Name: ARTMAJEUR
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Yuliia Chaika, Admiring, 2022. Acrylic on canvas, 40 x 30 cm.

Instead of introducing Naïf art with complex, tedious and academic definitions, as well as with dates, events, techniques and peculiar stylistic characteristics, it seems more fruitful, in order to stimulate interest and consequently learning, to immerse the reader directly in the subject, discovering only in retrospect that what was "seen" and "heard" was part of a more specific and broader trend in art history, found in a precise and unique historical moment, made manifest by the work of certain and well-known masters. In order to transport our imagination to a specific context, it is necessary to identify a common thread, that is, a subject, through which it is possible to compare the work of several artists, in order to place it, at a later time, within a certain type of artistic production. In this case, "the object" of our attention is represented by the ferocious beasts, that is, those animals that, like tigers, leopards and lions, were often the subject, for reasons we will go into later, of the work of Henri Rousseau and Antonio Ligabue, indispensable masters of the 19th and 20th centuries. Speaking of the French master, he, after an initial artistic period, focused mainly on the themes of portraits and city views, shifted his attention, starting in the 1890s, to the depiction of tropical landscapes, animated by the presence of beasts, captured in the authenticity of their temperament, which, although sometimes rather ravenous, turns out to be always "dreamy" and instinctive, that is, devoid of any kind of allusion to a more artifactual, elaborate and constructed evil, of a predominantly more human nature. Such peculiarities can be found in several works created by the artist, among which, the first in the series, turns out to be Surprised!, a painting of 1891, in which a tiger, which finds its location in the foreground of the support, is intent on pouncing, while, behind it, a violent tropical storm is being unleashed through mighty lightning bolts.

Henri Rousseau, Surprised!, 1892. Oil on canvas, 130 x 162 cm. London: National Gallery.

Antonio Ligabue, Tiger with snake. Oil on faesitis, 66 x 80 cm.

In this context, precisely the disturbing natural environment finds its counterpart in the animal world, immortalized in the dangerousness of the aforementioned animal, which, untamed, is caught in the precise instant in which it expresses all its agility and physical strength. Reporting instead some curious anecdotes concerning the making of such a masterpiece, Rousseau used as a model for his tiger the reproduction of a pastel drawing by Eugène Delacroix, as well as a domestic cat, while as for the plants, they were painted taking as their cue specimens seen in a vase and the two-dimensional motifs of medieval tapestries or Persian miniatures. Precisely these different iconographic sources were made at two separate times, a fact that is the cause of the impression that the tiger is surrealistically suspended over vegetation. In fact, the artist himself first drew the jungle and, only later, transposed the sketch of the feline onto canvas. The themes of this painting, a figment of the French master's imagination, are repeated, with different stylistic features and purposes, within the figurative investigation of the Italian painter Antonio Ligabue, well exemplified by the restlessness of Tiger with snake, a painting aimed at capturing the dramatic image of a tiger attempting to free itself from the coils of an enormous snake, designed to hold it within a forest of lush vegetation. In this context, it is worth highlighting how the theme of animal fighting was widely investigated by the master, who, especially during the 1950s, had the opportunity to observe the circus fairs that visited the towns of the Po Valley (Italy), as well as those inside the zoo and botanical garden of St. Gallen (Switzerland). Such interest, unlike "the naive and dreamy" Rousseau, however, is aimed at giving voice to the motions of the artist's own soul, which characterized by a difficult and sometimes self-destructive character, focused on scenes conceived with greater and more harrowing violence. The development of the aforementioned personality was due to the fact that Ligabue, from a very young age, had to confront an extremely adverse fate, which made him mature an awareness of the existence of a duality in nature, in that, the generating mother, is, at the same time, responsible for our own sufferings. As a result, his struggles between beasts become, necessarily, symbolic of the fact that war is the only general condition of existence, capable of allowing survival from the ferocity of life and the violence of fate, which is, more often than not, on the weakest.

Olesya Rubinova, White rainbow, 2021. Painting, Oil on linen canvas, 70 x 50 cm.

