Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This book explores the fusion of myth, history and geography which leads to ideas of primitivism, and looks at their construction, interpretation and consumption in Western culture. Contextualized by Susan Hiller's introductions to each section, discussions range from the origins of cultural colonialism to eurocentric ideas of primitive societies, including the use of primitive culture in constructing national identities, and the appropriation of primitivist imagery in modernist art. The result is a controversial critique of art theory, practice and politics, and a major enquiry into the history of primitivism and its implications for contemporary culture.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Current trends of thought in the London art world are showcased in this collection of 17 essays, most resulting from a weekly seminar on ^D["Primitivism^D]" held at the famed Slade School of Art, University College, in 1985-86, where students had ^D["reacted strongly against the. . .neo-expressionism then fashionable in painting.^D]" Divided into four sections, each preceded by an editor's introduction, the essays take fresh looks at Western artists' long fascination with non-Western art, from Durer's delighted discovery of Cortes's Mexican booty through Vlaminck, Picasso, Braque, and Emil Nolde, to William Rubin's controversial 1984 Museum of Modern Art show, and the dilemma of contemporary artists. In addition to beating their ex-colonial breasts, these artist/scholars are particularly disapproving of Western artists who borrow forms from the Third World without knowing or caring about their meanings, or even worse, caring but getting the message wrong. Fourteen of the essays are illustrated by 67 somewhat pale plates, including two curious ^D["photo-essays^D]" by Native American artists, and two on contemporary Australian aborigines, to make a stimulating, irritating, uneven read.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

G. William Domhoff is the author or co-author of 16 books on the American power structure, four of which appeared on a list of the top-50 best-sellers in sociology from the 1950s through the early 1990s, including his now-classic, Who Rules America? He is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Sociology and remains active as a Research Professor and an instructor in senior seminars at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Who Rules America? was published in a revised and updated version in 2013 and has been in print and used in many classrooms for 52 years.