Towards the Theory of the Naïve Art – Grgo Gamulin and the Understanding of Modernism
pdf (English)

Słowa kluczowe

Grgo Gamulin
Croatia
naïve art
modernism
art theory
art historiography

Jak cytować

Mance, I. (2019). Towards the Theory of the Naïve Art – Grgo Gamulin and the Understanding of Modernism. Artium Quaestiones, (30), 191–209. https://doi.org/10.14746/aq.2019.30.9

Liczba wyświetleń: 330


Liczba pobrań: 248

Abstrakt

The article presents the theory of naïve art of the Croatian art historian Grgo Gamulin (1910–1997), which he developed in a number of texts written from early 1960s. In his theory, Gamulin tried to explain the phenomenon of naïve art on the basis of the modernist paradigm by applying the type of argumentation that is characteristic for the discourse of high-modernity. Gamulin’s postulates on the naïve can be summarised with a few basic lines of speculation. First of all, Gamulin claims that the phenomenon of the naïve was epistemologically possible only in the context of modernism, and that it should therefore be considered an equally valuable movement of contemporary art. However, in order to defend its authenticity, he began adhering to the ab ovo theory, the notion that naïve art does not arise as a cumulative result of the historical development of art, but that it ontologically precedes that development. The naïve artist, according to Gamulin, always starts from the beginning, independent of events in the art world, and immune to influences. A naïve artist is therefore necessarily authentic, or rather original: not having any role models, he develops an individual style, independently building his own visual arts language. Gamulin further posits that the visual arts language of the naïve is not based on a naive imitation of reality, or mimesis, but on an instinctive, spontaneous symbolisation of subjective experience, and as such is completely autonomous in relation to the laws of reality, i.e. it is ontologically grounded in the artist’s imagination. Finally, in an effort to explain the social significance of naïve art, Gamulin interprets the emergence of the naïve in the context of the culture of modernism as compensation – a supposedly naïve attitude to aesthetic norms, as well as an imaginarium that evokes “lost spaces of childhood,” necessarily functions as a therapeutic substitute for the alienation of art and the modern life in general. As such, Gamulin’s theory vividly testifies to the character of naïve art as a phenomenon that is constitutive of the culture of modernism, but that also reflects a number of contemporary polemics and split opinions, not only on the topic of the naïve but of modernism as a whole. The split of opinions on naïve art, especially with regard to its genesis, partly reflects the positions of the so-called conflict on the left, discussions that were taking place between the interwar period and early 1950s with the aim of defining the relationship of leftist ideology to modernism, or rather the relationship between the values of socially-critical engagement and aesthetic autonomy. The discussion on the naïve, however, experienced a certain changing of sides– Grgo Gamulin, a one-time advocate for socialist realism, began supporting naïve art and thus rose to the defence of basically liberal understanding of modernism, while former opponents of socialist realism denounced the phenomenon of the naïve as ideologically inconsistent and aesthetically doctored. In conclusion, Gamulin’s theory, as well as the entire polemic around naïve art that was taking place during the 1960s and which the theory necessarily ties in with, demonstrates the complex contextual reality of a seemingly integral modernist paradigm, illustrating the confrontation of positions that is by no means peculiar to Yugoslav society.

https://doi.org/10.14746/aq.2019.30.9
pdf (English)

Bibliografia

Bihalji-Merin O., Naivni umjetnici svijeta. Povijesni pregled, suvremena kretanja, perspektive, Zagreb: Mladost 1972 [Das naive Bild der Welt, Köln 1959]

Bihalji-Merin O., Umetnost naivnih u Jugoslaviji, Beograd 1963

Crnković V., “Marginalije uz Gamulinove tekstove o ‚naivnoj umjetnosti‘,” in: idem, Studije i eseji, recenzije i zapisi, interpretacije. Prilozi za teoriju i povijest naive i art-brutističkih tendencija 1997–2001, Zagreb 2002, pp. 89–124

