discover and appreciate its artistic values. Maurice de Vlaminck, commenting in 1905 on a trio of statues from the Ivory Coast, wrote that until he viewed these works he viewed African art as "barbaric fetishes" but that he was "profoundly moved ... sensing the power possessed ... by these three sculptures" (Goldwater 82). Soon afterwards, Andr Derain, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso viewed the statues and were also incredibly impressed with African art. Although Vlaminck never collected primitive works, Derain and Matisse amassed extensive collections (Goldwater 86). Apollinaire, writing in 1909, said of Matisse:He likes to surround himself with objects of old and modern art, precious metals, and those sculptures in which the Negroes of Guinea, Senegal or Gabun have demonstrated with unique purity their frightened emotions. (Goldwater 87)The admiration for this new primitive tradition differed in some respects from any previous appreciation of exotic art. For the first time the products of native cultures were being considered as completely isolated objects, entirely separate from the context of their creation. Gauguin, at least, had to travel to encounter Polynesian art and its exotic content and association interested him as much as its form. For the fauves, however, the appeal of the primitive was its mystery and childishness and thus was primarily aesthetic in nature. The appeal of fauve painting, however, does not rely on the mastery of a sophisticated craftsman's skills but on the immediate effect of the canvas as a whole. It is for this reason that the Fauvists deeply admired primitive art. The simplification of form, the use of broad, unfinished line, the application of large areas of undifferentiated color, the use of pure color and the lack of clear perspective are the most salient characteristics of Fauvist works and are what make them so profoundly expressive (Goldwater 84). These traits are directly related t...
