a nostalgia for a lost Eden or Golden Age. In Western art, primitivism typically has borrowed from non-Western or prehistoric people perceived to be "primitive", such as Paul Gauguin's inclusion of Tahitian motifs in paintings and ceramics. Borrowings from "primitive" or non-Western art has been important to the development of modern art. Primitivism has often been critiqued for reproducing the racist stereotypes about non-European peoples used by Europeans to justify colonial conquest.

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