This article is about the art movement. For the political movement, see Anarcho-primitivism.

Primitivism came essentially as a reaction to the Enlightenment. Rousseau was the first to draw attention to the concept of the 'noble savage'. What 18th Century culture lacked, he argued, was Nature, passion, emotion, instinct and mysticism. The Romantics developed this idea further. They believed that 'modern' society was moving away from its traditional roots, losing touch with its true 'primitive' condtion. Out of this came Wuthering Heights, Frankenstein, Byron and Wordsworth, and later Conrad, Nietzsche and Picasso.

Primitivism could also be seen as a set of modern European and Euro-American representational conventions inspired by non-Western art. These conventions were first developed by Europeans and Euro-Americans who were dissatisfied with a variety of aspects of European culture, and sought to find what they were missing in other parts of the world. What emerged was a simplistic understanding of other cultures, structured by the primitivists' own desires, their lack of knowledge of other societies (e.g. African), and the racism of European society. Their work has contributed to an ongoing belief in the multitude of non-western societies as fundamentally similar in their "primitiveness," supposedly meaning their irrationality, closeness to nature, free sexuality, freedom, proclivity to violence, "mysticism," and etc. Such artists, especially Picasso, are still popularly understood as somehow escaping European conventions and expressing "primal" impulses within themselves.

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@matdevineslife & i'm reading or better 2 say trying to read Siddharta.the underlined "primitivism" and the exaggerated pathos make me sick.
phantomhuntress (Anna) Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:06:21 -0000
@matdevineslife & i'm reading or better 2 say trying to read Siddharta.the underlined "primitivism" and the exaggerated pathos make me sick.
I now need to write 5 pages on anarcho-primitivism and the UNABOMBER manifesto today. I can do that. I just need sleep first.
rakeif (Sean Proctor) Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:13:36 -0000
I now need to write 5 pages on anarcho-primitivism and the UNABOMBER manifesto today. I can do that. I just need sleep first.
In music talking about primitivism while reading my anthropology article about neanderthals.
Amralove (Amra) Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:56:04 -0000
In music talking about primitivism while reading my anthropology article about neanderthals.
This article speaks to me (and my anarcho-primitivism) http://kalman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/26/back-to-the-land/
lessgravity (Caitlin Bales) Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:44:15 -0000
This article speaks to me (and my anarcho-primitivism) http://kalman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/26/back-to-the-land/
anarcho-primitivism ftw
JustFlexin (Skisgaar) Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:33:22 -0000
anarcho-primitivism ftw
Artificial intelligence thoughts http://www.primitivism.com/technology.htm
bigdreamr (Cassandra Harris) Fri, 27 Nov 2009 23:29:24 -0000
Artificial intelligence thoughts http://www.primitivism.com/technology.htm

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