Man With a Monkey 1915

Curator: Alexandre Jacovleff created this oil painting, “Man With a Monkey,” in 1915. I’m immediately struck by the...primal energy, almost aggressively earthy! What’s your take? Editor: Earthy is one word for it. I’m feeling a chaotic, even unsettling mood. The angular figures and lurid color palette almost feel like the canvas itself is agitated. It's as if the artist wrestled with his materials! Curator: Well, look at Jacovleff's materials, his method, and the time! He used oil paint in an almost expressionistic manner, likely influenced by contemporary socio-political tensions around WWI and his artistic exploration in remote locations. He's known for travelling, so the choice to portray a primitive scene must reflect this. The artist manipulates the material, which is very direct, crude even! Editor: Yes, direct—like a punch to the gut! It’s that mask, those bulging eyes. Jacovleff doesn’t romanticize—there’s this brutal honesty. But I feel this too applies for the artist as a craftman! Curator: Indeed. It forces us to consider labor, and how the representation and materiality of ‘primitive’ work—like that suggested by this figure, axe in hand—has been used, exoticized, commodified. Where does folk art start and high art begin? How is it collected, by whom, and displayed in what fashion. Jacovleff isn’t afraid to disrupt and use what he’s seen in this artistic production, either. Editor: It makes me question: Who is more trapped, more objectified, the man or the monkey? The theatricality hides a darkness. Even his axe handle becomes this sinister detail, all of that primitive power now locked into modern consumption and aesthetics! Curator: Exactly. Considering all of this together opens avenues to considering our modern understanding of primitivism and exoticisation. It invites me to rethink all those artistic choices and traditions which had created some narrative which continues with its tradition. Editor: Ultimately it seems it’s calling for us, as the viewer, to not sit comfortable. In its time, it’s a loud scream of the artistic expressionist period. A bold provocation to us from Jacovleff himself.