Описание
Naive Artworks
For many, the term “naïve art” conjures up the verdant valleys and happy hamlets of Anna Mary Robertson (”Grandma”) Moses, the luxuriant vegetation and exotic jungles of Henri Rousseau, and the palmy South Sea Isles and pristine Tahitian women of Paul Gauguin. Brazilians identify naïve art with the fascinatingly colorful village scenes of Ana Maria Dias; the folkloristic motifs of Rosina Becker do Valle; and the insightful Biblical interpretations of Jose de Freitas. Eastern European naïve art is associated with the powerful village scenes of Ivan Generalic and the floral farmlands of Ivan Rabuzin. In Israel, we recall the rich Biblical scenes and Cabalistic imagery of the Safed zeigermacher (watchmaker), Shalom Moscovitz, lovingly known as “Shalom of Z’fat”, and we revel in the anachronistic phantasmagoria of Gabriel Cohen.
But whatever our association with the term “naïve art”, one is struck with the near-universal appeal of this exhilarating art form. Perhaps this appeal stems from the celestial, joy-inspiring palette of colors chosen by naïve artists to portray their subjects. Maybe it is the genre's simplicity, which recalls an earlier era, when life was less frenetic, when the telephone was a novelty and the typewriter a godsend. Or could it be the timeless nature of the subject matter, reminding us of opportunities missed, of wondrous roads less traveled? One conclusion is certain: this is art that warms the heart and soothes the soul!
Naïve art is characterized by a refreshing innocence and the charming use of bright colors, child-like perspective and idiosyncratic scale. It portrays simple, easily-understandable and often idealized scenes of everyday life. The naïve artist - often self-taught - treats us to a uniquely literal, yet extremely personal and coherent, vision of what the world was, is or should be. It offers us, often in painstaking detail, a timeless and optimistic depiction of an ancient story or Biblical tale, an ordinary occurrence or current event, a special ceremony or daily activity. The naïve painting bustles with color and excitement, brims with wry humor and candor, bubbles with unbridled empathy and love.
From cave paintings to the present day, naïve art has traversed the millennia. As noted in the “World Encyclopedia of Naïve Art” (Bihalji-Merin and Tomasevic), so-called “primitive people”, living in the Stone Age, looked to their immediate surroundings for inspiration, depicting animals whom they feared and those whom they herded; the female figure as a fertility symbol; and man in his manifold role of huntsman, herdsman and tiller of the soil.
