Landscapes of the soul

Press, 5 April 1989, Page 24

Landscapes of the soul

GARRY ARTHUR

previews an exhibition of modern

primitive art

Thirteen “modern primitives,” representatives of a largely unrecognised genre in New Zealand art, will be showing their work at the C.S.A. Gallery from April 6 to 23.

They are mostly selftaught, naive painters who produce what has been described as "childlike landscapes of the 50u1... unburdened by the weight of schools and traditions.”

Henri Rousseau’s "The Sleeping Gypsy,” painted in 1896, is considered to be the beginning of modem primitive painting.

A self-taught painter, he was scorned and ridiculed by the art critics, but his special talent was recognised by such leading artists of his day as Picasso, Gauguin, Braque, Seurat and Toulouse-Lautrec. He is famous for his jungles of fantastic vege-~ tation.

Typically ingenuous and unsophisticated, naive painters are unconsciously original, trying to record faithfully their own unique image of reality. “They are the guerrillas of modern art,” says Madeleine Gavelle in her book “The Modern Primitives — Instinctual Painters.” "They are the living proof that art is within man in an embryonic state.” Bruce Finnerty, who curated this show for the C.S.A., says naive painters are a neglected group in the New Zealand art world. He has found 13 of them, ranging from wellknown figures like Triska Blumenfeld of Blenheim, to complete unknowns who have not exhibited before, such as Marie Kolff. “Most of them have had no training," he says. “Others have had training but have disposed of it because it didn’t suit

them; and some, like Yvonne Coleman, were told to stop taking lessons because they had something that was best left the way It was." Finnerty says primitive painters are much better appreciated in Europe, where other artists are happy to have naive work hung alongside theirs. Two examples are Beryl Cook who paints scenes from her local village life in Britain, and Kit Williams, whose book "Masquerade” started an international treasure hunt based on clues hidden in his intricate paintings.

The New Zealand artists are pleased at the chance to exhibit their work. “It’s just lovely that the C.S.A. is doing this show of New Zealand primitives,” says Triska Blumenfeld. “In New Zealand, it’s funny, but it’s not yet an established form. It’s not recognised.”

She first realised that she was a "modern primitive” when she was living in Rome 18 years ago and her paintings were recognised as genuinely naive works by a dealer gallery. She has featured in several international shows, and is included in the “World Encyclopedia of Naive Art.” Does she resent being described as naive? “I don’t mind at all,” she says. “One paints for oneself first of all. The object is not to impress anybody with my erudition.” But it is not a conscious style. “One can’t just sit down and decide to paint

Primitive artists are so highly regarded in France that the French Government estabished a Museum of Naive Art at Laval in 1967. Another specialising in the same genre in the Ile-de-France Museum of Primitive Art in Paris.

a primitive work,” she says. “It’s just the way it comes out.” Like Rousseau, Blumenfeld loves painting jungle scenes. Her inspiration came, not from postcards like Rousseau's, but from living in Indonesia and the South Pacific. Crowds fascinate her too, and the two large paintings she has chosen for this exhibition are crowd scenes — “A Day at the Races” and "Wine and Food Festival.” Each of the very detailed pictures took more than three months to complete. “But I love doing them,” she says. “It’s like experiencing the event.” Triska Blumenfeld featured in a recent “Kaleidoscope” programme about modern primitives, together with Ivan Hill of Dunedin and Yvonne Coleman of New Plymouth, both of whom are also in the C.S.A. exhibition.