" Art nègre ? I don't know it." With this provocative tone, Picasso tried to deny his relationship with art from outside of Europe. However, through hundreds of archival documents and photographs, this volume illustrates how non-European art from Africa, Oceania, the Americas, and Asia was a recurring source of inspiration for the artist. Side-by-side comparisons illustrate the links between Picasso's oeuvre and diverse "primitive" arts. In both, we find the same themes-nudity, sexuality, impulses, death, and more-along with parallel artistic expressions of those themes- such as disfiguration or destruction of the body. The volume is completed with a chronology of the relevant works and photographs of the artist in his studio.

Through works of art, photographs, and writings, this volume explores Picasso's fascination with primitive art and the influences he repeatedly drew upon for his own oeuvre.