“The world of naive art is a colorful world filled with fabulous details. In this world everything seems peacefully flying and takes a person back to his childhood, evoking coziest memories,” says David Berkowitz Chicago, a naïve art painter.
The term naïve allude to something natural and unaffected, innocent, something that lacks experience, judgment or wisdom.
This term doesn’t change its meaning in art. Naive art includes almost all of these characteristics.
As David Berkowitz Chicago explains, naive artists have no relevant education. They paint without any awareness of anatomy, technique or perspective. The paintings of the naïve artists are simple, vivid, childlike – innocent.
Any form of visual art created by individuals who lack or reject conventional education and guidance that professional artists receive is considered to be naïve art.
Naïve art disagrees with dominant trends in art of their time.
Berkowitz points out that these artists shouldn’t be confused with artists who paint for fun, or so-called “Sunday artists”.
It is also wrong to take naive artists for those who don’t know what they’re doing. Naïve artists paint with the same passion as educated and well-trained artists. The difference is that naïve artists lack formal knowledge of methods.
Naive Artists
“Undoubtedly, the most influential naive artist is Jean-Jacques Rousseau,” says Berkowitz in an recent interview for Thrive Global, “but there are other artists of this genre who are worth mentioning”.
The Italian painter, Antonio Ligabue, was one of the most important naive artists of the 20th century. During the 1940s, Ligabue gained recognition for his work.
Nikifor, a Russian painter, created over 40 000 paintings.
The Australian painter Sidney Nolan, created landscapes that aimed to celebrate Australian history.
Grandma Moses started her artistic career at the age of 78. She was known for her take on American realism.
Serbian painters from Kovačica created great panoramic paintings. The most famous of these painters is Zuzana Halupova.
The uneducated Serbian farmer, Ilija Bašičević Bosilj, started painting as a middle-aged man. Despite that had solo exhibitions even in New York.
Connection to other art genres
Naive art is often connected to primitivism, primitive (tribal) art. Also, it is confused with folk and outsider art.
According to an academic publication made by Berkowitz, primitive art refers to tribal art from Africa, the South Pacific and Indonesia, prehistoric and very early European art. any art that imitates or is characterized by primitive art is described by primitivism.
Folk art is utilitarian and decorative art. This type of art expresses national identity. Generally, folk artists are uneducated, as well as naive artists. This is why folk and naive art easily confused.
Any work of art that is created by socially and culturally marginal people (undereducated, mentally ill, prisoners) unconnected to the conventional art world is considered to be outsider art
“Over the years, appreciation of naive art has increased,” claims the naïve art painter, David Berkowitz Chicago. Nowadays, it is completely recognized art genre that is spread and represented in galleries all over the world.
