Primitivism is a complex and at times contradictory tendency that bridges the gap between art and philosophy. It is a mode of aesthetic idealization that aims to recreate the experience of the primitive time, place, and person, either by emulation or by re-creation. In Western philosophy, primitivism proposes that the people of a primitive society possess a morality and an ethics that are superior to the urban value system of civilized people. Primitivism is a utopian style of art that means to represent the physical world of nature and humanitys original state of nature with two styles: chronological primitivism and cultural primitivism.
Chronological primitivism proposes the moral superiority of a primitive way of life represented by the myth of a golden age of pre-societal harmony with nature, as depicted in the Pastoral genres of European representational art and poetry. Cultural primitivism, on the other hand, holds that salvation lies in a return to the simple life. Primitivism is a peculiar mixture of admiration and denigration, appreciation and exploitation, elevation and repression.
In summary, primitivism is a philosophical and artistic movement that idealizes the primitive time, place, and person, either by emulation or by re-creation. It proposes that the people of a primitive society possess a morality and an ethics that are superior to the urban value system of civilized people. Primitivism is a utopian style of art that means to represent the physical world of nature and humanity's original state of nature with two styles: chronological primitivism and cultural primitivism.
