I quit making fine art in 1965 when the
governor of Nebraska threatened me with prosecution for what he deemed my
'pornographic' paintings. I didn't start again until 2001. But during that
interval, I was always drawing, always looking. And one of the things that most
caught my eye was an advertisement for a show of pygmy drawings, at Linda
Einfeld in Chicago,1980.
I tried to buy a piece, but was told I
was too late. No pieces left.
Still, the 17 pieces shown in the catalog
changed my drawing style. At night, I would spend hours studying the
reproductions, then retire and dream about them. I wanted to make lines like
the Mbuti.
Later, in the 90's, lavish books were
published, providing more examples, and my affection and admiration for the
work of the Mbuti increased. Dots and dashes, cross-hatches and zigzags;
map-like; edging close to meaning but never arriving (at least, not within my
comprehension): to me they seemed the height of elegance. Today, 35 years later,
they still do.
Ward
Schumaker, 2016
November
7 - December 20, 1980
Linda
Einfeld, Chicago, Illinois USA
11
x 8.5 inch (27,95 x 21,6 cm), 16 pages, self-cover
Illustration
from Pygmy Drawings
(7th
page, although the pages are unnumbered)
15
1/4 x 27 inch (38,7 x 68,6 cm)
(the
measurements are printed along with the illustration)
Letters
Linda
Einfeld Primitive Art to Ward Schumaker
Dec
1980 and July 1981
Ward Schumaker (US)
Djenné
2014
acrylic
on canvas
62
x 42 inch (157,5 x 106,7 cm)
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