Himalayan Primitive Art Unveiled

Description

Marc Petit. *À masque découvert. Regards sur l'art primitif de l'Himalaya*. Paris: Stock/Aldines, 1995. 286 pp. Cloth binding under illustrated dust jacket (in slipcase). Fine copy. "Forms have more memory than men." These silent, solemn, or joyful faces reveal the contours of a submerged continent: ancient Asia of shamans and possession cults. Against the codified formulas of Indian and Tibetan classicism, Himalayan primitive art asserts its uniqueness, inventiveness, humor, poetry, and expressive power. For the first time, a book makes these unknown forms visible and legible through a dialogue between image and word, mask and its double: an essay, travel narrative, and aesthetic précis, a work of both passion and reflection.