Critical Review Examines Primitivism's Legacy in Three Recent Art History Publications

Elizabeth Harney's critical review in ARTMargins analyzes how three recent scholarly volumes address primitivism's enduring influence on modern and contemporary art. Published on October 1, 2022, the article examines Suzanne Preston Blier's 'Picasso's Demoiselles: The Untold Origins of a Modern Masterpiece' (Duke University Press, 2019), Joshua I. Cohen's 'The Black Renaissance: African Sculpture and Modernism Across Continents' (University of California, Berkeley, 2020), and David Joselit's 'Heritage and Debt: Art in Globalization' (MIT Press, 2020). Harney explores questions of cross-cultural influence, indebtedness, and the translation of forms during the colonial modern era. The review appears in ARTMargins Volume 11, Issue 3, pages 105-125, with DOI 10.1162/artm_r_00327. Content is available through MIT Press with subscription access. Harney considers how these works engage with decolonizing art historical perspectives and the mechanisms of postcolonial retrospection. The article specifically investigates the resonances of aesthetic primitivism within scholarship on African and diasporic modernisms and global contemporary practices.