African Influence on Modern Art

There were and will continue be artists whose work was/is greatly influenced by the art of Africa. The earliest of these artists were found in France in the beginning of the 20th century. Such artists are Maurice de Vlamick, Emil Nolde, Andre Derain and Amedeo Modigliani. Of the artists listed Vlamick is considered to be the first of these to realize and appreciate the value of African Art.

Vlaminck a self-professed ``primitive'', dismissed “affluent” art seen in the Louvre, and chose to collect African masks which in turn became invaluable to early 20th-century art. Derain also showed a “primitive” wildness. His late work, after 191...