PRIMITIVE ARTISTS 



look at 



Civilization 



PHILLIP H. LEWIS 

 CURATOR, PRIMITIVE ART 



The first section of a new, major exhibition hall, to be called the Hall of Primitive 

 Art, has just been completed. Thirty-one art objects have been installed in seven 

 cases near the north end of Hall 2, the Edward E. and Emma B. Ayer Hall. Entitled 

 "Primitive Artists Look at Civilization," the exhibition is the featured exhibit for July, 

 and subsequently will remain on display for an indefinite period. 



All of the works shown were made by artists who were members of primitive so- 

 cieties. Although the definition of the term, "primitive art," implies that the artists 

 were isolated from knowledge of civilized societies, it is a fact that most of the recent 

 primitive societies of the world have been in contact with civilization from the 16th 

 to the 20th centuries. Such contacts have seldom been peaceful. Most of the objects 

 in the exhibition were derived from colonial situations in which Europeans appear as 

 administrators or military personnel. A few pieces are from contact situations which 

 were not colonial, as for example, the tipi curtain made by Cheyenne Indians on an 

 Oklahoma reservation about 1900, or the two Canadian officials carved by Haida 

 carvers of British Columbia in the late 19th century. But it is not unfair to state that 

 most of the objects displayed originated in culture contact situations that were to some 



Left: Mounted Ger- 

 man Official. Part of 

 carved wooden door 

 jamb. Early 20th cen- 

 tury, Bali, Cameroons, 

 Africa. Whole door 

 iamb is 7% feet high. 



Right: Satirical Dance 

 Mask. Represents a 

 European in a derby 

 hat. Early 20th cen- 

 tury, Mew Ireland. 

 Height 16% inches. 



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