African sculpture found its way to Paris by the turn of the 20th century. And there, the carvings’ stylized reconstruction of the human figure influenced Picasso and other modern artists. In Metropolitan Fetish, John Warne Monroe doesn’t simply retell the familiar chapter from art history or repeat simplistic condemnations of “cultural appropriation.” Instead, he explores what can be known of the sculptures’ original cultural context and explains their reception in the West. The artwork was dubbed “primitive,” which could imply inferiority but also vitality. Ironically, at a time when Western Civilization considered itself the pinnacle of human achievement, the African sculpture most sought after by collectors were the ones deemed free of any Western taint.