Brief history of Naïf art

The point of view expressed by the aforementioned masterpieces falls squarely within the "purposes" and stylistic features of Naïf art, an artistic production, which, precisely because it is created by people without academic training, is often underestimated in its peculiar crude and instinctive approach to materials, composition and ideas, characteristics that have given this type of artists the appellation of primitivists, ingenuous or faux ingenuous. Such adjectives, often used in a derogatory and disparaging manner, actually capture the fundamental aspect of the aforementioned tendency, characterized by a childlike simplicity and frankness, aimed at breaking, oftentimes, the most basic rules of perspective, resulting in works that seem geometrically incorrect, conceived from distorted and irregular points of view, as well as marked by bold colors, which are outside the subject of the composition, often enriched by unrealistic details. Although this language can also be found in folk art, naive painters, unlike folk painters, do not necessarily draw inspiration from a cultural or traditional context. More to the point, Naïf art also distances itself from Outsider art, in that exponents of the latter trend appear to have little, if any, contact with the mainstream art world, as they are exclusively focused on the exploration, and subsequent narrative, of their extreme or unconventional mental states. As for the origins of Naïf art, on the other hand, they appear to be unclear, in that, from the very beginning of art history, naïfs, albeit unconsciously, have been creating works. Despite this, their work has only been officially recognized since the 20th century, a period when this mode of creative expression has been pointed to as a fruitful source of creating masterpieces of art. Within the contemporary world, the acquired value of Naïf art can be summarized by Artmajeur's rich collection of works by naïve artists, well exemplified by the works of Valeria Cis, Jody and Oxana Zaika.

Nayanaa Kanodia, The zebra surveys one and all, 2018. Oil on canvas, 122 x 92 cm.

Valeria Cis, Azulejos azules, 2022. Acrulic on canvas, 120 x 80 cm.

Valeria Cis: Azulejos azules

Cis's acrylic painting, having as its subject a still life with a vase of flowers, presents, in its background, a squared decoration, aimed at simulating the multiplication of some tiles. Precisely through this last "minimalist ploy," it seems that the artist has gone to great lengths in order to create a fictitious blue ceramic tile backdrop, which, decorated with the aforementioned floral theme, aims, as per the work's very title, to reproduce the peculiarities of the iconic azulejos: ornaments of Portuguese architecture, having the form of a not very thick ceramic tile, enriched by a glazed and decorated surface. If the background of the work was inspired by a decoration, the theme of the still life with flower vase might instead refer to the work of a well-known representative of Naïf art, marked by the prevalent production of vibrant floral works as well as intricate and colorful tree architecture. The artist in question is Séraphine de Senlis, who, as in Ligabue's case, chose art as a means of expressing, and exorcising, the drama of her life: the untimely loss of her parents. In this desolate context, however, she was saved by divine intervention, so much so that, in 1906, when 42-year-old Séraphine was gathered in prayer, the Virgin appeared to her, commanding her to devote herself to painting. The artist, who did not feel she could fail to comply with the requests of such a high authority, soon understood that in art itself, Our Lady had identified the instrument of her salvation.

Jody, Lovers, 2022. Acrylic on canvas, 100 x 100 cm.

Jody: Lovers

Jody, in her acrylic on canvas, has immortalized female complicity, that sort of innate love that often blossoms between women, realizing itself in a feeling of mutual admiration and complicity, having its origin in the same sensibility, the similar worldview, as well as the sharing of the same experiences. Such feeling seems to have developed within a "worldly" event, in which women participate by shaking hands, limbs sinuously intertwining, just like two snakes in love. The causes of their intellectual affinity are widely found, in fact, through a careful analysis of the details of the Artmjeur Artist's work, the same interests that unite the two ladies emerge, concerning: fashion, jewelry, animals, wine and head coverings of all kinds. Leaving aside the more transgressive details, such as the handcuffs and tattoos, the work seems reminiscent of the atmosphere of The Signore, a painting created by Beryl Cook, in which three soft women are shown in their daily leisure activities, taking place in a crowded club. It is precisely the latter British artist, a representative of Naïf art born in 1926, who is known for her realizations of comic scenes, aimed at immortalizing people one might encounter in everyday life, inside pubs, city centers, and the most diverse shows.

Oxana Zaika, Magical walk, 2022. Acrylic / ink / marker on linen canvas, 40 x 40 cm.

Oxana Zaika: Magical walk

Just as the title of the painting itself suggests, Magical walk depicts a young girl intent on walking her two wolf dogs, animals that, made one white and the other black, probably allude to the iconic and historical dualism between day and night. In addition, referring again to the name of the canvas, the term magical stands for precisely that dreamy, as well as unreal, atmosphere rendered by the peculiar childlike style of painting animated by improbably bright colors. Within the history of art, another painter has recounted the symbiotic relationship that is often established between animals and children, including, on this occasion, beasts that are generally less tame than more ordinary pets. The work in question is Edward Hicks's The Peaceable Kingdom, an oil on canvas of about 1830, which, made in multiple versions, represents the interpretation of the biblical prophecy of Isaiah, namely the one that tells of the coming of a peaceful and Edenic kingdom, in which benign animals and trusting children coexist lovingly. It was precisely the "inner light" of the aforementioned species that was capable, according to the American teacher, of breaking down physical barriers as well as differences between living beings in order to achieve the peaceful sharing of earthly space. Speaking of Edward Hicks, the painter born in 1780, though an exponent of Folk art, is known for his naïve depictions of Pennsylvania and New York farms and landscapes, as well as the aforementioned masterpiece.