Crnković V., “Naiva u Hrvatskoj pedesetih godina,” in: idem, Studije i eseji, recenzije i zapisi, interpretacije. Prilozi za teoriju i povijest naive i art-brutističkih tendencija 1997–2001, Zagreb 2002, pp. 70–84

Crnković V., “‚Slikari svetog srca‘ i evropski modernizmi,” in: idem, Studije i eseji, recenzije i zapisi, interpretacije. Prilozi za teoriju i povijest naive i art-brutističkih tendencija 1983–1997, Zagreb 2002, pp. 217–224

Crnković V., “Naiva ili naivna umjetnosti,” in: idem, Marginalije ili razotkrivanje nevidljivog, Zagreb 2009, pp. 11–16

Gamulin G., “Povodom izložbe slikara partizana,” Republika 1945, 1(1–2), pp. 106–113

Gamulin G., “Uz izložbu udruženja likovnih umjetnika Hrvatske,” Naprijed 1946, 4(52), p. 3

Gamulin G., “Opća teorija umjetnosti kao teorija socijalističkog realizma,” Zbornik radova Filozofskog fakulteta, Zagreb 1951, 1(1), pp. 155–185

Gamulin G., “Prema teoriji naivne umjetnosti,” Kolo 1965, 3(5), pp. 525–553 [also in: G. Gamulin, Prema teoriji naivne umjetnosti. Studije, eseji, kritike, prikazi, polemike 1961–1990, ed. V. Crnković, Zagreb 1999, pp. 73–128; other editions:

“K teórii naivné houmenia,” Ars 1968, 1; “Toward a Theory of Primitive Art,” in: Primitive Painting, Zagreb 1981; New Yok 1981]

Gamulin G., „U ovom teoretskom trenutku,” Život umjetnosti 1970, 11–12, pp. 3–24 [also in: G. Gamulin, Prema teoriji naivne umjetnosti. Studije, eseji, kritike, prikazi, polemike 1961–1990, ed. V. Crnković, Zagreb 1999, pp. 155–190]

Gamulin G., “Plaidoyer za Hlebine.” Deset teza za simpozij Naivi ‘73, in: idem, Prema teoriji naivne umjetnosti. Studije, eseji, kritike, prikazi, polemike 1961–1990, ed. V. Crnković, Zagreb 1999, pp. 219–224

Gamulin G., Naivni slikari Hlebinske škole, manuscript [recently published as: G. Gamulin, Naivni slikari Helbinske škole, ed. V. Crnković, Zagreb 2019; other editions: I Pittori Naifs della Scuola di Hlebine, Milano 1974; Les peintres naïfs. Ecole de Hlebine, Paris 1979; Jugoschlawische Hinterglassmalerei. Ivan Generalić und die Schule von Hlebine, Gütersloh 1982]

Jakovsky A., Die naive Malerei in Frankreich, Zürich 1957

Kelemen B., Naivno slikarstvo Jugoslavije, Zagreb 1969

Klinger C., „Autonomy – Authenticity – Alterity: On the Aesthetic Ideology of Modernity,” in: Modernologies. Contemporary Artists Researching Modernity and Modernism, ed. S. Breitwieser, Barcelona 2009 [exhibition catalogue], pp. 25–37

Kolešnik Lj., Između Istoka i Zapada. Hrvatska umjetnost i likovna kritika 50-ih godina, Zagreb 2006

Lasić S., Sukob na književnoj ljevici 1928–1952, Zagreb 1970

Mance I., “Rastezljivost paradigme: ‚naivno’ prema ‚modernom’ u diskursu hrvatske povijesti umjetnosti i likovne kritike šezdesetih godina,” in: Ivan Generalić. Djelo, život, vrijeme. Zborni kradova znanstveno-stručnog simpozija povodm 100.

Obljetnice rođenja Ivana Generalića, Koprivnica 2016, pp. 11–18

Prelog P., Hrvatska moderna umjetnost i nacionalni identitet, Zagreb 2018

Šeparović A., „U znaku totalitarizma,” in: 150 godina Hrvatskog društva likovnih umjetnika. Umjetnost i institucija, ed. I. Kraševac, Zagreb 2018, pp. 173–200