Objects from faraway civilizations have found their way into European art galleries for a long time now. The insight and the reflections deriving from their presence have influenced not only the History of Art in this century, but even the development of the more sensitive and open currents of contemporary thought. But despite this long tradition of coexistence and the occasional integrations, the capacity of doubt and of renewal generated by these objects has not been weakened: the complex language which we perceive to stand behind their simplicity continuously challenges our capacity of understanding and invites us to extend the limits of our sensitivity.
This challenge, which is nothing else but the driving force of knowledge, is perhaps even more significant in Italy where “Primitive Art” is still relatively unappreciated and in this year, 1992, particularly suited to show and to reconsider the original contributions of indigenous peoples to the course of human events.