Primitivism

Scope note

A term sometimes used for artistic styles or movements intended, often romantically or sentimentally, to emulate the appearance of art that was formerly designated primitive and other art made by people operating outside of mainstream art markets. Distinct from "primitive art" and "primitive architecture," which are outdated terms formerly used for art and architecture of certain people considered to be outside the spheres of influence of other, politically dominant cultural groups. For the Russian art movement, active from about 1905 to 1920, which combined influences from Russian folk art with ideas borrowed from Cubism and Futurism, use "Primitivist."