Naive Art

Naive art is an art style created by people without traditional artistic training, i.e., essentially self-taught artists. When a trained artist imitates the aesthetics of this style, it is referred to as pseudo-naive art or primitivism.

Arthur Rimbaud used the word “naïf” in a poem from 1870 to describe clumsy pictorial representations, and later Guillaume Apollinaire used it to describe this style.

An influential naïve artist was Henri Rousseau (1844–1920), who was discovered by Pablo Picasso.

„Naive Art – Winter Landscape with Horse-drawn Sleigh – Painting on a Cabinet Door
Winter Landscape with Horse-drawn Sleigh – Painting on a Cabinet Door
 
 

Stylistic Characteristics

Naive art is predominantly a painterly style. The style of representation is flat and the perspective rudimentary, as the rules of Renaissance perspective are not observed: progressive reduction of objects depending on their position, reduction of details, and softening of colors in the distance. The incorrect use of perspective thus gives it a childlike and simple appearance. However, since the preference for naive art is widespread and accepted today, the typical characteristics of the works of contemporary artists of this style may not stem from the artist’s naivety, but are a deliberately sought-after aesthetic due to their effectiveness.

Examples of naive art

The following works in the naive style are available on Robert Züblin’s website:

Difference between Naive Art and Art Brut

Naive artists are exposed to the formal conventions of fine art, but without any desire to imitate them. Artists of Art Brut (also known as “Outsider Art”), on the other hand, come from a similar cultural context but have minimal contact with it, as they are patients in psychiatric clinics or live in isolation like hermits. The French term “Art Brut” (literally translated as “raw art”) was coined in the 1940s by French artist Jean Dubuffet.

Controversy over the Boundaries of Naive Art

Since the line between naive art, art brut, folk art, etc. is difficult to draw, there are problems in defining these terms. For example, there is a tendency to refer to paintings and sculptures as naive art, while everyday objects are more likely to be associated with folk art.

The term provincial art is also used to describe art that does not resemble “big city” or “court” art.

A distinction must also be made between primitive art, which includes the art of sub-Saharan Africa, Native Americans, and the Pacific Islands, and primitivist art, which is inspired by the former and falls under the term naive art.

Art critics such as Jerry Saltz (2018 Pulitzer Prize winner for criticism) and Roberta Smith advocate for the abolition of the distinction between academic and non-academic art, not only because of the artistic quality of self-taught artists, but also because of the influence they exert on institutionalized art. Several museums and institutions have highlighted naive art in exhibitions as an indisputable part of the historical avant-garde.