Goldwater’s book…has remained the definitive account of the artistic impact of primitive art on the art of modern Europe.
-- Hilton Kramer New York Times
This book is admirably thorough. Professor Goldwater’s approach to the problems involved remains consistently historical, analytical and descriptive… The investigation…is of lively interest and real importance.
-- Edward Alden Jewell New York Times Book Review
A valuable contribution to contemporary art criticism.
-- Art in America
Goldwater’s study, first published in 1938, has become a classic in the field of art history. His descriptions of how and why modern painters and sculptors were attracted to primitive art are essential to understanding artists from Paul Gauguin to Paul Klee.
-- Bloomsbury Review
A profound critical analysis… After [his] impressive, objective study, Dr. Goldwater is in a position to define primitivism and indicate its underlying assumptions.
-- Parnassus
In this fundamental study of a fundamental issue, Robert Goldwater combines the factual precision of an art historian with a penetrating analysis of cultural problems basic to our century.
-- Robert Rosenblum