Naïve Art

Naïve art usually refers to art made by artists who have had no formal training in an art school or academy. Characterized by childlike simplicity of execution and vision, it gained value by modernists. This value lay in seeking to get away from what they saw as the insincere sophistication of art created within the traditional system. But with a break from tradition, one finds critics. The weight of which was felt by the most famous naïve artist of post-Impressionist 19th century France, Henri Rousseau. 

Naïve artists are sometimes referred to as modern primitives or working in the movement known as Primitivism. This also overlaps with what is called outsider art, or in France art 'brut,' to include art of children and art made by people on the fringes of society. The likes of Rousseau and André Bauchant and their work can be described as childlike, simplistic and frank with flat renderings and a rudimentary expression of perspective but they did open the floodgates for avant-garde artists to flourish with artists like Ben Nicholson famously influenced by Alfred Wallis. In our own selection of works, the likes of Didier Lourenco and Cécile Colombo have also been influenced by this aesthetic, creating works filled with candor the viewer can enjoy.