Description

Curatorial Narrative Decorative art of New Guinea Pl.35 by Albert Buell Lewis is an exemplary work within the ethnographic genre, one that encapsulates the essence of early 20th-century Modernism while engaging with the primordial traditions of New Guinean culture. Created in 1925, this print falls squarely within a pivotal moment when Western art began to acknowledge and assimilate the aesthetic innovations of non-Western societies, a phenomenon that would come to be known as Primitivism. Upon enlargement to its maximum dimension of 44×61 inches, Decorative art of New Guinea Pl.35 reveals a complex spatial rhythm, one in which the artist has carefully calibrated the interplay between positive and negative space. The linear brushwork and strict division of the composition into discrete zones conspire to create an atmosphere of deliberate reserve, which is then subtly subverted by the use of bold black line to inscribe intricate pa