Naive art
DEFINITION
A simplified approach to painting the artist of naive style lacks formal training, and renders literal images. Naive artists are usually zealous in their commitment to making art because it comes from their inner beings. The artwork of many of them may appear childlike but often is consistent in quality and has elements borrowed from art history. In contrast to Naive Art, Folk Art, reflects a specific culture and not the artist's mental processes. A common mistake is to group Naive and Folk Art together. The Naive Style tends to have bright colors, much detailing and little perspective or depth. In sculpture, quite often found objects are utilized. Some modernist artists with much interest in primitivism affect the naive style. However true Naive Art is nearly synonymous with Outsider Art and "is the product of an individual psyche rather than communal history". But Outsider Art has a slightly more narrow connotation because it is the artwork of people outside the mainstream of society such as people in mental institutions and prisons. Source: Robert Atkins, "Art Speak". <br><br> Artwork, usually paintings, characterized by a simplified style, nonscientific perspective, and bold colors. The artists are generally not professionally trained. Henri Rousseau and Grandma Moses worked in this style.<br><br>The style of naive painting is characterized by a careful, simplifying approach, non-scientific perspective, bright colors, and often, an enchantingly literal depiction of imaginary scenes. Although not following any particular movement or aesthetic, naive painters have been a continuing international phenomenon and influence since the beginning ot the twentieth century. The term usually refers to works produced by artists (also called naifs or na?fs) who had no formal training. Some trained artists, however, have deliberately affected a naive style. Among the artists whose work may be called naive, Henri Rousseau (French, 1844-1910) is the most famous. His nickname, "Le Douanier," refers to his employment as a toll-collector when he took up painting as a spare-time occupation. Rousseau's simplicity and naivety were notorious, his paintings childlike, non-naturalistic, and brightly colored. His pictures are appealing in their directness and depth, and in some ways are very sophisticated, their design and colors worked out in great detail. Their apparent affinity with non-Western art and their bold expressive qualities made them appealing to the early modernists searching for new forms of expression.(pr. nahy-EEV)Examples:Henri Rousseau (born Henri-Julien-F?lix Rousseau, called "le Douanier") (French, 1844-1910), The Repast of the Lion, c. 1907, oil on canvas, 44 3/4 x 63 inches (113.7 x 160 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. (On the Met's page, you can enlarge any detail.)Henri Rousseau, The Dream, 1910, oil on canvas, 6 feet 8 1/2 inches x 9 feet 9 1/2 inches (204.5 x 298.5 cm), Museum of Modern Art, New York.