"Primitive" art was rediscovered by the West in the late 19th century with the rise of Primitivism, the idea that civilization, which was felt to have reached a stalemate as a result of exponential advances in science and technology, needed to return to its roots and explore and be informed by the seemingly primitive qualities of non-Western or chronologically early cultures in order to reinvent itself.

It was at such a time that the École de Paris (School of Paris) artists appeared on the scene and explored and developed their distinctive artistic idioms. The École de Paris refers to a group of young expat artists who had been drawn to the international art capital Paris from various parts of the world, and included Amedeo Modigliani from Italy, Moïse Kisling from Poland, Jules Pascin from Bulgaria, Marc Chagall from Russia, Chaïm Soutine from Lithuania, and Tsuguharu Foujita from Japan. A sense of wistfulness stemming from their expatriate status made these artists lean toward naïve forms of ethnicism and toward a love of the bygone, both of which became important pathways for Primitivism’s unique evolution.

This exhibition presented examples of oils, drawings and sculptures by the École de Paris artists, who created their highly original worlds by examining their own roots and seeking inspiration from their home traditions as well as from other forms of primitive art.

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Amedeo Modigliani
La Suédoise (Annie Bjarne)
1919
Private Collection