African Art and Parisian Studios 1905-20

Abstract

It has become a commonplace in the history of modern art—though a commonplace too often taken for granted and rarely subjected to scrutiny—that before the First World War, Picasso and the Cubists were influenced by African art. With careful selection of photographs, surprising visual comparisons can be made between Cubist paintings and African sculptures, even though sometimes European artists may never have seen depictions of such carvings.